There are no inquests into loggers' deaths, because they would not be "business friendly" and may cut into the "competitive efficiency of the global marketplace".

In other words, corporate profits.

Ed Deak, Big Lake.

Clearly this government puts profits before people.The very idea of business policing itself on safety or environmental issues is ridiculous.Sweep it under the rug and hope no one notices.Shameful!

If I cut down a tree and that tree pins me fatally to the ground, the cause of death is immediately, vividly apparent. Less so, will be the contributing factors that may include, lack of training, speed up, tiredness, equipment failure etc. If workers are not to be considered expendable - an acceptable cost of doing business - these are the areas that require closest scrutiny before the fatalities and lesser injuries occur.

If these were aboriginal children, we would be in full tilt freak out by the NDP. They don't care about a few white guys dying in the forest.
Where is Adrian Dickhead when we need him ?

Some of the posters on here suggest the government profits, somehow, from loggers dying in accidents.
I can't see how the government could profit from people dying at work, unless of course there was something going on behind the scenes that we never hear much about, a different kind of profit.
What this is really about is our political system and how it works. A politician has a four year maximum shelf life. What he does in that four years determines whether or not he is re-elected. The way the system works is the multi national publicly traded companies (including forest companies) lobby the politicians during these four years to get their needs met by promising campaign donations for certain things. It is no different than the sponsorship scandal in Quebec, actually it is worse in the case of forest workers as people are dying.
The whole political system is so broken and corrupt that there would probably be anarchy if people really knew how bad it was.
It isn't about one political party, it is an entrenched system and any party in power long enough always uses it to there advantage.
The reality is that most of the easily accesible timber in decent terrain has been logged and they are now working in an extremely inhospitable landscape a lot of the time and it is far more dangerous. The companies have to haul the logs farther distances from more dangerous worksites which affects their bottom line.
The last thing these big companies need is a set of safety guidelines which will further erode there profit margins so they work with the politicians to maintain the staus quo.

This is heartbreaking. Why isn't Workers' Compensation Board (or whatever they're calling themselves now) on the job, checking out unsafe practises, issuing warnings backed by law?

And how difficult would it be to ensure that nobody is forced to work at a dangerous job for 11.5 hours a day, 14 days in a row ... Sufferin' Jesus, I thought that sort of regimen went out in the dark ages.

Now I understand why I was nearly killed at a Parksville intersection. As a pedestrian, I had waited for the green/walk light and was about to step off the curb. A man standing beside me -- a very alert man -- threw his arm across me, holding me back.

I was about to turn and knock his block off when I saw the fully loaded logging truck gunning its engines as it came roaring that (on his side) red light, not 6 feet from the curb where we stood. I'd have been killed, without a doubt. I always remember that kindly pedestrian when I pass that corner.

I also remember the truck driver who, I knew at the time, was probably frantic to keep up with his schedule. Last I heard, the logging trucks had to arrive at the mills in sequence, so there's no chance of stopping for a rest or even slowing down. If the truck needs gas or there's a flat tire, the driver had to somehow keep up.

Workers' safety, therefore, concerns us all. It could have been a child stepping off that curb when the light turned green; and there might not have been a Good Samaritan there to save that person.

The least we can do, as a society, is to give those who work in the forest industry a reasonable working life. Truck loggers are, I think, contractors so it may be a whole different "free enterprise" area.

The reason why there are more logging accidents today is because the forest industry is booming. The NDP solved the accident problem in the logging industry by trying to kill it.

The logging industry used to be significantly bigger years ago than it is today, the upward trend in deaths has nothing to do with the industry "booming".

Deaths in the Forest industry are a direct result of deregulation. The Governement has made WCB ineffective by reducing thier workforce, not enough inspectors to get into the field.
The Governement is complicit in the deaths of these workers as they have created the environment that allows these giant logging companies to treat thier employees with total disregard.
The Liberal government and corporations are interested in only one thing and thats making money. People don't count and its time the workers of this province kicked some ass. I can think of two posters on this thread who would be good to start this.

How is it the gov't's fault? Why is it due to WCB being reduced? All incidents are still investigated by the WCB immediately...trying to blame the gov't sounds like a desperate political play by an NDP supporter.

