Our Response to NCDOL Report About 2016 Workplace Fatalities

For Immediate Release
January 31, 2017

Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, Communications Director, [email protected], 336-255-2711

NC AFL-CIO Responds to NCDOL Report About 2016 Workplace Fatalities

“At least 48 people in our state went to work for a better life last year but never made it home alive.”

MaryBe McMillan, Secretary-Treasurer of the NC State AFL-CIO, issued the following statement on the report by the NC Dept. of Labor that at least 48 workers died on the job in 2016:

“We were saddened to learn that, per the NC Department of Labor, at least 48 people in our state went to work for a better life last year but never made it home alive. We invite Commissioner Cherie Berry to join us in commemorating their deaths, along with those of the 150 people who died in 2015, at a public memorial service on Workers Memorial Day, April 28th.

“Since Commissioner Berry says the problem is inadequate training and use of protective equipment, we hope Ms. Berry will work with employers to make sure they provide proper training and equipment to workers – and that she will penalize employers who do not. If the North Carolina Department of Labor lacks the resources to do the things we hope, then we also hope Ms. Berry will lobby the General Assembly for the resources needed to get the job done.”

###

The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of local unions and union councils in North Carolina, representing over a hundred and twenty thousand people working in unions, 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.