SAFETY EDITORIAL

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

THE CANCER OF INDIFFERENCE

Most of us read with horror the story
from New York of the young woman who
pleaded in vain for help as a crazed assailant
returned again and again to attack and fin-
ally murder her. Throughout the long hours
of her ordeal, a simple telephone call to the
police by any one of those who heard her
despairing cries would have saved her. But
none helped. Why?

There was no physical courage required
to phone for help. Questioned by reporters
these “ordinary” men and women had some
revealing comments to make.

I learned to mind my own business.”
“You never know what you're getting
into,” and so on ad nauseum.

The incident sparked a rash of editorial-
izing throughout the U.S. and Canada. Un-
fortunately, many of us took a quick look at
ourselves and hurriedly slammed the door.
We did not want to think about the family
next door which we neither know nor care
about. We did not like to consider the face-

less person we work with. We did not care
to disturb our precious isolation.

What has this to do with safety in the
IWA?

First, the Union is based on the concept
of brotherhood. We call each other “brother”
and “sister.” The idea of common cause and
ideal, wedded to action in concert for the

good of all, is the cement that makes possible
the structure of our Union. It is at once our
only strength and our sole justification in
society.

Some years ago we started a crusade to
save lives in our industry. Men and women
came forward to work and sacrifice un-
selfishly for the common ideal. We set up
plant and camp safety committees, we
formed Local and Regional Safety Councils.
We appointed the first-full time Safety Direc-
tor of any Union in North America. In a
bold new approach, we relinquished our
traditional role of opponent to invite manage-
ment’ and government to become our part-
ners in this fight against death, injury and
waste.

In a few short years we succeeded in
cutting almost in half the accident frequency
rate in the woodworking industry. We suc-
ceeded by caring for each other, by becoming
involved with our neighbours, by sharing.
We had carried into our safety program the
principles upon which our Union was founded
and made them work to save lives.

Then progress slowed — in some sections,
ground to a halt. Unevenly we started to lose
ground.

Why?

We still have with us many of those who
worked so hard, cared so much and succeeded

so well. But has the cancer of indifference

eaten into the mass support they needed an

got? : ;

Let us ask ourselves these questions:

© Do | know my neighbour?

© Have I tried to know my fellow worker?

© If | do know him, do | really care how he
does?

© Am | willing to give time and thought to
help him?

© If he wants to help me, do | respond?

OUR UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

If the murdered girl in New York is the
symptom of disease eating away at our social
fabric, if our efforts in safety are frustrated
by indifference, then we in the IWA have an
opportunity not open fo society as a whole.
We have a relatively compact, closely knit
organization. We have the machinery for
co-operation within ourselves and partnership
with management and government. We can
enlist our young people, we can rekindle the
spirit of our older members.

_ With so clear a path, we need not, cannot,
fail.
If all of this sounds old fashioned or

“square,” then brotherhood in the IWA is
out of date.

We have a choice:
Arid isolation or
Vital involvement.

Auto Workers Seek Union Condemns “Cook's Tour”
WCB Information

The assistance of Labor
Minister MacEachen has been
sought by Local 195 of the
United Auto Workers in an
attempt to cut down ona
mounting toll of industrial ac-
cidents in Windsor area auto
parts plants. :

The president of Local 195
has sent a telegram to Mr.
MacEachen asking that fig-
ures on lost man hours due to
industrial accidents be made
available to the UAW.

His telegram points out that
efforts to obtain such informa-
tion from the Workmen’s
Compensation Board have
proved fruitless in the light
of the board’s statement tha
the information is confi-
dential.

Then There Was One

Six little workers,

Glad to be alive.

One forgot to wear his
goggles —

Then there were five.

— so hg img
tanding by the door,

One indulged in horseplay—

Then there were four.

The anger of the Local 195
president over industrial ac-
cidents mounted further in
December, he said, when four
more auto parts plants work-
ers were severely injured.

“A woman worker at Ad-
miral Steel Products lost a
hand in December. A male
employee at Sun Tool and
Stamping also lost a hand. A
male worker at McCord Corp.
lost three fingers and a
worker at National Radiator,
the worst plant in the city,
lost two fingers and part of a
thumb,” Mr. Sinkevitch said.

“The watchword of the
Manufacturers’ Association
is greed,” the labor leader
said. “Human beings can be
neglected, but profits can
not.”

He said he was hopeful that
his appeal to Mr. MacEachen
would result in more light be-

‘ing shed on the effects of in-

dustrial accidents on produc-
tivity.

“Employers have no trouble
getting information on lost
man hours due to strikes,
walkouts and other manifes-
tations of labor unrest and
dissatisfaction — and they use
the information to persuade
the public that if workers be-
haved reasonably, no time
would be lost.”

He said he feels that if the
facts about lost man hours
due to accidents were made
available they would come as
a tremendous eye-opener to
people who have been condi-
tioned to believe that it is la-
bor disputes that have the
biggest effect on productivity.

®

The giant Trade Union
Congress in session recently
in England revealed that
safety conscious workers
were bothered by the “Cook’s
Tour” of factory inspection
which we experience here.
Their solution, as is ours, is
to demand the right of work-
er representatives to accom-
pany government safety in-
spectors on plant visits. The

report from the Congress
reads as follows:

“The debate on Industrial
Safety and Welfare is usually
factual, reveals a close and
detailed understanding of the
problems by the speakers, but

is seldom exciting. This year
it roused Conference to the
extent that it brought the
first defeat for the platform.
Despite the plea of the Gen-
eral Council to ‘remit’, Con-
gress, without a Card Vote,
overwhelmingly carried a
resolution demanding an ex-
tension of the Factory Act
and to have the right of
workers’ delegates to inspect
the scene of an accident and
to accompany the Factory In-
spector on his visits. ‘Human
lives, Congress said, ‘are
more important than the
sacred rights of Manage-
ment.’ ”

LIGHTER SIDE

A department store receiv-
ed the following brief note
with a final payment on some
merchandise: “Gentlemen,
this should make us even. Sin-
cerely, but no longer yours.

* * *

A little boy dashed into the
house and raced to his father.

“Dad! I just sold our dog
for $50,000.”

“For cash?”

“Well, practically, dad. I

swapped him for two $25,000
cats.”

You’d think we was runnin’ a coffee club for foremen ‘stead of spare saws,