Determined for justice
United Steelworkers push to see better enforcement of safety laws
Hundreds of cities and towns across the country have supported a campaign led by the United Steelworkers to urge governments to better enforce the Westray Law.
The first of those municipalities were the six located in Pictou County, and the union recognized them Monday night for their leadership and endorsement, presenting plaques to the towns of New Glasgow, Pictou, Stellarton, Trenton, Westville and the Municipality of Pictou County.
“You started it,” said Stephen Hunt, the USW director for western Canada. “We’re immensely proud of the work that you did in your community to fight back.”
The Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law campaign began three years ago, and honours the 26 miners killed when the Westray Mine exploded 25 years ago. It aims to save lives and make corporations more accountable through increasing the number of charges and prosecutions of those responsible for workplace deaths.
The campaign’s goal is to pressure and educate Crown attorneys and police to investigate, charge and prosecute workplace deaths as possible criminal acts.
Ken Neumann, national director of the USW, said when Bill C-45 was enacted in 2004, they believed they had won a great victory. However, in the years since, the union has been disappointed with the results, he said, noting that 11 prosecutions have produced few convictions in the country.
“Our theory is, if you kill a worker, you go to jail,” he said. “We mourn for the dead and fight for the living. We want to make sure these people didn’t die in vain, and make sure these things never happen again.”
Neumann said the USW rejects the notion that workplace deaths are the price of business. “People should have right to go to work safely.”
The campaign asks governments to educate, train and direct Crown attorneys and police officers to apply the Westray amendments of the Criminal Code of Canada, to hire dedicated prosecutors who are given the responsibility for health and safety fatalities, and to achieve greater co-ordination among regulators, police and Crown attorneys so that health and safety regulators are trained to reach out to police when there is a possibility that charges are warranted.
Sylvia Boyce, USW co-ordinator of health and safety for the Atlantic region, said in Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta, steps have been taken in this direction.
“We’re asking governments to provide the support and resources, to look at every workplace death through the criminal lens the way any other death in society is.”