It looks to me like most people on this thread know more about bashing the gov't they love to hate, and very little about the forest industry. And Quentin I'm starting to think you fit into that category...

What is "Global competiveness"?
Our resource industries must now compete with countries like china where labour concerns and regulatory oversight are hardly considered.
Slave labor working in unsafe conditions creating more environmental degradation for the sake of corporate profits. Wonderful.
This is what the rank and file here in Canada have to look forward to.
I'm sure that gordo and his corporate "resource extraction" puppet-masters
and the red-tape cutting bonanza they have undertaken since 2001 have been very sucessful in acheiving this laudable "goal".
On average 5000 miners a year are killed in china alone. (how many already this week?)
I wonder what our hard-working foresters think of the "golden decade".

BEcause they have less people watching over the industry, so the operators that are scummy enough to do it, know they can get away with not following the rules.

However, Kootenay, the actual problem is not big companies, it's small contractors.

commentor: Martin,

The suggestion in your conclusion is totally illogical. Not all governments can be bought.

You would give carte blanche to an industry with a history of, in the opinion of many, raping the resource, environmental degradation, engaging in questionable log-scaling practices and performance resulting in the cheating all B.C. residents.

Poindexter
Thats nice that the deaths are immediately investigated. Too bad the WCB officers aren't available to correct the shitting working conditions before the death occurs.

Its sad to see the right wingers are such cold hearted buggers they can't even face the reality of thier policies, shifting the blame to others.

As always with the Campbell Government profits before people.

I think, you should qualify this to "profits for a few before people". Especially when the few are multinationals, so they can take over and take out more.

In the case of the small contractors, in many cases, the causes are desperation to survive in business. I've seen enough of this around here, but now the small contractors have almost all been wiped out on corporate demands.

Ed Deak, Big Lake.

kootenay said

kootenay your right on the money,any one who contradicts this statement proves out how very little they know what this governments deregulation agenda is really all about.
Only this morning I was searching in the WCB occupational health and safety regulations information for a young worker,good luck, the language that was there preiously, I now am unable to locate, further to this the employment standards and the labour act have also been slanted into the employers favour.

no.1 important
without profits, no people.
The forest industry is largest source of revenue , by far, in the Province of BC.
Without them making the profits that they do, we could not sustain any kind of decent living.
I fail to understand how we could survive adopting any of these wierd socialistic ideas posted on this site.
Profits are necessary, even in China.

Tell that to the children of 42 dead loggers... yes 42! Another one died today. Hope you're happy Ron.

Profits can be made without death. And if the profits aren't as much as they would be if safety weren't considered, then tough.

The problem are not profits, but the ever incrasing amounts, regardless who does get hurt.

At what level does the consumption alcohol become a sickness and at what level do profits become theft and crime ?

Try to use your brains for a change.

Ed Deak.

Martin, are you saying that death in the forest is a good sign, because it means the industry is booming? Or, that death in the forest is OK as it is a sign that the godless socialists are not in control?

Ron E-----Marihuana, I belive is the largest source of revenue, also comes with very high risk hazards.

And, just so everyone can get the full flavour of little ronnie erwin's racist ideology, here is what he wrote about the death of Sherry Charlie:

"Sherry Charlie, A group of Indians sends an Indian child to be cared for by another Indian. The other Indian murders the Indian child. And this is our fault ? Give me a break."

Only the mindless could misuse a tragedy like the death of a worker to backspin a racist argument.

Jamez, I had not heard that we lost another forest worker today. This is truly an obscenity. My thought are with the families with an empty chair at the table.

Folks I would put very little credence into whatever Ron Erwin says, his only purpose in life is to get people agitated,upset etc, this is how he gets his sexual gratification, so just like a boil on your ass try to ignore him.

UGHH. Woody, your analysis makes me feel unclean. But, I don't let racist comments go by without response. An racist a**h*** is a racist a**h***. What is frightening in 2005, is that little ronnie and his ilk believe that their comments are OK. And what is more frightening is that these ignorant racist jerks get to vote. And what is most frightening is that these racist jerks have a party and leader that speaks the same language, just in better code.

