Your vote and the safety of 1 million working Canadians

Earlier this month, I had the honour of joining with 150 workers committed to safer and healthier workplaces at the 30th Annual MFL Health and Safety Conference. 

While I was there I learned something very surprising and disturbing. While disabling injury rates in provincially regulated workplaces are falling, they are actually rising in federally regulated workplaces. The gap is shockingly stark. Over the past 5 years, disabling injury rates in provincially regulated workplaces have seen an average decline of 25%, while federally regulated workplaces have seen a 5% increase over the same period.

A recent report by David Macdonald shows very clearly that this depressing statistic is no accident. It is the direct result of two conscious decisions by the current Conservative government.

First, he shows that the federal government is scaling back enforcement of the rules meant to keep workers safe and healthy. The number of federal enforcement officers has been cut, significantly increasing the number of workers per officer.

Second, an announcement buried in the 2007 federal budget required the benefits of any new federal regulations over the private sector to be balanced against the cost to business. That's right, the Harper government now requires regulators to balance saving workers' lives and preventing injuries against potential profits for employers! Once again, we see the "war on red tape" for what it really is - a move "to redefine the problem of injured worked as a cost of doing business." 

These moves have been very bad news for the more than 1 million workers in federally regulated workplaces.

Manitoba has shown how a government that cares about workers and their families can make workplaces safer and healthier. By doubling the number of health and safety enforcement officers and by quintupling the number of workplace inspections, Manitoba's NDP government has reduced the workplace injury rate by 40% over the past decade.

Jack Layton and the NDP have also shown a strong commitment to safer workplaces.

On May 2nd, let's vote to make federally regulated workplaces safer and healthier so that workers can make it home safely to see their families when the working day is done.

Reflections on spilled oil ... and blood

Many media outlets gave significant attention to an important anniversary this week - the one year anniversary of the horrific Deep Water Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The stories reminded us of the tremendous damage that was done to the environment. They reminded us of the outrage and shock we felt when we learned that, despite the advanced technologies that allow for deep water drilling, nothing could be done for months and months to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf.

The stories were also depressing because they underscored the degree to which so little has changed over the past year. Despite the horrors of the explosion and the subsequent spill, the appetite for offshore drilling appears to be as strong as ever. The public outrage of last spring and summer appears to have dissipated.

But what really struck me was that most media coverage completely ignored the significant fact that 11 workers were killed in the Deep Water Horizon explosion on April 20, 2010. These 11 workers never made it home from that job site:

• Karl Kleppinger, 38, of Natchez, Mississippi, who left behind a wife, Tracy, and a 17 year-old son, Aaron.
• Adam Weise, who was mourned at a vigil attended by hundreds of people in his community of Yorktown, Texas, last week. “Adam was my baby, just 24 years old,” the man’s mother, Arlene Weise told reporters.
• Aaron Dale Burkeen, a 37-year-old resident of Neshoba County, near Philadelphia, Mississippi. A local paper reported that Burkeen was responsible for getting the other crew members to safety before leaving, but was unable to get off the rig in time. He is survived by a wife and two children, ages 14 and 6.
• Donald Clark, 49, of Newellton, Louisiana, was scheduled to leave the rig on April 21, the day after the explosion.
• Roy Kemp, 27, Jonesville, Louisiana, leaves behind two daughters, one three years old, the other three months old, and his wife, Tracy.
• Jason Anderson, of Bay City, Texas, also leaves behind two children.
• Stephen Curtis, 39, of Georgetown, Louisiana, is also survived by two children. He had been working in the oil industry for 17 years, following in the footsteps of his father, Howard, who worked as a diver-welder for 34 years.
• Gordon Jones, 28, of Louisiana, leaves behind a son and a pregnant wife, Michelle.
• Blair Manuel, 56, of Gonzales, Louisiana, worked as a chemical engineer on the rig. He had three daughters and was engaged to be married.
• Dewey Revette, 48, from State Line, Mississippi, worked for Transocean for 29 years as a driller, and was also a father.
• Shane Roshto, 22, was from Franklin County, Mississippi and left a widow, Natalie Roshto.

And this carnage was not an isolated incident. Another 69 workers have been killed on offshore oil drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico since 2001. Another 1,349 workers have suffered injuries on these rigs.

I am telling you this because workers continue to die needlessly at workplaces across the world. In Manitoba last year, 15 workers died on the job, and countless others died from occupational disease.

Next week, on April 28, we will mark the International Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. I encourage you to take some time to mark this important day when we mourn the dead and pledge to fight for the living.

Events planned for Winnipeg include:

MFL Day of Mourning Candlelight Memorial Service

6:00pm, April 28, 2011

Room 2C, Union Centre, 275 Broadway, Winnipeg

Contact:  Manitoba Federation of Labour, 953-2563

A candlelight service to remember those who have lost their lives earning a living, and those who have become disabled from work.

SAFE Workers of Tomorrow Annual Day of Mourning Leaders’ Walk

11:45am, April 28, 2011

Depart from Union Centre entrance, 275 Broadway, Winnipeg

Contact: Allan Beach, SAFE Workers of Tomorrow, 992-2988

Join labour and community leaders in the Annual Leaders’ Walk to the Legislature to honour the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job.