Robert Jarvis wants answers. “Why’d you make us work that day?” he asks. “Why?”
With five workers dead and one still missing since Hurricane Helene struck on Sept. 27, many of us in Tennessee and around the country also want to know what went wrong that day – and if we can prevent it from happening again.
The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) strongly supports OSHA’s proposed rule to address heat-related hazards for both indoor and outdoor workers. The rule, which was announced today, is a critical step in protecting millions of workers from heat-related illnesses and injuries.
As we progress towards an ordinance here in Southern Arizona, let’s be bold in our determination to effectively confront the ever-more-deadly challenge that heat presents in our workplaces. We have the resources in our community to make this program the model for the rest of the state. Let’s honor the memory of Dario Mendoza – and others who, like him, shouldn’t have died on the job – by passing the robust heat exposure ordinance our workers need and deserve.
“Mar Jac continues to face significant health and safety and abuse issues, even as recent as 2024 and into 2025. The company has been cited multiple times by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for serious violations, including incidents involving underage workers and fatal workplace accidents,” said Jessica Martinez, Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.
“Working for The GEO Group while detained at the Golden State Annex was nothing short of forced labor,” one former detainee stated in the National COSH release. “We had no safety training, no protective gear—only punishment if we refused.” The anonymous former worker described being stripped of rights and said collective organizing became essential to defending basic dignity. “No one should be exploited for profit behind bars,” the individual added.
“We are holding these crosses with much sadness in our hearts because they have the names of human beings who could have been us,” said Alejandro, a member of the worker rights organization WeCount! who declined to provide his last name. “These were hard-working people who went to work one day, just to provide for their families, and never came back home.”
Marchers also singled out one local nursery included this week on a “Dirty Dozen” annual report produced by a worker advocacy group called the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.
So this year, Miracapo landed on the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health’s “Dirty Dozen” list. Asked if there were any changes since Lopez Hernandez’s death, Ramirez replied, “No, nothing has changed. But I hope being on the Dirty Dozen list puts some pressure on.”
