Statement on Death of Minnesota Tradeswoman, Amber Czech

On November 11^th, 2025 a Minnesota welder named Amber Czech showed up to work, as if it was any other day…but she never made it home. In the early hours of her shift, she was violently murdered by a male co-worker, who according to local reports, had planned to kill her for “some time” because he didn’t like her.

Amber was only 20 years old, but her passion and commitment as a tradeswoman was already clear. The GoFundMe page dedicated in her memory describes her in this way: “Amber was a hardworking welder who took great pride in her craft and dreamed of building a bright future through her work. Her witty personality, positive attitude, and beautiful smile touched everyone who knew her.”

This was an extreme act of workplace violence. And it’s being felt widely.

In fact, the tragedy is reverberating across the trades community and across borders—we know there are many members of the BCCWITT community who are feeling the weight of this incident as word spreads. We know this has hit close to home.

This act of violence is reminding too many tradeswomen and gender-diverse workers in the trades of the range of hate, harassment, and violence they have faced. It reminds them of the comments they’ve tried to ignore, the jokes they’ve had to call out, the bullying they’ve fought back against, the jobs they’ve left, and, sometimes, of the incidents they couldn’t get away from.

So, for those impacted by this terrible news, please remember you are not alone. Remember we stand as a community together, and know there are options that can help with the immediate feelings you may be having, including:

• Reach out to a friend or colleague to talk.
• Access counselling if you feel you need to and can (this could be available through work benefits packages, via your training institute or school, members of the BC Building Trades unions can access fully funded counselling via BuildStrong by CIRP, or call 2-1-1 to see if there are other affordable counselling options in your community).
• Commit to an action that will help create change (e.g. start a conversation to raise the profile of these issues, make a donation to a cause that addresses gender or work-based violence, or attend an event in your community).

The sad reality is: we stand only a week away from the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, and this tragic incident reminds us all that the violence we face exists at work, in addition to in our homes and on our local streets. This calls on all of us to double down and continue to do the work required to make our communities and our workplaces safer for everyone.

Statement also available here: Statement on Death of Minnesota Tradeswoman, Amber Czech