I find this whole issue strange. In the old days, both the Company and the Unions had Safety Officers who had the power to stop erratic employee behaviours.

Another issue certainly for equipment is proper maintenance. Again in the old days the trucks were owned mostly by the companies and well maintained. NOw it seems a good number of companies just contract out to owner operators of trucks.

Safety and Maintenance ought to be the number one goal of both the Union and the Company. Governments have established the safety standards, which are belieive are still in place.

So do we have an onsite problem? Have the companies/unions failed in their responsibilities to invoke safty practices?

Thanks for this story and the related article. I really appreciate when The Tyee covers rural issues. I think it is its strength.

Woody, you are probaly right about bud being the biggest source of revenue for this Province. Although, it's reaaly hard to really tell.
The risk's? It depends. If it is a small personal operation, it's probably not a great peril.
But if you are a large scale operation that deals with organized crime, and you are trading bud for coke & guns, well that;s another story.
A story that doesn't go away with a legalizition against the possession of small amounts of Mary Jane.
I just don't get this latest push, by the Fedaral Fiberals ( yes I know that's not an original) to ban all small handguns, while on the otherhand, knowing that as long as we send weed to the US we will get handguns back in return.
What's the answer ? Enforce the laws we now have on the books.
The big problem in Canada, is that we are WAY TOO LIBERAL. Period. It's nice to be nice, but there is a limit.
Call me a stickler, but never call me racist.

Logging deaths. Do contractors fit into the protections offered by either the companies or the unions?

Truck loggers, for example, are on their own, aren't they? Not just for "making it pay" but also for buying their hugely expensive trucks, insuring them, keeping them in good repair ... with loopholes in their job-related protections (if any) big enough to ... well, to drive a loaded logging truck through.

But guys still take on these contracts because (my guess) they think it makes them independently self-employed. Next thing they know, they're undercutting themselves in order to get their next contract and keep revenue coming in to make their next truck payments, etc ... an awful system.

Are fallers getting their employment by contract, too? I'd like to hear more about the realities of the loggers' working lives ... then we'd understand why so many are being killed on the job.

BC Mary:

It did! We've come full circle. One of the reasons for the conditions we've come to associate with the Dark Ages was a surfeit of people. "Life was cheap" then, and it has come to be cheap now, and for much the same reason. In the 50's, we touted the coming "leisure society". Well, it's here, thanks t the technology that eliminated much of the grunt work by which the average citizen could make a living. But the education the general populace needs to function in this "leisure society" was not (and is not) forthcoming. We are only fit to "hew wood and haul water", and there is an ever-increasing amount of us. We never figured then, in the 50's, how to "get the goods" to the people if they didn't have jobs, and we haven't figured it now. So we have people who NEED jobs, desperately, and we have a government quite willing to exploit this, same as the Church in the Dark Ages, facilitated the exploitation of the peasantry for the sake of the "movers and shakers" back then.

This is happening across the whole job spectrum. But jobs such as forestry are much less "forgiving".........

The same reason the 713 child deaths were never looked into - money.

The Campbell Liberals put money before life. It's that simple.

Quack jobs like Erwin support that philosophy and he's entitled to that opinion.

These are but symptoms of the larger whole. Just what is a burgeoning world population supposed to do? The economic model that serves the few so well is continuing to do that. The economic "freedom" we've enjoyed for the last 300 years (or so), in unsustainable. It is built on constant, unremitting expansionism. That is what is happening in the woods - except that the underlying premise "there's plenty enough for all" isn't working, because, as in the feudal model, less and less people are owning more and more of the resources. Do we have to go through revolution after bloody revolution, just to end up.....where exactly?

The fact is that the BC Liberals let business representatives rewrite WCB regulations and how they operate. WCB (WorkSafe) Inspections have been cut in half since the changes. Benefits to injured workers have also been cut. This has allowed some companies to cut their WCB payments in half while seeing no better, and often worse, accident rates.

If this is the best WCB (WorkSafe) has to offer the workers in BC, maybe it is time to get rid of the whole thing altogether. If I get injured on the job, just let me sue my employer. See how business friendly that is going to be!

