News archive
Britain:
Loco campaign sets improvements in train
Train cabs riddled with comfort and safety problems
are being improved after a campaign by train drivers’ union ASLEF.
Risks 300
Hazards news, 31 March 2007
USA:
Unions wear down Bush in protective gear victory
The Bush administration has said it will issue
by November a final rule telling employers they must not charge for personal
protective equipment (PPE). The action follows a lawsuit filed by national
union federation AFL-CIO and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
in January this year to force implementation of the eight-year delayed
rule.
Risks 299
Hazards news, 24 March 2007
Britain:
Union reverses unsafe Royal Mail austerity drive
Royal Mail has backtracked after postal union
CWU revealed an end of year cost cutting exercise was undermining agreed
safety procedures. The problem started when Royal Mail managing director
Ian Griffiths introduced on 25 January a major “austerity”
drive across Royal Mail Letters, with an internal memo instructing managers
to cut all expenditure in the final weeks of this financial year.
Risks 295
Hazards news, 24 February 2007
Britain:
Food firm injuries fall thanks to union role
Carlisle-based company Cavaghan & Gray has
seen a dramatic fall in workplace injuries and dangerous incidents thanks
to a new hazard spotting approach agreed with unions. The company, part
of the Northern Foods group, struck a new deal agreed with Usdaw reps
that resulted in the introduction of a zero tolerance campaign, based
around a simple hazard/near miss reporting form.
Risks 295
Hazards news, 24 February 2007
Britain:
Union reps really make a difference
Despite clear evidence that union reps make
workplaces safer and more productive, they are seeing their careers damaged
as a result of their unpaid role. Research this week from Personnel Today
and the TUC reveals that 92 per cent of union reps - 38 per cent “definitely”
and 54 per cent “possibly” - believe they could sacrificing
their careers in order to represent their colleagues even though they
enjoy a largely positive, professional working relationship with their
organisations’ human relations departments.
Risks 292
Hazards news, 3 February 2007
USA:
Construction firms push unions as safer choice
With the number of construction deaths on non-union
sites skyrocketing, New York's largest building contractors’ association
has launched a $1 million (£0.5m) ad campaign to underscore the
importance of hiring union workers. The year-long media blitz is aimed
at “public policymakers and real estate developers,” said
Louis Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers' Association
(BTEA).
Risks 287
Hazards news, 16 December 2006
USA:
Non-union workers at greater risk on site
Union members in New York are less likely to
be injured or killed at work, US safety officials have said. Richard Mendelson,
the Manhattan director for OSHA, decried the lax safety enforcement at
construction sites, and acknowledged a connection between union
presence and worker safety.
Risks 285
Hazards news, 2 December 2006
USA:
Safety No.1 reason to join a union
American workers rank workplace safety
as the top reason to join a union, according to new research. A poll by
the Employment Law Alliance, a network of management side employment lawyers,
found 63 per cent of workers surveyed identified health and safety as
an important factor in deciding to join a union, followed by getting better
benefits (60 per cent), obtaining higher wages (57 per cent) and increasing
job security (54 per cent).
Risks 274
Hazards news, 16 September 2006
Australia:
Protests as safety action is “criminalised”
Trade unionists from across Australia rallied
on 29 August in support of more than 100 West Australian construction
workers whose rowdy court appearance launched their fight against unprecedented
fines for striking. Unions are warning that the industrial relations changes
introduced by the federal government mean strike action on safety grounds
has been “criminalised”.
Risks 272
Hazards news, 2 September 2006 • Hazards union effect webpages
Australia:
Union prosecutes bank for not deterring robbers
An Australian bank has been forced to
cough up Aus$145,000 (£59,000) in fines after a union took it to
court for leaving workers at risk from violent robbers. Half of the fine
from the current case will be paid to the official Workcover Authority
and the balance to the union.
Risks 250
Hazards news, 1 April 2006
China:
Premier stresses union role in work safety
Trade unions should and can play a major role in work safety supervision,
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said. Trade unions at all levels should
be fully involved “especially in work safety supervision”
to better safeguard workers' interests, the premier said.
Risks 248
Hazards news, 18
March 2006
Britain:
Brent Council finds safety reps and committees make safer schools
Recently trained safety representatives are already making a
difference. A Brent NUT safety representatives survey, carried out in
June 2005, showed that after just one day's training safety representatives
carried out more than three times as many activities as untrained safety
representatives. Now with more training they are transforming school safety.
