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FEATURE -

a

_ Aworking class approach to health and safety

By DICK BARRY
ealth and safety has emerged as
One of the central trade union
‘issues over the past ten years.
int a background of economic
a . and high unemployment,
ae Oyers have launched an offensive
‘ lst workers unprecedented since
€ end of World War II.
ee employers’ strength has
S Many workers into accepting
48¢s below the inflation rate and has
eed workplace rights built up
ia years, workers have drawn the
u at the employers’ right to maim,
» Or cause disease.
the Tight to manage a business, en-
aan in law, has limits even in our
alist system. One of those limits is
© Workers’ own bodies.
4 Workplaces throughout Canada,
Sanaa have increasingly demanded
milit Working conditions, and taken
ant actions to back those demands.
Orkers have also forced legislative
anges,
sul ontario, pressure from labor re-
Which In the passage of Bill 70 in 1978,
right t Save many Ontario workers the
a to) information from the employer,
a Might to sit on joint health and safety
~ Mmittees, and most importantly, the
Sht to refuse unsafe work.
a Quebec, labor was able to push
a introduction of a health and
aba Commission, governed by seven
repre representatives, seven business
a uistives and a government-
ud Inted chair. Not only was all health
ee Safety work consolidated in this
Mission, but significant labor
ay has resulted in much more
Stessive legislation.
nil has also led to unions getting $2-
“ey a year for educational work,
ogi a significant say in the awarding
5-million a year in research grants,
ving. on the boards that handle
Spe @S against the decisions of the in-
Ctors,
an €gnant workers and workers who
righ re ast-feeding children won the
A to transfer from unsafe work, and
Per cent of their wages if they must

St : : :
a P Work if alternative safe work is not
allable.

wort’ gains have meant a lot for
d ote but these still have not pro-
Safe workplaces.
Stands wenout Canada, government
“$0 hi aus for toxic substances are set
Prote. that workers are not effectively
= Cted. In the case of cancer-causing
ts, where there is no safe level of
~_ ‘Sure, governments continue to

TRIBUNE PHOTOS — MIKE PHILLIPS

allow levels which will result in workers
getting cancer.

Government enforcement of existing
legislation and standards is weak at
best. Employers are rarely ordered to
comply with the law. When they are
ordered but fail to comply, govern-
ments rarely prosecute. When there is
prosecution, it is usually handled so
badly that the employer is not con-
victed. In the tiny number of cases
where there is a conviction, the penal-
ties are so minimal that they are a mere
license to continue the unsafe practice.

There must be tougher enforcement,

and real penalties for violations, includ-
ing criminal charges against top exe-
cutives in cases of serious violations.

Worker rights under health and
safety legislation are severely limited.
Joint health and safety committees are
only advisory to management. The
right to refuse, in all jurisdictions ex-
cept Saskatchewan, is an individual
right — not a collective right.

No jurisdiction allows worker health

and safety representatives to stop un-
safe work, while guaranteeing the
wages and benefits of the affected
workers until the problem is corrected.

The right to know all the substances
in the workplace is still denied most
workers in Canada. Even the new fed-
eral-provincial agreement (WHMIS)
only entitles workers to a partial list of
workplace substances.

J

b

= by

The health of workers will only be
protected when worker rights are
extended — the right to know and an
extended right to refuse are pre-
requisites for safe workplaces.

But even these rights will only be
paper rights in unorganized workplaces
— for without the protection of a union,
workers will not be able effectively to
exercise their legal rights.

ne

: —

MAY DAY GREETINGS

from the Kamloops Unemployed
Action Committee
“FULL EMPLOYMENT”

Fraternal Greetings
on the
100th Anniversary
of May Day

Vancouver Trade Union
May Day Committee

d

4
» ~ Solidarity in the

fight for jobs

So none will live in poverty.
So all with live with dignity.

MAY DAY
GREETINGS

from

Organization
of Unemployed
Workers,
Port Alberni

Greetings
to the labor movement

on the 100th anniversary
of May Day.

International Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union
Ship and Dock Foremen Local 514

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 30, 1986 e 25