Mar 2009

IAM Service Award Recipients

April 28 is Local Lodge 905’s 50th anniversary. To celebrate every dues-paying member should have received by now our anniversary golf shirt.
April 28th is also International Workers Memorial Day. Started by Canadian Public Service Union, the Canadian Labour Congress declared an annual day of remembrance in 1985. In 2008 there were over 10,000 union events in over 100 countries involving over 6 million workers. Over 2,000,000 yes that is right over two million people are killed by work worldwide each year – more than by war or Aids. “If terrorism took such a toll, just imagine what would be said and done.” Jukka Takala, ILO
Wear your 905 shirts on the 28th with pride. For 50 years our Local has fought for the living, through compensation packages, fairness at work, and by taking action with health and safety in our work places. We display our Union Logo to celebrate involvement, to remember the dead, and to continue the campaign to make workplaces safer, to reduce deaths, injuries and illness caused by work!

Dave Thompson
 

Due to numerous complaints on seating availability and food selection from the Hourly Workers                    the company has proposed dayshift Lunch Time change.
Hourly Worker Lunch Time:- 12:00pm to 12:25pm.
Staff Lunch Time:- 12:30pm to 1:00pm.
Voting Poles will be located in the Cafeteria on April 8th, 2009.
Voting time will be 7am to 8am; 3:30pm to 4:30pm.

Dan J Robertson Chief Steward LL905 Ajax
 

Recent disclosures show that airlines are asking civil aviation inspectors to sign confidentiality agreements is part of a new and disturbing trend.
As the national union representing Canada’s inspectors, the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees (UCTE/PSAC) supports its inspector members refusing to sign any such confidentiality agreements.
“We are pleased to hear that Transport Canada is also asking inspectors to refuse to sign such documents. It is plain wrong that anybody in the airline safety system would even consider such a measure. Somebody at Transport Canada needs to stand up to the airlines and tell them that the minister is responsible for airline safety in Canada…period,” says Christine Collins, UCTE president.
UCTE believes this kind of behaviour from the airlines is symptomatic of a much broader problem in the way in which Transport Canada is implementing Safety Management Systems (SMS) for the airline industry. Because of lack of clarity and direction from the minister, the airlines mistakenly think that everyone is working under their SMS licensing arrangement, including Inspectors working under ministerial authority.
“One of the first sentences in the Aeronautics Act states clearly that the Minister of Transport is responsible for aviation safety in this country. Transport Canada Inspectors work under ministerial delegative authority. They are responsible to the minister and are responsible to the statute that they are empowered to enforce. Why the airlines would even feel justified in asking for such a measure is mystifying to me,” says Kerry Williams, UCTE vice president.

PSAC/CALM

 

Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) health and safety inspectors will blitz workplaces during the month of April to identify hazards which can contribute to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).  
Musculoskeletal disorders, also known as repetitive strain injuries, are the most commonly reported type of injury accounting for almost half of all lost-time injuries in Ontario. 
The MOL blitz will cover provincially regulated workplaces in the construction, industrial, healthcare and mining sectors. Inspectors will focus their attention on work that requires workers to exert force when lifting, pushing or pulling items and tasks that put workers in awkward postures or are repetitive. 
Within each sector inspectors will focus on priority workplaces including: homebuilding with special attention to low-rise forms; retirement and nursing homes; retail food establishments (i.e. grocery stores); and within the mining sector the operation of drills, jacklegs and related equipment. 
Anne Duffy, the MOLs provincial ergonomist, led the team of Ministry ergonomists who visited workplaces and helped identify MSD risk factors and guidelines for inspectors. This campaign is significant she says, "This is the first blitz to run across the Ministry's four sector programs. We are targeting workplaces which really need our attention and help."  
Duffy says inspectors will ask workers if they have been trained on the signs and symptoms of MSD and if they have received instruction on how to safely set up their workstations. Inspectors will further ask joint health and safety committee members and health and safety reps if their inspections identify MSD risk factors.  
While Ontario does not have a specific regulation on MSD prevention, inspectors will issue orders using existing provisions of the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Regulations, especially the general duty clause (section 25 (2)(h)). 
This MSD blitz is the latest in a series under the MOL's Safe at Work program. Reports from earlier blitzes have seen many Ontario employers charged for failing to comply with fundamental responsibilities including the duty to establish and certify a joint health and safety committee.  
Are you interested in MSD prevention/ergonomics training courses?
Want to learn more about MSD prevention resources from WHSC and MOL?
Do you want to read hazard bulletins related to MSD/RSI/Ergonomics?
Want to read more about the MOL MSD blitz?
Want to read reports from previous MOL blitzes?

Workers Health & Safety Centre
 

The dominant economic model of recent years is leaving many behind.
But even in a period of rapid globalization, there are other ways to build an economy with good jobs for all.
These are the factors critical to providing good jobs:
the right for every worker to be treated with respect and dignity
the ability to have full-time, stable employment
the right for everyone to have a living wage
the need to have work that is safe and healthy
the enforcement of labour rights and standards in all forms of work
the right to have a collective voice at work through unionization
the investment in public education and life long learning
the recognition of diverse skills, qualifications, learning and creativity
the provision of benefits for medical, dental, vision and disability needs
the equitable access to work, extended training and advancement
the opportunity to participate in a greener economy
the ability to retire with dignity.
This declaration calls on people from all walks of life to:
demand an economy with good jobs for all
build social solidarity in our communities, workplaces, our organizations and public institutions
insist on public policies from all orders of government that support the goals of a just and inclusive society
require all with power in society to exercise that power for the common good
ensure that economic activities are sustainable, enabling future generations to meet their needs while living in harmony with our planet and with each other.

Good Jobs Coalition/CALM

The Good Jobs Coalition is an alliance of community, labour, social justice, youth and environmental organizations.
 

Over 2,000 workers and their families rallied in Hamilton, ON Mar. 21 demanding the Canadian government put people before profits.

The CLC rally, brought together public and private sector unions to draw attention to how the economic crisis is hurting working Canadians and their families.

“The Conservative government doled out over $200 billion in corporate and bank bailouts, but has turned its back on workers in this country,” said Paul Moist. “It’s time for the federal government to invest in people to protect jobs, social programs, and the Canadian economy.”

Union leaders, along with laid-off workers from the hurting manufacturing sector in Ontario, called on the federal government to fix the Employment Insurance (EI) program, provide proper training for laid-off workers and invest in public infrastructure and public services.  

“We need to join together to demand that government protect and deliver public services for all, protect and expand pensions, human rights, labour rights and real social programs,” said Moist. “Together, with workers from around the globe, we have the power to turn things upside-down to make governments work for people, instead of corporations in addressing the economic crisis.”

The rally was followed by a march to the federal building in downtown Hamilton, and included speeches from labour leaders and politicians, including the new Ontario NDP leader, Andrea Horwath.  A similar rally was held in Belleville, Ontario.

