From Work to the Grave: A Worker’s Death Exposes Capitalism’s Cruel Cycle

By a Teacher (Worker Correspondent)

On Friday, February 7th, a custodial worker at Edwins Elementary in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was found dead by high school students walking to school in the morning. According to a faculty meeting informing school staff of the incident, the worker had apparently stayed late Thursday on the job and experienced health issues while attempting to drive home. After abandoning his car, he tried to return to the school—likely to use a phone—but collapsed and died before reaching help. His body lay undiscovered until the following morning. Local news outlets omitted the worker’s struggle and his age, instead allowing police and the superintendent to issue their customary hollow statements.

This shows just how dangerous it can be when there aren’t enough staff—something teachers and school employees have been warning about for a long time. Custodial workers are often left alone in schools during off-hours, with no one around to help if something goes wrong. Further, this is another example of how the push to privatize healthcare is eroding its quality and putting workers at risk, leaving them to face the fallout of unsafe conditions.

This tragedy is not an isolated incident. Every 99 minutes, a worker dies in the US—a grim statistic in a system that prioritizes profit over human dignity. It reflects the relentless cycle of exploitation under the barbaric capitalist system, perpetuated by both Republican and Democratic governments.

Our society increasingly strips workers of security, depriving us of affordable housing, forcing decades-long debt to own a home, inflating the costs of food, education, and healthcare, and leaving us to scramble for scraps. Across industries, the common thread is clear—capitalism sacrifices worker safety and well-being to boost corporate profits.

Change will not come from those in power. We cannot afford to wait for reforms handed down by indifferent elites. Results can only come from the struggle of the working class. Only we can impose the changes we need on the bosses. There is no other way.

It is their profits or our lives.