Brent NUT
Hazards news, 15 March 2006
USA:
Top lifesaving device in mines? A union
January’s mine tragedy in West Virginia, USA, which left 12 miners
dead and one critical, has prompted serious questions about what makes
mine safe. A report in Slate online magazine said: “The real obstacle
to safety reform is that miners no longer have a powerful union sticking
up for them.”
Risks 244
Hazards news, 18 February 2006
Australia:
Fifteen things you should know safety
If you thought knowing about risks and laws was the key to making your
workplace safe, think again. The first thing you need to know is how as
a union you can get the organisation and influence to put things right,
according to a 15 point checklist for union reps.
Risks 244
Hazards news, 18 February 2006
Britain:
Involve workers, minister tells local authorities
Local authorities should make union and worker involvement a “key
element” of their work programme, safety minister Lord Hunt has
said. He added: “Our ambitions for lower rates of injury and ill-health
cannot succeed without the participation and vigilance of those who work
with the risks and their representative organisations, the unions.”
Risks 238
Hazards news, 7 January 2006
Britain:
Non-union workplaces clueless on consultation
An investigation by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) boffins into workforce
participation in non-union workplaces has found most are clueless when
it comes to consultation rules and there is very limited participation
from the workforce as a whole.
Risks 237
Hazards news, 17 December 2005
Britain:
Accidents plummet in paper firm
A paper company working with print union Amicus has achieved a massive
cut in workplace accidents. Amicus says an effective employer and trade
union partnership had reduced accident rates by 63 per cent and improved
health and safety at St Regis mills.
Risks 233
Hazards news, 19 November 2005
Australia:
Reducing union site access is deadly
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has warned that federal
government plans to restrict union access to construction sites could
result in more deaths. Official studies in Australia have also confirmed
a marked union safety effect.
Risks 228
Hazards news, 15 October 2005
Britain:
Report confirms unions save lives on site
A report for a top Health and Safety Commission (HSC) committee has confirmed
the lifesaving impact of unions and safety reps in the construction industry.
Risks 220
Hazards news, 20 August 2005
New
Zealand: New union safety reps have saved lives
A 60 per cent reduction in workplace fatalities is a vindication a safety
law that resulted in thousands of new union safety reps in New Zealand,
a top union boss has said.
Risks 214
Hazards news, 9 July 2005
Britain:
HSE research shows safety reps work
A Health and Safety Executive report has confirmed the “positive
link” between the presence of union safety representatives and levels
of health and safety awareness and performance.
Risks 214
Hazards news, 9 July 2005
USA:
Union irons out laundry firm’s resistance
A US union campaign to organise a major laundry company with a poor safety
record has scored a notable victory. Textiles union UNITE HERE targeted
ABN AMRO, the finance company backing Angelica Corporation, in the run
up to the 28 April Workers’ Memorial Day this year.
Risks 212
Hazards news, 25 June 2005
USA:
Unions make workplaces healthier says CWA
Unions can have a dramatic impact on every aspect of workplace health
and safety, says US union CWA. CWA executive vice president Larry Cohen
commented: “Our health and safety work clearly distinguishes what
it means to work union, whether pushing for safety and health improvements
in a lead acid battery plant, a hospital, on the police force, or as an
outside technician or service rep.”
Risks 211
Hazards news, 18 June 2005
TUC
report confirms unions are good for you
An August 2004 report from TUC shows
that UK unions are you best defence against work-related accidents and
ill-health. Report author, TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson, said: “This
report confirms in simple and clear terms that safety representatives
are one of the most significant factors in improving the safety culture
of an organisation. While unions have known this for along time, we need
employers to look at the evidence and start accepting the huge impact
that consultation can make.”
The
union effect, TUC briefing, August
2004 • Risks
168, 7 August 2004
USA: Unions cut costs,
grief and injuries says motor giant
A union drive for safer car production
at General Motors (GM) has led to a greatly improved safety record and better
industrial relations - and massive cash savings for the company. The United
Auto Workers union (UAW) says the Detroit-based automaker now has among
the lowest number of workdays lost to injury among major automakers in the
US.
Risks
119, 16 August 2003
USA: Unions take the
strain
Union members with strain injuries are
far more likely to receive compensation and less likely to suffer damaging
social consequences after a work-related injury than non-union workers,
says the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.
Tim Morse and others. The relationship
of unions to prevalence and claim filing for work-related upper-extremity
musculoskeletal disorders,
American Journal of Industrial Medicine, volume 44, Issue 1, pages 83-93,
2003 [abstract] • Risks
115, 19 July 2003
BRITAIN: Safety chief
praises "immensely beneficial" union role
Britain’s top safety boss has praised the union role that leads to lower
accident rates in union workplaces. Health and Safety Commission chair Bill
Callaghan said: "The impact of trade unions on workplace health and safety
is immensely beneficial. We know that the presence of a recognised union
lowers the accident rate by a quarter compared with non-union establishments."
