Hugo Desgagné, Responsible for Occupational Health and Safety Issues for Unifor-Québec
In October 2021, Bill 59, an Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime, was adopted. It modified the provisions contained within the compensation and consolidation system with regard to work-related accidents as well as its health and safety component.
In
the context of that reform, the government should have extended the
mechanisms relating to health and safety and worker
participation, just as they were provided for in the former law for
priority groups 1 and 2, the high-risk industries. It decided instead
to relegate this to
the Labour Standards, Pay Equity and Workplace Health and Safety Board
(CNESST).
As a result, a regulatory committee was created, with employer and union participation, whereby we are required to negotiate with employers, to develop a regulation with them. Not surprisingly, it's clear that there will not be any agreement. There's a deadline, as the law stipulates that the CNESST must adopt the regulation by October 2024, otherwise the government will take charge of the issue. So, we have to discuss the matter with our employers.
In terms of prevention, our positions are diametrically opposed. They're at odds on the number of workers' representatives on health and safety committees; the hours of release for workplace health and safety representatives (HSRs -- i.e., those who carry out workplace inspections, accompany workers, etc.); and the training of people who participate in health and safety committees and HSRs.
There's no agreement on the training they should receive or the number of hours of training required. Employers say that three hours of training per video should be enough to train health and safety committee members to do their job. Obviously this is not enough. We argue that there should be 40 hours of training for these people, in addition to specific training for HSRs. Also, who will give the training, who will elaborate the training program?
The union's position is that we are the ones with the expertise and we also want to keep some control over the information that will be released. We're able to provide the training, we have the representatives, the people who are trained and who have the expertise to go and train those in the field.
All these aspects are problematic.
As well, the employers want the modified prevention and participation mechanisms to be established according to compensation statistics. For us, from a union perspective, it doesn't make sense because it doesn't take into account the level of those not reporting workplace injuries and illnesses. It doesn't take into account the real risks and risk analyses at the workplace. It also doesn't factor in emerging risks, new risks, because we're only going to be looking at preconceived or traditional risks in certain settings.
What's required is to also take into account the psychosocial risks, the psychological risks, which in the new version of the law are recognized and that is positive. But they must be provided for in the risk analysis. If we simply base ourselves on the statistical data in terms of compensation, we're missing the point.
Employers look at the issue from the point of view of reducing their costs. Moreover, if a company really does have less accidents and fewer fatalities, it means that the prevention mechanisms are working and therefore need to be reinforced.
There cannot be any agreement with the employer on the basis of what they are putting forward.
The spirit of the resolution that was adopted on the Convention floor is that we did a lot of work at the time regarding political and union action on Bill 59 [which became chapter 27 after its adoption]. This mobilization must continue and the FTQ Health and Safety Committee must be given the mandate -- which was adopted -- to develop a mobilization plan, an action plan, with budgets allocated to this work, to conduct a vast campaign to put pressure on the CNESST and the government, as well as on employers, for a real modernization of the occupational health and safety system.
For the CAQ government, modernization and improvement do not go hand in hand. We want a system with real prevention mechanisms and effective and active participation, and ownership, within a joint context where employers take up their responsibilities.
In 2021, there were 207 work-related deaths in Quebec. One workplace death is one too many and the way to reduce that number is through prevention, through workers taking charge of health and safety in their workplaces.
(Translated from the original French by Workers' Forum.)
This article was published in
Number 13 - March 15, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10132.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca