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"For years workplace fatalities were faceless numbers. The real human sorrow barely rated a mention in the media until the disaster at Pike River. The scale of the tragedy in that mine gave a glimpse of what was wrong at many workplaces. The site was not fully unionised, the workers were not in charge of health and safety, and profits were put before safety. No one has been held to account for those 29 deaths. The company, the bosses, the governments – Labour and National – that blocked union rights and oversaw the demise of a culture of workplace safety, were all complicit "Worksafe’s official figures record an annual average of 75 people dying each year on the job in New Zealand and one in ten injured at work. A further 600-900 die from. . ." full at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/time-for-workers-to-take-charge-of-health-and-safety/ Interestingly, this legislation - which will allow the families of workers who die on the job to sue the employer/s - is being brought in by National (the Tories). Labour was in power for 9 years, without doing bugger all. In last month's budget, National also raised social welfare benefits for the first time in 43 years. We've had three Labour governments during that time that didn't raise them! The health and safety stuff has been largely driven by the deaths of 29 miners at Pike River mine several years ago, in a tragedy caused by the lack of mine inspectors (thanks to both Labour and National), the company's relentless profit drive and the complicity of the union brass (the then leader of the EPMU is now leader of the Labour Party). For the Pike River killings: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/the-murders-at-pike-river/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
