Steelworkers looking for City support

The United Steelworkers (Union) is currently in the midst of a Canada-wide ‘Stop the Killing’ campaign.

Monday Kael Dolejsi president of USW Local 5917, made a presentation at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council seeking a resolution of support for the campaign.

As background Dolejsi said it was important to understand the background.

Amendments passes in 2004 to the Criminal Code of Canada to make it easier to impose liability on corporations for serious workplace injuries and fatalities, he explained.

Those amendments where brought about following a mine disaster.

“In 1992, 26 miners died at the Westray mine in Pictou County, Nova Scotia as a result of an explosion caused by a build-up of methane gas and coal dust. Only 15 miners’ bodies were ever recovered.

The Government of Nova Scotia called a public inquiry to investigate the causes of the disaster. Justice Peter Richard presided over the public inquiry, which hears 76 days of testimony.

Justice Richard concluded that the explosions and the worker’s deaths resulted from a combination of corporate neglect and mismanagement, as well as government bungling and indifference,” explained material circulated to Council.

“Justice Richard made more than 70 recommendations to improve workers’ health and safety, including a recommendation that the Government of Canada amend the Criminal Code to ensure that corporations and corporate executives be held accountable for workplace safety.

“No individual or corporation was ever successfully prosecuted for the workers’ deaths at the Westray mine. At the time, Canada’s Criminal Code made it difficult to hold corporate executives and corporations criminally liable for serious workplace injuries and fatalities.

For over a decade, Westray family survivors and the labour movement, particularly the United Steelworkers, lobbied the federal government and Members of Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to make it easier hold corporate executives and corporations criminally liable for serious workplace injuries and fatalities.”

In 2004, Parliament unanimously adopted the Westray amendments to the Criminal Code. The Westray amendments are primarily focussed on the offence of criminal negligence.

While the so-called ‘Westray Amendments’ provide the ability to criminally prosecute those at fault in workplace accidents, Dolejsi said that is happening far too rarely.

“Between 2004 and 2013, the Westray amendments to the Criminal Code have been utilized in only 10 cases to bring negligence charges in cases of serious worker injury and death. In those 10 cases, criminal negligence charges were brought against five corporations and twelve individuals,” detailed the circulated report.

Key reasons identified in the document for the under-utilization of the Westray amendments:

*The consequences and criminal significance of serious workplace injuries and fatalities have not penetrated the consciousness of police, Crown attorneys, and provincial health and safety regulators. There is a prevalent belief that serious workplace injuries and deaths are matters for provincial regulatory response and not criminal sanction. The evolution of thinking on the need to prosecute impaired driving offences and domestic violence demonstrates an important parallel.

*Police and Crown attorneys face a lack of knowledge, education, training and resources in utilizing the Westray amendment.

*There is a lack of cooperation and coordination amongst health and safety regulators, police and Crown attorneys in the investigations of serious workplace injuries and fatalities.

*Governments and employers continue to push an agenda of deregulation which undercuts the desire and means to hold corporations liable for their criminally negligent actions which result in serious workplace injuries and deaths.

Dolejsi said what is needed is for workplace deaths to be initially looked at through the lens of it being a potential crime scene, utilizing police to gather evidence and for prosecutors to proceed with criminal charges where the evidence suggests such action.

The Union requested Council support a campaign to urge our provincial/territorial government, specifically the Attorney-General and Labour Minister to ensure that:

• Crown attorneys are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments;

• Dedicated prosecutors are given the responsibility for health and safety fatalities;

• Police are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments;

• There is greater coordination among regulators, police and Crowns so that health and safety regulators are trained to reach out to police when there is a possibility that Westray amendment charges are warranted.

Yorkton Council would pass a motion to file the report, and told Dolejsi they would take the matter up at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) and Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) levels, but they did not pass a resolution of support locally.