November 25, 2025 – Today, Massachusetts Building Trades Unions (MBTU) President Frank Callahan issued the following statement:
Two weeks ago, 20-year-old welder Amber Czech was brutally murdered on her jobsite in Cokato Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis. Amber was attacked and killed by a 40-year-old male co-worker who told deputies he didn’t like her and had been planning the killing for some time.
Amber was new to the construction industry with a lifetime of opportunity ahead of her that a career in the trades offers. This senseless act of violence stole all of that and more in moments.
Construction is a dangerous industry, but all workers deserve to come home at the end of the day. Unlike other dangers in the construction industry, her death was not an accident and could have been prevented.
Even with the progress we have made at bringing more women into the trades, too many women face hostility and violence in our industry. And all too often no one takes responsibility. No one speaks up, no one reports and no one acts to stop it.
No More. All of us in the construction industry have a responsibility to act and put a stop to this pattern of hostility and violence. Whether you are a contractor, superintendent, foreperson, steward, tradesperson, or union representative we must all speak up, step up, and act.
Anything less is failure. Failure to every worker in our industry and failure to Amber’s memory.
