By JOHN LESLIE

On April 8, a parking garage under construction in Philadelphia’s Gray’s Ferry neighborhood collapsed, killing three members of Ironworkers’ Local 401—Stepan Shevchuk, Matthew Kane, and Mark Scott Jr. and injuring at least two. The garage was intended to serve employees of the nearby Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

According to news accounts, the collapse was the result of the failure of a precast concrete roof panel, causing the floors below to fail on impact. Following the disaster, the building was deemed too unstable for recovery efforts and demolished.

It is still unclear what caused this accident. Precast concrete can pose increased safety risks during installation, including uncontrolled collapse, crane accidents due to failed connections, or crushing injuries due to high weight. Neighborhood residents have expressed concern about whether they would be compensated for possible damage to their homes and about the temporary closure of the neighborhood grocery store because of its proximity to the job site.

CHOP’s decision to build the parking garage in a predominantly Black working-class neighborhood had been met with fierce opposition from community members who were concerned about traffic from hundreds of cars on a daily basis and the structure’s proximity to a children’s playground. Both CHOP and the city administration ignored the concerns of neighborhood residents.

Dangers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “There were 5,070 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2024. … The fatal work injury rate was 3.3 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers.” In 2023, structural steel and ironworkers had a fatal injury rate of 19.8 per 100,000—second only to roofers (57.5 per 100,000). Fatality rates in construction are disproportionately higher in the nonunion sector. A 2023 New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) report showed that “OSHA’s 39 construction fatality investigations in 2021 … found that in New York State, 82% of workers who died on private worksites were non-union. In the 15 OSHA-investigated sites in New York City, 80% of the construction workers who died were non-union.”

The report continues, “Latinx workers make up a disproportionately high percentage of worker fatalities in New York. An estimated 10% of New York State’s workers are Latinx, but in 2021, 25.5% of worker fatalities were of Latinx workers—a 42% percent increase from 18% in 2020.” Housing construction, which is predominantly nonunion, has a much higher rate than commercial and industrial construction which has a higher union  density.

Trump’s Cuts to OSHA and NIOSH

President Trump, a failed casino owner, game-show host, and fake champion of working people, has implemented drastic cuts to an already anemic Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). These cuts devalue the lives of every worker.

A letter released by Senator Elizabeth Warren in February 2026 points out that Trump has “eliminated the authority of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA)—which protects coal miners from hazards like black lung disease—to require mine operates to ensure proper ventilation and prevent roof collapses in mines. Announced plans to eliminate requirements for adequate lighting on construction sites—even though about one of every twenty construction worker deaths are caused by visibility issues, including poor lighting. Construction is the leading sector for worker fatalities. Announced plans to limit OSHA’s ability to hold employers accountable for unsafe working conditions in inherently unsafe professions. And loosened respirator requirements for workers exposed to carcinogens, lead, asbestos, and formaldehyde.”

Under Trump, the Department of Labor has revised guidelines for workplace safety and will carry out nearly 10,000 fewer workplace hazard inspections. The administration plan includes an 8% overall OSHA budget cut reducing OSHA’s funding from $632.3 million in FY 2025 to $582.4 million in FY 2026. OSHA will spend $23.7 million less on enforcement than the previous year reduce OSHA’s workforce from 1810 to 1587 employees. Among the guideline changes is the extension of time allotted to remediate workplace hazards “by redefining “immediately,” which used to mean during the inspection or on the day that it occurred, but now can take up to 15 days.” In 2025, OSHA “performed 20% fewer inspections during a six-month period compared to the same period in 2024. Additionally, the data shows 42% fewer fines issued for severe workplace violations.”

NIOSH, which is not an enforcement agency, plays a key role in developing workplace safety programs and educational materials. According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, “The loss of at least 90 percent of NIOSH’s workforce will affect the development and flow of research information and the creation of up-to-date methodologies that keep people safe, essentially making an increase in injury and illness within the workforce inevitable.”

Fight for unions and safety

Trump’s cuts to workplace safety are an attack on all workers for the benefit of the capitalist class. The fight for more robust workplace protections is necessarily a task of the unions, which have the ability to codify safety protections in union contracts. This includes necessary language to address climate-driven heat waves, which can adversely affect workers’ health and well-being. Shop stewards should have the right to shut down operations in any workplace to address safety concerns.

For the building trades, it is imperative to organize all workers who engage in construction work regardless of sector or national origin. This means breaking down the craft union parochialism of the unions. With union density in the U.S. construction industry down to a record low of roughly 11.1% in 2025, organizing the unorganized is essential to the very survival of the unions. There were 916,000 union members in 2024 in the building trades, down from 39.5% density 50 years ago. A more combative class-struggle unionism would benefit all workers, not just the trades.

Part of an organizing drive in construction would harness the energy of the immigrant workforce, who are the backbone of much of the construction industry. Front and center in this fight would be the struggle for workplace safety. Every worker deserves to go home at night uninjured. Their kids deserve to grow up with a parent. The bosses and their mouthpiece, Donald Trump, have shown in practice how little they value our lives. It’s time to fight back!

The best memorial to our fallen brothers Stepan Shevchuk, Matthew Kane, and Mark Scott Jr. is to build a world where our lives and work are valued. An injury to one is an injury to all.

The writer is a union carpenter

Photo: Tom Gralish / Philadelphia Inquirer

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