The first day of the mines safety review committee in Sudbury held Wednesday wrapped up with a suggestion from the United Steelworkers that the hearings hadn’t been publicized well enough.
The province is holding review sessions in mining communities across Ontario to look at the health and safety of workers in the mining sector.
In Sudbury, the first day of the talks heard mostly from organized labour representatives. Much of the discussions focused on the internal responsibility system — also called the “IRS”.
The system is supposed to hold everyone accountable — right up to the president — to report health and safety violations and to problem-solve to make workplaces safer.
However, a Steelworkers representative told the hearing the system breaks down when there’s a disagreement over whether something is safe or not.
Myles Sullivan said workers may also be nervous about reporting a safety issue for fear of reprisal, and added the system didn’t work in the deaths of two men in a run of muck at Vale’s Frood-Stobie mine in 2011.
As this year draws to a close, I am drawing inspiration from the many members I have spoken to over this past year about their efforts in the union – bargaining committee members working to negotiate top notch agreements and resolve workplace issues, health and safety activists pushing for safer working conditions on the job […]
Statement from Scott Lunny, Western Canada Director, United Steelworkers union (USW), on the passing of former B.C. MLA Dan Coulter: It is with great sadness that the United Steelworkers mourns the death of former Member of the Legislative Assembly, Minister of State for Infrastructure and Transit, and Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility in British Columbia. Dan […]
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