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Quebec Government's Attempt to Dismantle Bill 59 Must Be Withdrawn! Defend the Right of Workers to Safe and Healthy Working Conditions!Despite unanimous opposition from workers, their unions and organizations that defend injured workers, the Quebec government is pushing ahead, ramping up its preparations to pass Bill 59, An Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime, in the fall session of the National Assembly.
Organizations that defend injured workers state clearly that the changes that were made by the Commission in the course of the study do not change the fact that Bill 59 is a major attack on workers' rights whose official aim remains to "save" $4 billion for employers over the next 10 years on the backs of injured and sick workers. Labour Minister Boulet's statement to the Commission that its work expresses a spirit of harmony shows how the current political process is disconnected from the strivings of the working people to affirm their rights and the rights of all and from their actual living and working conditions. Bill 59 further entrenches the outlook of the government and the rich that workers are disposable, forcing injured and sick workers to fend for themselves and eliminating the voice of workers and the role of workers' organizations in determining what constitutes health and safety at work. Workers' Forum fully supports workers' demand that Bill 59 be withdrawn and that workers must have the decisive say in ensuring that their working conditions are healthy and safe.
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The
Commission of the National Assembly that is studying Bill 59 clause by
clause has now gone through all the changes that the Bill makes to
Quebec's Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases. It amends provision in the law that deal with treatment, rehabilitation and compensation for workers who are injured on
the job or suffer from job-related illnesses. The Commission is now reviewing Bill 59's amendments to the Act respecting occupational health and safety, the legislation that deals with prevention.