NC Workers Memorial Day 2026: Mourning 196 Lives Lost, Fighting for the Living
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2026
Unions and Faith Leaders Gather on Workers Memorial Day to Honor Lives Lost, Demand Better Safety Protections
RALEIGH, NC – In observance of Workers Memorial Day, the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, labor rights organizations and faith communities held a press conference today with family members of workers who have died on the job to speak out about the importance of workplace health and safety regulations.
Community leaders called for greater health and safety protections and increased freedom to form unions so workers can have a voice on the job. The interfaith memorial service concluded with tolling a bell 196 times—once for each person in North Carolina who died while working for a better life in 2024, the most recent year for which the full death toll is known.
The event coincides with the release of the AFL-CIO’s annual “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” report, which analyzes government job fatality, injury and illness data, peer-reviewed research and other statistics to understand the current state of workplace health and safety conditions. In 2024, 5,070 workers were killed on the job and an estimated 135,000 workers died from occupational diseases across the country. Black and Latino worker job fatality rates continue to be disproportionate compared with all other workers.
Speakers also emphasized that corporations and billionaires are aggressively accelerating efforts to dismantle essential agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), further threatening the ability for working people to make it home safely after each shift.
Family members of North Carolina workers who have died on the job delivered remarks about how the loss of their loved ones impacted them. Terry Wood’s son was a Weyerhaeuser worker who died in 2024 at the age of 37, Gianna Polito’s fiance Zachary Jones was a Duke Energy lineman who died at the age of 28, and Cristal Chendayan’s boyfriend William Bryce Freeman died at the age of 38 and was also a lineman for Duke Energy.
“Christopher had a heart like God. He would do anything for you,” said Terry Wood about her son. “The place he worked, where he wanted to work so badly, was the job that took his life…People think the hardest part of losing a child no matter the age is the day they die. Truly it is, but it’s not also. The hardest part isn’t losing them once. It’s living without them over and over.”
“Our belief in the rights of the workers is grounded in the scripture where we find God’s clear injunction to value the work and to value the worker,” said Rev. Jennifer Copeland, president of the NC Council of Churches. “We must mitigate the harm to secure safe working conditions no matter what it costs.”
“This day is not only about remembrance; it’s about renewal,” said Braxton Winston, president of the NC State AFL-CIO. “We renew our commitment to fight for safe workplaces, to protect every worker in every industry, and to ensure the hard-won protections of the past are strengthened for the future…This is not about politics. This is about people. Every worker no matter where they live, what they do, or where they come from deserves dignity, respect, and safety on the job.”
Photos can be viewed here and here.
Livestreams of the service can be viewed here and here.
Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, 336-255-2711 / [email protected].
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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of local unions and union councils in North Carolina, representing over one-hundred thousand union members, fighting for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working people. PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605.