Please Click Here to find recent news, events and information from CUPE Ontario.
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Every April 28th, we take pause to remember and mourn our sisters and brothers who have been killed on the job, and organize for change to ensure these tragedies are never repeated.
Just one week ago, CUPE members in Ontario were reminded of just how dangerous our workplaces can be. Last week, the Ontario Court of Justice handed down $137,500 in fines relating to the death of 25-year-old Brodie Schwartz, a member of CUPE Local 255.03. Brodie, a young husband and father, died while working for Westario Power. He was working at a sub-station to replace an insulator damaged during a thunderstorm. A ministry investigation found the workers did not have the information about the station that they needed in order to perform their work safely.
CUPE helped fight to ensure that those responsible for the death were held to account, and is now calling for a coronor’s inquest to help ensure real changes get made.
Sadly, our Brother from Elmwood, Ontario, is not alone. A worker dies on the job in Canada, on average, every eight hours.
In the last year alone, three CUPE members have lost their lives while at work. Anne Marie Chassie and Ute Merritt, were flight attendants who died in a plane crash near Resolute, Nunavut that also claimed the lives of eight passengers and two pilots. CUPE members raised funds at Convention for the flight attendants’ families, and CUPE pushed for a full investigation, which is now underway by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Transport Canada.
A third member, Stephanie Chaisson, a receptionist at a medical clinic in De Grau, NL, was killed at work by her estranged husband. CUPE and the employer, Western Health, have called for a provincial inquiry into this tragic incident. Workplace violence is a much more common cause of death amongst women. CUPE Ontario, working with its Women’s Committee and Health & Safety Committee, campaigns against all violence in the workplace, and succeeded in getting bill 168 passed, which requires employers to provide training about domestic violence in the workplace. We also work to end violence against women everywhere – in the workplace, at home and in our communities.
Few things highlight the importance of unions more than the hundreds of needless deaths and thousands of injuries suffered by workers on the job every year.
We can prevent these tragedies when we stand together to force governments to bring in better health and safety standards, and by making employers meet or exceed those standards.
Right now, our workplaces are at serious risk of becoming less safe. As governments and companies use difficult economic times as an excuse to cut budgets, we find ourselves fighting to keep health and environmental standards, proper monitoring and regulation, and contractual clauses that provide equipment that makes dangerous jobs safer.
For this reason, we must redouble our efforts to ensure the safety of our sisters and brothers. It is not enough for companies to receive fines after a worker dies. When an employer is at fault for a death, that employer must face jail time. Kill a worker, go to jail.
As we work for stricter penalties for those responsible for worker deaths and contracts and laws that help prevent these tragedies, let us also take time to remember those who have died. Let their legacy be a safer workplace for all.
In Solidarity,
Fred Hahn, President
Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer
