Before joining National COSH earlier this year, COSHCON was something I had only heard about from afar. Working as a consultant in the NYC labor movement, I knew it was a respected, bilingual gathering that brought together workers, organizers, and health and safety leaders, but it was still just a concept to me, something other people experienced.
Upon my arrival at Reagan International Airport in the Nation’s Capital on March 18, 2025, I was greeted by National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) Executive Director Jessica Martinez, who I was meeting in person for the first time since completing National COSH “We Rise!” Workers Leadership Training and being elected to the Board of NCOSH.
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.
They are part of the Arizona Heat Standards Coalition, which delivered a petition to the governor recently calling for enforceable heat standards so that employers who don’t follow them can be held accountable.
Various labor organizations filed a request for Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign an executive order to help protect workers exposed to dangerous high temperatures. Interview with Monica Sandschafer from Mi Familia en Acción. (Interview in Spanish).
Jazmin Moreno Dominguez, an organizer with Agave Community Threads, read aloud statements the group collected from farmworkers in six Arizona cities over the summer.
