The Anti-Social Offensive Endangers the Health and Safety of WorkersWorkers are holding their activities on April 28 to mourn the dead and those injured on the job within difficult social and working conditions. Decades of the neo-liberal anti-social offensive have put the assets of society at the disposal of the private interests of the most powerful global oligopolies in contradiction with the needs and well-being of working people.
The oligarchs have raised the banner of global competition as a pragmatic excuse to eliminate regulations meant to protect the health and safety of workers and care for the well-being of the injured. Making workers fair game for abuse, dictate, injury and death is inscribed on the oligarchs' banner to make Canada open for business. Open for business for the global oligopolies means that public monies should as first priority be given to them in pay-the-rich schemes to increase their competitiveness and not "squandered" in social programs such as caring for injured workers and enforcing standards at workplaces to protect the health and safety of workers. The oligarchs have invented ugly concepts and practices such as "risk management" to eliminate regulations and standards meant to protect workers, the public and environment from hazards arising from modern production methods. Those modern forces of production bring with them increasingly serious and complex health and safety issues, including mental health. Recognizing and eliminating dangers and compensating workers when affected have become problems to resolve. The resolution of these problems conflicts with the aim of the oligarchs in control who see all measures to ensure the well-being of workers and the public as a drain on the private profits they can expropriate from the value workers produce.
An example is the situation in the post office. Canada Post is now the federal employment sector with the highest number of disabling injuries per year. Canada Post refuses to recognize the problem and negotiate a solution with postal workers. During the recent rotating strikes of postal workers waged in part to resolve this situation, the Trudeau government introduced back-to-work legislation, which effectively gave Canada Post management a way to refuse to negotiate and solve any of the outstanding issues including those involving health and safety.
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The anti-social offensive
includes a wrecking of regulations and their enforcement which the
working class has fought to obtain to protect their health and safety
at work and to care for those injured on the job. Established standards
of safe work have been eroded and even eliminated. They have fallen
foul of the pursuit of the global
oligarchs for greater private profit from the value workers produce.
Under the imperialist
banner of being open for business and defeating global competition,
legislative and regulatory arrangements that are supposed to ensure the
involvement of workers in the development of standards for recognition
and resolution of health and safety problems have been replaced by the
unrestricted power of global private
interests. Negotiations to resolve problems and even to come to terms
of employment with collective agreements meeting the approval of
workers have been replaced with overbearing monopoly dictate backed up
by state-organized decrees, court orders and legislation.