More than 130 Steelworkers from across Quebec met in Trois-Rivières in early October for the first USW District 5 Health and Safety Forum.
“The future of health and safety in our workplaces is in our hands,” Julie Hébert, USW District 5 Health, Safety and Environment Co-ordinator, told delegates at the outset of the two-day forum.
Hébert stressed the importance of negotiating strong health and safety provisions in collective agreements, particularly given recent legislative changes by the Quebec government. For example, while new legislation requires all workplaces to ensure worker participation on health and safety, the amount of time employers must commit to prevention programs is very low.
Delegates participated in workshops to discuss how union strategies for health and safety activism, ensuring employers meet their obligations, maintaining prevention program in priority sectors and recruiting new health and safety representatives.
During a round table discussion by local union activists, a consensus emerged that healthy and safety activism at the grassroots level must always be a top priority.
“It’s all good and well to negotiate decent wages and good pensions, but being able to retire in good health makes all the difference,” said Pier-Alain Larivière of USW Local 9153.
The forum’s second day included discussions on the union’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) program for workplace deaths and injuries, as well as changes to Quebec’s health and safety legislation affecting issues such as injury claims and temporary work re-assignments.
Nicolas Lapierre, Assistant to the USW District 5 Director, told delegates they are contributing the Steelworkers’ legacy as the leading union on workplace health and safety.
“You are part of that history. You play a very important role. The bosses may have more money than us, but there are more of us and we have the heart and passion. That makes all the difference,” Lapierre said.
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