Jonathan D. Karmel has practiced labor and employment law in Chicago for 35 years representing unions and their employee benefit funds. Karmel is a Fellow with The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and has been recognized as an Illinois Super Lawyer. Karmel is a frequent panelist on labor and employment topics, and has lectured internationally. Recently, Karmel became the Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Occupational Safety and Health Committee where he hopes to increase awareness of the important issues affecting workers and their families.
Dying to Work offers readable, powerful human stories of workplace injuries and illnesses. Jonathan D. Karmel also offers well-presented arguments for addressing the issues and preventing like tragedies. -- Don J. Lofgren, author of <I>Dangerous Premises</I> In Dying to Work, Jonathan D. Karmel presents issues faced by workers in a full range of industries, many of which the general public doesn't typically think of as hazardous. Using the powerful stories of individual fatality and injury cases is an effective way to introduce each worker health and safety topic. -- Celeste Monforton, Professorial Lecturer at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University A compelling call for action on a national health crisis that's hiding in plain sight. * Unionist * Karmel has written a gripping and disturbing book on the state of safety and health in the workplace. He has compiled a revealing series of personal accounts of workplace accidents. The cumulative impact is painful. * Choice * [Dying to Work] highlights how corporations have simply not placed a premium on protecting their workers from harm. * Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review * [Karmel] directs our attention toward an awareness of a hidden-in-plain-sight problem, where instead of provoking outrage and indignation, death and injury on the job are considered to be a condition of doing business and a necessary evil in the production process.... Karmel argues effectively for changing that narrative.... [Dying to Work] is a call to action. * New Solutions * Most interestingly... the book features a collection of stories about workers who were killed or injured on the job. As one might expect, there are subsections devoted to risks of being an electrician, logger, oil & gas worker and coal miner, with corresponding horror stories for each occupation. But it's the personal experiences of grocery clerks and hotel housekeepers-two other surprisingly high-risk occupations-that are the real page-turners. * Failure Magazine * The book to read if you want to know what's happening with worker health and safety in these difficult times. * Labor Notes *