Deluzio, Lee Celebrate Full Reinstatement of Workers at National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) and Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12) celebrated that workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) slated to be terminated will be able to go back to work—including hundreds of mine safety workers in Allegheny County who have been off the job for nine months. Today’s move reversing the Administration’s previous mass firings and reinstating all NIOSH workers follows strong actions by Congressmembers Deluzio and Lee.
“Today, we got a big win for Western PA and worker safety across America,” said Congressman Deluzio. “For nine months, I’ve stood strong with NIOSH workers and other Members of Congress in demanding that the Trump Administration immediately reverse their dangerous plans to gut NIOSH. These workers help keep Americans safe on the job and the Trump Administration never should have fired them in the first place. Who knows what damage has been done over the past nine months to the mission of occupational safety and health—but I’m glad that my efforts helped get these public servants back on the job and working for the American people.”
“This is a win for working people and for every family who just wants their loved ones to come home safe at the end of the day,” said Rep. Summer Lee. “For months, the Trump Administration chose politics over people, sidelining the very people whose jobs are to protect workers and keep our communities safe. That decision put lives at risk and treated dedicated public servants like they were disposable. But workers spoke up, communities fought back, and we stood with them to demand better. Now, those workers can finally return to the jobs they were hired to do. I will continue to fight for the people of Western Pennsylvania and for workers across this country.”
BACKGROUND
On April 1st, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services Initiated a “Reduction in Force” (RIF) at NIOSH, placing upwards of 90% of the agency’s staff on administrative leave and effectively halting multiple miner health and safety programs.
Days later on April 4th, 2025, Congressman Deluzio and over 100 of his fellow lawmakers signed a letter calling on the Administration to reverse the firings.
On May 13th, 2025, a federal judge ordered that the RIF be reversed for workers at NIOSH’s Respiratory Health Division. However, the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division (PMRD) workers were not covered by that court order.
Congressman Deluzio and his team kept in contact with employees of the mining research team, and on June 5th, 2025 helped share their story to raise public awareness. One of the fired workers anonymously shared: “If we are no longer able to fulfill our duties, the health of workers in the stone, sand, gravel, and coal mining industries will be negatively impacted. Our entire staff is scheduled to be terminated on July 2nd, and there's been zero guidance on who to transfer our knowledge and training to so that this life-saving work can keep going.”
On July 27th, 2025, Congressman Deluzio led seven members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation on another letter demanding that the Department of Health and Human Services reverse the terminations.
Just last month, Congressman Deluzio marked National Mine Workers Day with a social media post reminding the public about the fired NIOSH workers in the mining research division, building on other posts to raise awareness of these dangerous cuts.
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