December 6, 2022

“My teenage son lost his life, dreams, and ambitions. He fell from the highest floor of this hotel’s construction site and lost his life in just a few seconds. I wish I could say he was the last worker to die, but that’s not the case.”

This was the testimony from Gustavo Ramirez, the father of Gustavo Ramirez Jr., who lost his life at 16 years old while building La Quinta Inn on Insterstate Drive.

Families of fallen construction workers joined forces with injured construction workers to lead our health and safety committee in 2022. Making a donation before the end of the year would allow them and the rest of the WD community to continue the fight for safe construction jobs.

We won’t die to gentrify! Construction workers and their families organize for safe construction jobs

In the Spring of 2022, our health and safety committee organized 2 powerful actions (March for Safe Construction Jobs and the Vigil for Pedro Omar) to honor our loved ones who have died while building Nashville in observation of Workers’ Memorial Week. In the Summer, they helped train 90 construction workers to identify and prevent hazards in the workplace. Every Tuesday, they support workers with uncompensated injuries and submit workers’ compensation claims. They are on fire! Running their own meetings, training each other, and showing us what class solidarity looks like.

Also this year, our health and safety committee met with US Secretary Marty Walsh and Deputy Secretary Julie Sue to bring forward the specific needs of Nashville construction workers. In the fall, 6 health and safety committee leaders traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in OSHA’s Worker Summit, where they met with federal and regional leaders at OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to continue to push labor agencies to do more to protect workers’ lives.

Nashville is one of the most dangerous cities in the country to be a construction worker, and that’s nothing to be proud of. Workers are dying to build housing they can’t afford. Do you also believe that Nashville construction workers deserve to work in safe conditions? Support the work of our safety committee by making a donation to our End-Of-Year Drive. We are trying to raise $30k to start 2023 in good standing. Anything helps!

Solidarity,

Workers’ Dignity

PS: Help us raise $30k before the end of the month! DONATE TODAY