OHS REPS @ WORK

As of April 16, 2007, Victoria had recorded eleven workplace fatalities.  In the same time last year there were only five fatalities.

But official statistics tell only a very small part of the story. In fact, Australia has a poor record in OHS: research by Access Economics (a very conservative organisation) suggests that between 4,900 and 8,200 Australians die each year of work-related causes.

So rather than be complacent, we need to redouble our efforts, particularly in the light of the attacks on workers' rights and occupational health and safety currently being proposed by the Howard Federal Government, all under the guise of 'legislative reform'.

International Workers Memorial Day - April 28 

International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) is a day that unions, workers and their families and communities around the world join together to remember and mourn for those who have been killed or injured at work, and to fight for the living. This year it will observed by a minute's silence on Friday April 27. Over 100 countries around the world observe this day. 

The theme for 2007 is Demand Safe and Healthy Standards and Enforcement. This is very relevant for all Australian workers. The Howard government is making it easier for employers to leave the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety and Workers Compensation systems and join the federal scheme Comcare – which will result in the loss of important benefits and rights for workers and lead to less safe and healthy workplaces.

History of IWMD

• International Workers Memorial Day was started by Canadian Unions in 1984. By 1996, it was an international day. Australian unions have been involved for the last 12 years.
• In 2004 Victorian Unions adopted the canary as the symbol of this day (first adopted by Canadian Unions).

Why we Have IWMD

• Worldwide, over 2 million workers are killed by work each year. This is more people than die on the roads, or as a result of violence, including wars.
  
• As well as fatalities, millions more are injured or die of diseases caused by their work.
• In Victoria in 2006, 29 workers lost their lives at work - an appallingly high number. Victoria has had a horror start to 2007, with 11 workplace fatalities as at 16 April. Australia is generally a poor performer compared to other industrialised countries. In 1999, for every 70 workers killed at work in Australia, the corresponding number in the USA was 53, and in the UK it was 14.

The Theme for 2007

• The theme for 2007 is Demand Safe and Healthy Standards and Enforcement. This is very relevant for us, as the Federal Government is reducing OHS standards and WC provisions under the guise of cutting red tape for business. They are doing this by making it easier for employers to leave the state system for the inferior Federal system called Comcare.
• Recent changes to Comcare OHS and comp laws mean that there are fewer OHS and comp rights under this regime. This is bad.
• Howard’s changes take away some of the rights workers have under state OHS laws, for example, your right to elect your HSRs without employer interference (employers run elections under Comcare), and the right of that HSR to choose to attend union training (Comcare is silent on this issue)
• Under Comcare, a HSR cannot direct a work cessation if there is an immediate risk without the permission of the employer. Under Victorian law, the employer’s agreement is not required.
• Comcare has only 32 inspectors to cover the whole of Australia who in 2005/06 conducted only 189 workplace visits. (WorkSafe Victoria has 240 Inspectors who conducted 41,100 in the same period). So, the enforcement of safety laws and standards and the prosecution of employers who have done the wrong thing will simply not happen.
• Unionised workplaces are safer workplaces, so taking the union out of the OHS equation will mean less rights and more unresolved health and safety issues in workplaces.
• According to the Financial Review newspaper, one of the effects of Comcare on workers compensation will be to allow the federal government to “step in and offer a best practice compensation scheme that drives down death and injury premiums”. Once again, it’s all about money, not workers lives.

(You can download this as a background flyer at the bottom of the page)

Activities

Annual Memorial Services

VTHC and IDSA

Now a traditional event, there will be a memorial service - to be held at the Memorial Rock, in conjunction with IDSA (Industrial Death Support & Advocacy), followed by a light luncheon at Horti Hall.  Unions, OHS Reps and Your Rights At Work campaign activists are particularly encouraged to attend. There will be a number of speakers, including Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary, and Jack May, President of IDSA.

There will be refreshments and guest speakers at Horti Hall, which is located across the road from the Trades Hall Council building. The Victorian Trades Hall Choir will be performing at this year’s memorial event.

WMD badges are available (image above) - either on the day or from your union - at cost price of $2.70 each.

Date: Friday April, 27th

Time: Memorial Service 10:30am - 11:15. Afterwards in Horti Hall from 11:15.

Address: Victorian Trade Hall Council, cnr Lygon St & Victoria Pde, Carlton South

More information: Margot Hoyte mhoyte@vthc.org.au or phone 9662 351

Read the interview with Jack and Deanne May, president and secretary of IDSA - and the day that changed their lives and those of many others for ever.

Gippsland Asbestos Related Diseases Support Inc (GARDS)

This year GARDS will particularly be remembering the two fatalities at the power station.  There will be an ecumenical service at this ceremony conducted by Heather Marten from St Mary's for families and workmates alike to come and honour those who have been lost.  Speakers have been invited from across the community who will also add their voices to this occasion, which this year has been dedicated to Asbestos globally.

Venue: Morwell Rose Garden
Date: Friday 27th April, 2007
Time: 11.00am

For further information contact Vicki Hamilton on 0407274173 or the GARDS office: 51281218

What can you do on Workers' Memorial Day?

• participate in the Workers' Memorial Day event
• Organize a meeting about health and safety in your branch or workplace, or a public meeting;
   
• Elect health and safety representatives for your workplace if you don't have them (get the materials for electing more OHS Reps, under the new laws that come into effect 1 July, 2005 - contact your union);
   
• Hold an event like a tree planting ceremony, or dedicating a piece of public art or street furniture (like a park bench) to commemorate local workplace deaths;
• Organize a minute’s silence at work;
• Organise a safety reps’ inspection of hazards in the workplace and discuss health and safety issues at your workplace;
• Have a meeting of OHS Reps and union delegates;
• ask your employer to fix health safety problems at your workplace - employers have a legal duty to provide a safe and healthy workplace. If your employer will not fix health and safety problems, contact your union;
• Persuade the local council or other local institutions to mark the day by lowering flags on their buildings as a mark or respect for the workplace dead.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you:

• Tell the local media what you are doing and why;
• Involve your members – don’t make it just something for the activists;
• Tell your union and the VTHC what you are planning, so we can help;
• publicise it and tell other people about it. 

Read more on International Workers' Memorial Day Activities on the Hazards website,  including the sorts of events that unions all over the world are organising.