The lethal workplace illness silicosis killed thousands each year up through the 1960s but became much rarer in recent decades thanks to union workplace safety fights. The disease is now making a comeback among stonecutters working with manufactured stone. Silicosis is a lethal workplace illness that killed thousands each year up through the 1960s. In recent decades, thanks to union workplace safety fights, it became much rarer. Annual deaths dropped to the hundreds. The disease affected mostly older workers with longer exposures.

So it was hard for stonecutter Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez, thirty-five, to get a clear diagnosis in 2019 when he first developed a cough and shortness of breath. It wasn’t until two years later that he was told he had silicosis — and only had a year to live.

“WBAI Labor reporter Bob Henley was also at the Workers Memorial Day event in Midtown yesterday. Here is an interview he did with Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, alongside his fellow labor reporter, Tochtli Garcia of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. We go now to that interview.”

Employees producing an economic surplus for employers to sell in the marketplace risk their life and limbs due to the bosses’ disregard of workplace safety standards. A new report from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) delivers the disturbing details.

We turn to the just released Dirty Dozen 2026, highlighting unsafe workplaces, comprised of Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations, and nominations from National COSH’s state affiliates, labor unions and workers centers.

US farmed catfish processor and marketer Consolidated Catfish Producers has been named to the 2026 "Dirty Dozen" list compiled by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), a non-profit group that advocates for safe, healthy working conditions [..]

All workers, regardless of their job or workplace, should have the same basic expectation: they should be able to return home each day in the same condition as when they arrived at work.

Too many workers in Alabama can’t expect such a basic right – not when their employers do not prioritize health and safety.

Mississippi-based Consolidated Catfish Producers was named to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) 2026 Dirty Dozen report. The report highlights 12 companies that the group says have "put workers' lives at risk" through unsafe practices, subpar protections and neglect.

Every year, around the same time as the observance of National Workerw Memorial Day, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) announces its list of 12 companies that have put their workers’ lives at risk through unsafe practices, inadequate protections and systemic neglect. National COSH refers to these companies as the “Dirty Dozen,” and rather than just picking, say, the 12 companies that have racked up the most fines or citations over the past year, National COSH typically singles out large companies known for such things as aggressively opposing unionization efforts, or human trafficking, or consistently failing to provide workers with necessary PPE and safety equipment. There is no actual ranking of which company is the “dirtiest”; the list is alphabetical.

Isola, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based Consolidated Catfish Producers has been named to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH)’s 2026 Dirty Dozen report.

Spanning across industries, the report documents 12 companies annually that National COSH deems to have exhibited “recurring corporate failures” that place workers at risk, including extreme heat, hazardous machinery, toxic chemicals, wage theft, retaliation, and exploitative labor practices, among other issues.

Consolidated was included in this year’s report “due to a pattern of serious workplace safety concerns documented over multiple years,” National COSH Executive Director Jessica Martinez told SeafoodSource.

A National Council for Occupational Safety and Health report raises alarm over increased heat-related jobsite risks as the construction industry enters “the most dangerous time of year for heat exposure.”

Released during Workers’ Memorial Week, noting those who have died or suffered work-related injuries and illness, the 2026 Dirty Dozen report says it has identified 12 companies that “put workers’ lives at risk through unsafe practices, inadequate protections, and systemic neglect.” Among those are home builder D.R. Horton and Massachusetts contractor Revoli Construction, which is facing a $4.6 million fine after a fatal trench collapse.

Silicosis is a lethal workplace illness that killed thousands each year up through the 1960s. In recent decades, thanks to union workplace safety fights, it became much rarer. Annual deaths dropped to the hundreds. The disease affected mostly older workers with longer exposures.

So it was hard for stonecutter Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez, 35, to get a clear diagnosis in 2019 when he first developed a cough and shortness of breath. It wasn’t until two years later that he was told he had silicosis—and only had a year to live.

Reyes Gonzalez had worked for 15 years in a fabrication shop cutting and shaping the manufactured stone now commonly used for countertops and showers (also known as quartz or engineered stone).

OSHA now has 20% fewer inspectors, and the number of willful violations issued has fallen by 42%. According to a report issued by Good Jobs First last December, wage and hour enforcement cases have declined by 97%, and workplace health and safety penalties have dropped 47%.

