Dear Representative,
The AFL-CIO and the 22 undersigned unions write to you to strongly oppose any funding cuts for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for fiscal year 2026 (FY 26). This highly efficient agency, assigned by Congress to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), operates on a relatively small budget of $363 million in FY 2025, yet has an enormous lifesaving impact for America’s workers and industries.
NIOSH’s occupational expertise is unmatched, providing guidance, training and assistance for dangerous industries that help workers and employers fix their own hazards. NIOSH’s programs are the reason employers in dangerous industries invest in innovation, adopting safer technologies and practices that have been well-researched to be safe.
NIOSH's function is unique and specialized; there is no other agency that is capable of assuming NIOSH's role or responsibilities. NIOSH is the only occupational safety and health research agency; there is no other public or private entity who plays this critical role to protect America’s workers from dangerous conditions. NIOSH is the only agency that:
● Researches—in the laboratory and in workplaces—the science of job hazards that kill, maim and disease workers every day;
● Researches real world application and adoption of mitigation measures in the workplace;
● Applies lifesaving interventions with workers and employers in dangerous industries;
● Conducts non-punitive, fact-finding investigations to prevent future incidents;
● Collects and manages surveillance data on job injuries, illnesses and fatalities;
● Approves all respirators for compliance with safety and health standards and removes counterfeit respirators from the U.S. marketplace;
● Updates recommended chemical exposure limits that threaten workers’ lives;
● Administers medical care and processes compensation claims for workers who have been made ill when responding to 9/11 and the Cold War;
● Develops unique, expert guidance specific to occupational health and safety that local health authorities, employers, unions and workers rely on; and
● Trains our nation’s next generation of occupational health and safety experts.
Our unions and their respective industries rely on the entirety of NIOSH divisional expertise to make other NIOSH programs function. Our nation’s first responders, miners, health care workers, construction workers, commercial fishers, industrial workers and millions more workers rely directly on this agency to keep them safe at work and to keep each critical NIOSH program running.
NIOSH’s impact on America’s workers is significant because of the agency’s interdivisional, highly efficient structure. NIOSH field investigations and timely hazard reviews cannot be completed without the sampling and analysis, immunologists, toxicologists, and epidemiologists in the health effects laboratory. Medical and compensation claims cannot be fully reviewed without the appropriate medical and dose reconstruction analysts or contract support. Employer and union partnerships with NIOSH do not happen without both intramural and extramural funding.
This worker protection agency has been flat funded for far too long and cannot protect workers without full funding for its interdivisional work.
We urge you to reject any cuts to NIOSH’s FY 26 budget.
Sincerely,
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM)
Communications Workers of America (CWA)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)
International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers (IW)
International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART)
International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P)
International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC)
International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA!)
National Nurses United (NNU)
Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association (OPCMIA)
Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT)
Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD)
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)
United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
United Steelworkers (USW)
Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA)