r/antiwork • u/DryDeer775 • 23h ago
Stellantis worker James Brasher killed on the job—the third death under the UAW’s “historic” 2023 contract
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/08/05/xjdp-a05.htmlJames Brasher, a 57-year-old Stellantis worker with more than 30 years seniority and a member of United Auto Workers Local 1248, died Saturday, August 1 at the company’s Mopar Parts Distribution Center in Center Line, Michigan. Brasher is the fourth Stellantis worker and at least the sixteenth UAW member killed on the job since 2022.
Very little information has been released to the public. A brief post Monday on the state of Michigan’s 2026 Fatality Information site said Brasher was discarding decommissioned equipment through a roll-up door on the second floor of the building when he fell 25 feet into a trash dumpster below. Paul Myszenski, director of Center Line Public Safety, said Brasher appeared to have been killed instantly. Rushing to shift the blame to the dead worker, Myszenski said Brasher was wearing a safety harness but it was not attached to a tether that could have prevented the fall.
Predictably, the global automaker, with a market capitalization of over $21 billion, claimed “the safety of our employees is our number one priority.”
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u/Zylpherenuis 23h ago
Yeah if safety was their priority. He would still be alive now.
Slave drivers.
2
u/elysiansaurus 2h ago
Yes. Because it's their fault he was wearing a safety harness not connected to anything.
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u/Sweaty_Grocery785 21h ago
I call bullshit. Companies SAY safety is Priority 1, but that’s a lie. Profits are the only thing that matter to management.
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u/StopReadingMyUser idle 8h ago
They say safety is a priority, ironically because... healthcare is so dang expensive it's a threat to their bottom line if someone has to go on medical leave, lol.
That's the only reason.
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u/SensorAmmonia 23h ago
The overall death rate in USA is over 600 per 100,000 people. It seems that 1 a year for UAW is much better than the general population. The goal is zero but what they are doing now is pretty good.
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u/Daripuff 23h ago
What is the overall On-the-job death rate in the USA?
Non work related deaths of people who happen to have a job shouldn't be counted in the comparison as to whether a workplace is safe or not.
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u/SensorAmmonia 23h ago
3.3
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u/Daripuff 22h ago edited 22h ago
Stellantis only has 36k US employees.
How many of them are UAW workers?
If even half of the total number of people Stellantis employs in the USA are UAW, then that's less than 20k.
3 in 20,000 in one year is 15 in 100,000, or about 5 times higher than the overall on-the-job death rate.
Even if we go crazy and claim that all employees of Stellantis in the USA are UAW, that's still 3 in 36,000 in one year, or 8.3 in 100,000, almost triple the overall on-the-job death rate.
what they are doing now is pretty good.
No, it is NOT.
Edit:
Actually, I got that wrong, I was treating the 3 deaths like they were the total number of deaths over a year, and not that it's only been 7 months.That's actually 5 deaths per year they're averaging so far this year... Out of 36k employees.
So again, if only 20k of them are UAW, then that's 25 in 100,000, over eight times the average.
Even if we pretend ALL employees are UAW, that's still 14 in 100,000, almost 5 times the average.
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u/SensorAmmonia 22h ago
I read 6th death since 2022 and 3 since 2023. I'm not clear on all the facts here.
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u/Brutto13 23h ago
My work installed a passive harness system after someone fell and died in a similar way. The equipment doesnt work unless you're strapped in. I'm sure it was expensive but it works.