April 28 - Day of Mourning

Comments by MFL President Darlene Dziewit made at a Candlelight Ceremony April 28, 2006.

Today we mourn for the 35 Manitoba workers who lost their lives last year for reasons directly attributable to being at work. Tens of thousands more were injured or sickened on the job.

These numbers reflect the 11 year average between 1995 and 2005 – a period of time that saw 337 die because of the workplace, either through severe trauma as the result of an accident or because of a fatal illness contracted on the job. That is 337 men, women and young people too many.

I hope that recent amendments to the Workplace Safety and Health Act and increased awareness about how dangerous work can be, will result in a substantial decrease in the injury and death rates that face working people in our province.

Two major reasons why people are more aware of workplace hazards are found in the high profile work of both the SAFE Workers of Tomorrow project and the Workers Compensation Board. The evidence of those efforts can be found in mass media advertising campaigns, an ambitious school-based campaign by the SAFE Workers of tomorrow – and even one of the 'Bears on Broadway' that is still on display in front of the Workers Compensation Board headquarters.

The SAFE Workers of Tomorrow project has brought its critical message to more than 90,000 high school students – more than 10,000 since last September alone. While we can't thrust ourselves between young workers and the dangers in the workplace that can harm them – we can make them aware of the danger they face and their rights.

Thanks to legislative action by our provincial government – workers now have a more effective role to play in workplace safety and health – a place at the table with management. Working people have the right to know what dangers there are in the workplace. They have the right to participate in the day-to-day detection, evaluation and reduction of workplace hazards. And they have the right to refuse to do work that is an immediate threat to their health and safety. These are the "three R's" that are critical to reducing the carnage in our workplaces.

But legislation and awareness are not enough. The role that unions have played in setting new standards for workplace safety and health, and role we will play in the future, is invaluable. Our unions enable our members to have a real and immediate impact on the level of safety and healthy conditions in their workplaces.

Since our last meeting on the Day of Mourning, there have been a dramatic public lessons on just how our unions can make a difference. On January 29 of this year, the Mosaic Company mine in Esterhazy Saskatchewan was the scene of a potentially tragic fire. Seventy miners, members of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers' Union were trapped underground for more than 24 hours – besieged by toxic smoke that filled the 30 kilometre by 20 kilometre network of tunnels.

All of their lives were saved by the emergency refuge stations they were able to take shelter in – refuge stations that their union fought hard for. These refuge stations were sealable chambers containing air, food, water, emergency medical equipment and telecommunications gear.

While the fire was being doused and the air cleared, most of the men in the refuge stations were finally able to relax somewhat, sleep on cots and speak to the surface by telephone. More than 24 hours after the start of the emergency, rescue crews led everyone safely to the surface.

Union officials say realizing these refuge stations was the direct result hard work by union members and a spirit of cooperation on safety issues between the union members and the company – a spirit made possible by a legislative framework similar to that which exists in Manitoba. In this environment, safety issues and concerns raised by the union are addressed in order to meet the needs of the members.

At the end of the day, 70 miners went home to families and friends, alive and well, because three unions - the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers - spent nearly a decade convincing the government of Saskatchewan to implement the necessary legislation and regulations.

Contrast this with mine tragedies elsewhere. Less than a month before the Esterhazy accident, 12 of our brothers died when an explosion shattered the Sago mine in Tallmansville, West Virginia. Only one of 13 miners trapped underground survived the ordeal because emergency canisters they were using were only designed to provide them with 10 hours of oxygen.

At the heart of this disaster is the question "Why did the number of reported safety violations triple since its owner, International Coal Group, purchased and reopened the mine in 2004 - a rate far higher than many other similar sized mines in the United States?"

One of the major differences is that the workers at the West Virginian mine had no union to provide the all important safety focus and a means for the workers to take action. Another difference is the regulatory framework that is absent there.

In my view, it is the lack of effective union representation and worthwhile laws and regulations that are at the root of the terrible mine safety record in China. Last year, five major coal mine accidents took the lives of 548 miners continuing a horrific level of mine disasters that stretches back for decades.

Today we mourn for the dead, no matter where their final resting place is. We mourn for all of those injured or sickened by their work. We pledge to redouble our efforts to make sure that our workplaces and work processes don’t injure or kill us.

Working for a living should not mean dieing for a living.