A frantic race to the bottom

(April 28) - In 2007, 111 workers died from sudden, traumatic injuries in Ontario workplaces. Another 375 passed away after suffering a work-related disease. Those are the people whose claims were approved by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). More than a quarter of a million had injury claims approved by the WSIB, with more than 80,000 of them requiring time off work to recover.

That’s a worker killed every three days. Almost 700 injured every day, 221 seriously enough qualify for lost time pay. Thousands more suffer silently from repetitive strain injuries but are unable to prove they were caused at work.

It happens every year. According to the 2007 WSIB Annual Report, 5,086 workers were killed by their work since 1998.

It is, to put it gently, a shameful disgrace.

Today is the national day of mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. Once again, the Guelph & District Labour Council has organized an annual memorial service for 5 p. m. in Goldie Mill Park. They’ve been doing this for more than 20 years now, and they could be doing it for another 20. There is no sign the carnage is stopping. If anything, it could get worse.

When we get through this economic crisis, people will get back to work. If things keep going the way they are, though, the workplaces will be lacking a key component of occupational health and safety programs: a strong union. I worked in the field for long enough to understand one truth. Unionized workplaces have much more effective joint health and safety committees than nonunion places. There is greater compliance with the law and regulations, and more efficient channels of communication.

The stronger the union, the safer the workers.

This recession is being used for a purpose unlike any that went before it. Unions are under attack. It is happening primarily in the automotive industry, and a frightening number of people are standing on the sidelines cheering it on. Under the guise of bailing out GM and Chrysler, both the U. S. and Canadian governments are demanding that workers take a massive reduction in their standard of living.

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), along with the other unions in the public and private sectors, set standards that generally raised the bar for everyone. If wages and benefits go down in the manufacturing sector, they will go down everywhere.

The CAW is taking a beating, and you should not be happy about it. Every concession that is wrung out of them will trickle down. Toyota set its wages at a level where they thought the union could be kept out. Everything the Chrysler workers give back will be taken away from Toyota and Linamar workers.

We are in a frantic race to the bottom, and no one will win.

When we reflect on the purpose of the day of mourning, we should reflect on the fate of the people who will return to their jobs with wounded unions. When a company like Chrysler seeks to increase its competitive position, it isn’t just about wages. It’s also about reducing the work rules it must abide by. Health and safety programs will be eroded.

A couple of years from now, we will still be gathering at Goldie Mill Park on the afternoon of April 28. Our unions will still be trying to recover the ground they’ve lost. The financial institutions that caused the mess will continue to prosper. The workers who did not cause it will continue to suffer. Five hundred will die every year.

Those among us who think auto workers are overpaid will find themselves worse off than they’ve ever been.