Former La Crosse Mayor John Medinger, Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Mike Davis Jr, and family members of those who died on the job joined local workers from various sectors such as electricians, plumbers, and construction workers as well as public service workers, transportation workers, and members of the community. They gathered at Green Island Park to mourn for those that were injured or killed on the job in the Coulee Region and pledged to fight against safety enforcement cuts as well as the increase of disregarding safety standards— all for the pursuit of profit.
The date is no accident; April 28 is the day that the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was signed into law, creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the body to propose and enforce standards for safe and healthful working conditions.
Before the inception of OSHA, workers had no enforceable standards to ensure their safety and health at work. OSHA gives a standard to all employers, public and private, to protect the worker while on his job. Evidence from the Bureau of Labor Statistics proves how positive OSHA has been. Since the time OSHA came into being, from 10.9 cases per one hundred workers in 1972, injuries in the workplace have fallen to 2.8 cases per one hundred workers in 2018.
“One death at work is one too many,” said Bill Brockmiller, Treasurer, Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO. Then he added, “our commitment to fight for the living and to end tragedies in the workplace will continue until the end of time.” Later he asked attendees an unanswerable question, “what kind of morally bankrupt person does it take to choose dollars over lives?”
The present administration’s job cuts have claimed the jobs of 1,000 workers in six states and Washington, DC at National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the federal occupational safety research agency. American workers are losing vital safety nets that will lead to more, not fewer, deaths in the workplace. Every single NIOSH research center has been shut down, and the few remaining employees have been hung out to dry with no resources to do their job.
In February 2025, a bill was introduced by U.S. House Representative Biggs, Republican from Arizona’s 5th District, which if passed would eliminate OSHA. The bill introduced by Biggs is called the Nullify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (NOSHA) Act. It reads, “The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is repealed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is abolished.” This is a blatant choice of dollars over human life and an illustration of the absence of morality that can be found in Washington DC.
The council would like to thank WKBT-TV 8 for covering this event this year. Media coverage helps bring the issue of workplace safety to the forefront thus helping to prevent future workplace tragedy. However, it was a little disheartening that no other media outlets found the time to attend this year. Workplace death in the Coulee Region has struck local media as well. In 2005, a worker in the printing department at La Crosse’s daily paper died after being struck by a large roll of newsprint, widowing his young wife, who was pregnant with their first child at the time.