CUPE/LabourStart
 

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the National Day of Mourning as proclaimed by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984. That date coincided with the seventieth anniversary of the first Ontario Worker’s Compensation Act approved by the government.
On February 1, 1991, April 28th was subsequently enshrined by Royal Statute as, a ‘Day of Mourning for Person’s Killed or Injured in the Workplace’. The Statute declares that, “it is desirable that Canadians should designate a day of mourning to remember workers killed, disabled or injured in the workplace and workers afflicted with industrial disease.” This day is critical to public awareness and support for our collective efforts to save lives.
Although recognized workplace time-loss injuries recorded by all Provincial/Territorial Workers Compensation Boards across the country in the year 2007 stood reduced, down by 11,853 from 2006 to 317,524. Clearly more tragic was the “Total Number of Fatalities Accepted” for the same year nationwide. The Association of Workers Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) reports an increase over 2006 of 79 deaths for a national total of 1055 fatalities at work or on account of industrial causes. That is how many Canadian mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends never made it home alive from work or died from workplace causes in the year 2007. Twenty years of fighting workplace accident injury and fatality; and the sad fact remains that each year brings new statistics representing the on-going travesty, heartache and hardship of personal loss from the workplace.
We can take heart in the fact that efforts of occupational health and safety activists everywhere are reflected in lost time injury results, but severity of accidents and resulting deaths remain abhorrent. Canada remains one of the few nations where workplace deaths are allowed to increase year on year. The sad fact is, twenty five years ago we mourned the loss of fewer workers than we do this day!
The resulting cost in human life and suffering is tragic and heartrending. The cost in dollars to the Canadian economy remains staggering. Public awareness must continue to play a major role.
Many Local lodges plan Day of Mourning Events. Many more attend those events that are staged by local labour councils. Please heed the call by our International asking that we all encourage maximum participation.
Major gains have been made with the adoption of legislation that corporations, and those in positions responsible for the direction of workers, be subject to criminal liability for workplace accountability. In addition to legislative gains, improvements are also reflected in collective bargaining. However, in light of the foregoing statistics, much more needs to be done.

‘Mourn the Dead, Fight for the Living!’

The Dispatch/IAM
 

Spring does not arrive until the ice is out of the compost heap.
Compost is best when aged like a fine wine. I mean would you prefer to drink a nice 97, or something that was made last Thursday.
A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed, and not a valuable plant, is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it’s a valuable plant.
Gardening requires a lot of moisture, most of it in the form of perspiration.
The best way to garden is to put on a wide brimmed straw hat and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in the other, tell someone else to start digging.

Internet/CALM
 

Windsor, ON – The newest members of IAMAW Local Lodge 235 didn’t waste any time joining the Machinists or obtaining their first collective agreement.

“When you organize a group of workers and ratify their first collective agreement in only three days, it has to be some sort of record,” explained a very proud IAMAW District 78 Organizer Scott Jackson. The management of Turbo-Gen, an industrial sub-contractor, approached the IAMAW about organizing their workforce.

“Their management felt that if they were to continue to bid on jobs in unionized workplaces, it was in the best interest of their employees that they become members of a union. Based on our past relationship with Turbo-Gen, they came to us.”

The three-year agreement provides for wage increases of $1.00/hour in each year. The wages range from $60.00/hour for Technician-Field Advisor to $44/hour for Millwrights and $25.00/hour for student labourer. Other agreement highlights include:

RRSP contribution of $2,000.00/year paid by employer
Travel per Diem of $55.00/day

The 20 members install and maintain industrial pumps and turbines in a variety of industries across Ontario.

The Dispatch/IAM
 

Wash it with warm or cold water only, never in hot water. Dry in delicate cycle or remove it from the dryer while it is still damp or it will shrink.

Editor
 

Editor
 

28 Years John Grylicki
28 Years Peter Serjeant
23 Years Ernest (Rick) Surman
20 Years Patrick Hau
20 Years Robin Keough
19 Years Sieunarine (Rick) Bisnauth
17 Years Bobby Rayner
14Years Mike Fung
14 Years David Hampson
14 Years John Hudson
14 Years Charles Millsom
14 Years Rodolfo Vizcarra
13 Years Allen Lien Chiu
12 Years Ken Cousineau
12 Years Barbara Joyce
11 Years Gerry Kyle
10 Years Doug Boyd
9 Years Martin Price
8 Years Bissoondial Ramoutar
8 Years Guangcai (Gary) You
5 Years Alan Symss
4 Years Janice Mckenzie
4 Years Shawn Rose
2 Years Scott Moore
2 Years Matthew Mitchell
2 Years Mohamed Hanif
2 Years Jason Shaw
2 Years Nathan Stephenson
2 Years Dave Shaw Jr.
 

Mike Bennie
Pavel Blaha
Randy Crawford
Delfin Flores
Tony Jordi