In Florida, workers are dying—and our tax dollars are funding the companies responsible.

From 2016 to 2023, eight construction workers lost their lives while working for Archer Western, a firm repeatedly hired by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Federal regulators determined many of those deaths were preventable. Workers were crushed, drowned, or struck by equipment on job sites plagued by training failures, ignored safety warnings, and poor oversight. One man was killed on just his second day.

Despite this deadly track record, Florida officials—under Gov. Ron DeSantis—continued awarding Archer Western over $1.6 billion in contracts, even after state officials themselves blamed the company for one of the fatal incidents in court. Florida’s own rules allow for disqualification of unsafe contractors, yet they’ve never enforced them in cases like this. Why?

The issue goes even deeper: at least 100 workers on Archer Western sites may have used fraudulent documents to get hired. Instead of investigating how those workers slipped through the system or whether the company turned a blind eye, the state helped Archer Western craft its public response after a sheriff’s deputy was killed on site. While workers face prison and deportation, the company continues receiving state checks—more than $200 million since that tragedy alone.

Many of the fallen workers were undocumented immigrants—people who took dangerous jobs to support their families, often working long hours with little protection. These workers were essential to building Florida’s roads and bridges, yet they were denied the most basic safety.

After their deaths, their families were denied justice. In at least one case, Archer Western argued in court that because a worker lacked legal status, his family didn’t deserve compensation. Meanwhile, low-level undocumented workers face prison and deportation, while company executives walk free and keep collecting public money.

This is about more than one company. It's about a system that values low bids over human lives, and hides behind loopholes when those lives are lost. We demand better.

We call on the Florida Department of Transportation, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the Florida Legislature to:

• Immediately suspend Archer Western from receiving any new public contracts in Florida.
• Launch an independent investigation into how the company’s hiring practices and safety violations were overlooked.
• Enforce existing contractor disqualification policies when lives are lost due to negligence.
• Ensure that undocumented workers on state-funded projects receive equal safety protections, and prohibit contractors from using immigration status to avoid responsibility for injuries or deaths.

Sign to demand justice for the lives already lost—and action to protect the ones still at risk.