Military personnel and contractors’ health and safety in the spotlight
The health and safety of New Zealand’s defence forces and workers classed as contractors will be a focus of this year’s Workers’ Memorial Day in Palmerston North.
Organiser John Shennan said on one hand, the armed forces were about training people to be prepared to go into conflicts where they might kill or be killed, but on the other hand, the military was a large employer responsible for a range of workers, many engaged in occupations that were recognised in the private sector as dangerous work, including drivers, stores people, and those handling hazardous materials.
The Memorial Day commemorations on April 29 would feature speeches from Colonel Ben Bagley and Warrant Officer Lyall Mooney of the NZ Army 1st Brigade, who would talk about what they were doing to demonstrate their commitment to the health and safety of their people.
Another theme Shennan was keen to highlight was the vulnerability of workers pushed into accepting work as contractors.
He was hoping members of the Ginders family might attend — they were still grieving and seeking answers five years after the deaths of labour-hire worker Jake Ginders and his learner-driver licensed driver Floyd Harris.
The pair died while on their way to work at Oringi near Dannevirke, positions arranged by AWF, an organisation that a coroner’s hearing found had their driver licence status on record, but still encouraged them to car-pool to get to work.
“They were called contractors rather than employees. Those type of workers are incredibly vulnerable.
“They are typically low skilled, and the pressure is on them to do what an employer demands much more than a proper employee would [have to].
“Contractors have no rights at all. It’s simply a way of taking away workers’ rights and giving them all to the employer.”
Their deaths contributed to a tally of 17 workers who died at work or from illness acquired at work every week in New Zealand.
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff said between June 2022 and June 2023, 71 New Zealanders died as the result of an injury at work, and an estimated 750-900 more died from work-related occupational diseases such as asbestosis and cancers.
This will be the 27th consecutive year the day to remember those killed, injured or made ill at work has been marked in Palmerston North, despite pouring rain one year, and Covid-19 distancing rules making another a sparse gathering.
Other speakers at the commemoration will include Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith, Palmerston North MP Tangi Utikere, and, for the first time, St Peters’ Anglican Church vicar Stuart Goodin.
The Unions Manawatū event, supported by the city council and Manawatū People’s Radio, will be held from noon until 12.50pm next Monday at the memorial on the Fitzroy St access to Memorial Park.