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
AUSTRALIA: Unions organise
for safer work
Australia’s trade unions have resolved
to put organising at the centre of their health and safety strategy. An
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) seminar this week attracted representatives
from over 20 unions and labour councils around the country and "confirmed
the fundamental importance of good occupational health and safety to all
workers, and its central role in union organising."
Risks 107, 24 May 2003 • OHS
Repsand UnionSafebriefings on the seminar recommendations
BRITAIN: Workers
can make the difference
The construction industry’s awful safety
record will only be improved if construction employers respect and engage
with the workforce and embrace trade unions, George Brumwell, general
secretary of construction union UCATT, has warned.
Risks 107, 24 May 2003
USA: Union reverses
car plant’s unsafe route
A General Motors plant that had one of the group’s worst accident rates
achieved a dramatic safety turnaround thanks to union know-how.
Risks 102, 19 April 2003
AUSTRALIA: Safety is a hot
organising issue
A top Australian union webzine has
called for workplace safety to be an organising focus for trade unions.
Workers Online editor Peter Lewis say occupational health and safety is
divorced from the day-to-day activities of industrial negotiations and the
forward looking organising agenda. "But talk to workers, and it's the issue
at the forefront of their minds," he says in an editorial this week. He
adds that a recent poll of members of the construction union CFMEU "found
71 per cent believed protecting workers' safety was an important union service
- way ahead of wages and conditions."
Risks
60, 29 June 2002
Training - 60% of
safety reps not getting enough
The majority of union safety reps
are not getting the training they need, according to a new TUC report -
and it says the lack of training could be leading to thousands of major
injuries every year. A survey of safety reps for the report, Training and
action in health and safety, found that after attending the advanced Stage
II course, 89 per cent of safety reps had initiated health and safety initiatives
on returning to work.
Risks
57, 8 June 2002 • TUC
news release
Britain:Union recruits 6,000
new members by standing up for safety
A lengthy industrial dispute has
resulted in the civil service union PCS winning safety improvements and
6,000 new members. In a letter to members, the union says: "By raising
the PCS profile as an active, campaigning union, we have won 6,000 new members
in DWP - bringing in extra income and strengthening us in future negotiations
and campaigns on your behalf."
Risks
47, 30 March 2002, and Risks
49, 13 April 2002
Australia: Unions
seek the legal right of entry to workplace
Discussions between unions and the
Western Australia state government could result in "roving union officials"
having a right to enter workplaces to investigate safety.
January
2002 briefing document, Unions Western Australia
Britain: Ready to roll! TUC Worker Safety Adviser pilot
On 28 January 2002, the first ever
Worker Safety Advisers began their training at the TUC's National Education
Centre. The Worker Safety Adviser pilot is designed to test the effectiveness
of providing employers with advice on worker involvement and participation
where there are no safety reps or representatives of employee safety. Of
course we already know that workplaces with union safety reps and joint
union/management safety committees have half the major injuries that workplaces
without consultation do - this pilot will test whether similar results can
be obtained with external union representatives.
TUC
news release, January 2002 • WSA
job description
Australia: Union
safety reps hailed as best way to improve work safety
Workplace health and safety
representatives are the unsung heroes of workplace safety, say unions in
the Australian state of Victoria. Leigh Hubbard, Trades Hall Council secretary,
said the current crop of occupational health and safety representatives
would be the ones to identify the workplace epidemics of the future.
VTHC
news release, 19 June 2001
USA/Global: Measuring up for safety
The Triangle of Prevention developed
by American union the OCAW aims to stop industrial injuries and illness
before they happen. The three sides of the triangle: Training on Systems
of Safety and Incident Investigation, Full-Time Health and Safety Reps and
Measuring And Tracking Incidents.
ICEM
Global, No.1, 1998
USA: AFL-CIO survey:
American public likes unions more and more
Unions are winning the public relations
battle against corporate mud-slinging, according to a recent survey conducted
for the US labour federation AFL-CIO. And the American public has more confidence
in unions on health and safety than on any other issue.
Excerpt
from Graphic Communicator, GCIU, March-April 2001
Britain: Safety
reps are vital - official
Health and Safety Commission
chair Bill Callaghan has said: "The partnership approach is vital to
this initiative, while the role of safety reps is the clearest example of
how it can work in practice. This is not a point for debate - workplaces
with safety reps and effective safety committees have up to 50 per cent
fewer injuries than those that don't."
HSE
news release, 20 July 2000