Consolidated Catfish was one of the 12 employers named in the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s annual “Dirty Dozen” list, released that day. They included D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest homebuilder; the Hyundai-Kia parts-supply chain; and two leading airport-support companies, Alliance Ground International and LSG Sky Chefs.

Hyundai, like most automakers, loves to be on lists. Safety awards, vehicle top-tens, sales champions, and any other list. Make that almost any list. Hyundai and its US supply chain have just been named to one list no company wants to be on. It comes from The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), a non-profit group which has some strong words regarding Hyundai Motor Group and its relationship with US employees.

The group has just named the Hyundai-Kia US supply chain to its Dirty Dozen list of "employers that put profit first and expose workers to harm" for alleged actions over the last decade. That's obviously a list Hyundai does not want to be on.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - A Worker dies from corporate negligence every 104 minutes: The suppliers of auto parts for Hyundai and Kia cars; The Subway Restaurant Chain; The Nation’s largest Homebuilder, which let Donald Trump’s vicious and violent ICE Agents raid its job sites; and a Snack Food Company that puts Migrants’ children into hazardous factory jobs.

“Workers are still being poisoned, injured, exploited and killed on the job. When employers say ‘the system is working,’ we have to ask: ‘Working for who?,’” says Jessica Martinez, the Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), which released its annual Dirty Dozen report on the worst job safety and health violators nominated by its local councils and allies, and why those corporate bad actors made the list - though they’re not alone. 

Recently, a member of IAM Sky Harbor Local 2559 discussed the critical need for enforceable heat-safety standards in Arizona at the Winpisinger Center during the IAM District 141 Jackie Jones Safety Education Program. Trina David spoke about the collaborative effort to educate employees on identifying and managing heat-related illnesses in high-temperature work environments, such as warehouses and Airports.

Watch the video report here.

Labor groups say Arizona isn't moving fast enough to establish new protections for people whose work exposes them to the state's sizzling high temperatures. Heat is the top weather-related killer in the U.S. Seven different states have now adopted rules requiring employers to provide water breaks and other heat protections for workers, but regulations like that do not exist in Arizona, where triple-digit high temperatures can last months at a time. KJZZ's Katherine Davis-Young reports on efforts to change that.

(Video Coverage)

WASHINGTON—A worker dies from corporate negligence every 104 miutes. The suppliers of auto parts for Hyundai and Kia cars. The Subway restaurant chain. The nation’s biggest homebuilder, which let Donald Trump’s vicious and violent ICE agents raid its job sites. A snack food company that puts migrants’ children into hazardous factory jobs.

“Workers are still being poisoned, injured, exploited and killed on the job,” says Jessica Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), which released its annual “Dirty Dozen” report on the worst job safety and health violators nominated by its local councils and allies, and why those corporate bad actors made the list–though they’re not alone. 

Hyundai-Kia U.S. Supply Chain suppliers have been named among the nation’s worst workplaces, according to a labor safety report released Tuesday, highlighting concerns over worker safety, labor practices, and oversight within the automakers’ supplier network. The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) announced the findings during a press conference unveiling its annual “Dirty Dozen” report. Since 2013, the organization has investigated companies repeatedly linked to workplace injuries, safety violations, hazardous exposures, and labor rights concerns. Each year it publishes a list of 12 employers considered among the most dangerous or problematic workplaces in the United States.

This year marks the first time that the Hyundai-Kia U.S. Supply Chain has been included in the report.

On Wednesday, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a worker advocacy organization, released its annual “Dirty Dozen” report. One of the companies on the list of twelve was the “Hyundai-Kia U.S. Supply Chain,” which includes several facilities in Alabama.

Drawing on a tracker of OSHA inspections, the report states that twelve workers died in incidents at companies included in the Hyundai and Kia supply chain between 2015 and 2025. It also highlights the Department of Labor’s filing of a lawsuit against Hyundai and suppliers in 2024 over alleged use of child labor.

• A Massachusetts water and sewer line construction contractor and the largest homebuilder in the U.S. are among the 2026 “Dirty Dozen” employers named by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health for alleged unsafe practices putting workers at risk.
• The report, released Wednesday, singled out Revoli Construction for “decades of trenching violations” which included a fatal collapse, in addition to Texas-based D.R. Horton for “repeated safety violations and hazardous construction jobsite conditions amid ICE enforcement actions.”