I think you may have something there Chris H.

The Workers compensation system was instituted in BC almost 100 years ago. A conscious decision was made then that it NOT be an employer's liability insurance company. In the last few years the WCB has morphed into an employer's liabiity insurance company, to the detriment of injured workers and dependents of workers killed on the job. If that's all the WCB is going to be, then the workers should get back their right to sue the employers for their negligence.

Rotten Ronny is back in full form. Even China works for profit. Yeah! Right! Chinese coal miners dieing by the 100's in each and every mine collapse and this is what he wants for BC forest workers? The deaths in the woods are a direct result of the present government changing the rules and finances of the very agencies that should protect the workers. poindexter, martin and erwin should be required to do ambulance duty in the woods. But they have neither the empathy, intellect nor the spine for the job never mind post anything intelligent.

Okay Burgess, exactly what would you have us do ? What rules do you want back ?How much money should be returned ?
The more regulations and money thrown at probelems, the more uncompetitive we get. But I guess that's fine for backyard socialists.

Welcome to the wonderful world of free trade, corporate, market economy fascism, where people are accounted as "commodities", to be bought, sold and discarded as the "market" demands it.

Ed Deak, Big Lake.

I had the privilege of attending the BC Federation of Labour Convention last week. The issue of logger’s deaths was front and center and many informed speakers talked about the causes.

Deregulation is the root of the problem. The Corporations have “downsized” their workforces and have hired small contractors to take up the slack. Many of these are the same people who were restructured out of their jobs.

The Corporations profit two ways from this. First, by reducing the workforce they have effectively reduced the effectiveness of the Union (less Union members), the group of people who were the watch dogs for safety and workers rights.

Secondly, the small contractors have nobody to look out for them and are struggling to make ends meet as they are now responsible for the additional cost of purchasing and maintaining the vehicles and equipment required to do their job. With WCB slashed to the bone, there are no inspectors in the field to watch out for them. The contractors are working very long hours in extreme conditions, just trying to make ends meet. It is truly tragic and I feel a great deal of sympathy for them.

What’s really sickening, is the response of the Right Wingers, who despite killing 42 loggers so far this year continue to blame everyone else for their deaths. The heartless bastards refuse to acknowledge that their policies are the root of the problem because changing them will affect their bottom line. Ron E, you haven’t actually blamed the loggers for their own deaths yet, but you’ve come close, you’re a sick SOB.

It would seem to me it's up to the Steelworkers to take this issue to another level.

First order of business ought to be to shut down the workers compensation board process, which even when worker friendly government is in office, bends over backward to do the work of the employers.

Shut the monstrousity down and force the god-damned courts to deal with these deaths as civil suits against the corporate fatcats.

Only then will the politicians and their dancing partners do the right thing.

Make every death in the woods a major issue, shut jobs down, hold high-profile funerals, whatever don't let up, make another worker's death the last thing this government or any other government ever wants to have to deal with.

This government is not about to come to the aid of workers any more than it will help out the most desperate of our children.

When the various teams who are supposed to be protecting workers health have caved into the skin-flint pressures from Victoria, they become usless apendages, worthy only of ridicule.

Chris (stated) If this is the best WCB (WorkSafe) has to offer the workers in BC, maybe it is time to get rid of the whole thing altogether. If I get injured on the job, just let me sue my employer. See how business friendly that is going to be![B]
Allan (stated)Shut the monstrousity down and force the god-damned courts to deal with these deaths as civil suits against the corporate fatcats.[B]
I agree Work Safe(WCB)should be shut down their defunct,I firmly belive that having Work Safe(WCB) imposed on people is unconstitutional and should be challenged as such, a person should have the right to choose between WCB and a private insurer, just as you now have a choice for private medical surgary,mri,etc. Worksafe(WCB) is on this earth only for one purpose and that is to protect companies from being sued by their employees, people don't mean she-it.

There are a couple of things to consider with this suing bit:

Who can afford to hire high priced lawyers, especially people in part time, minimum wage jobs, when large corporations can pay for a whole crew and then write off the expense as "cost of doing business".

Insurance companies are great for this and when you protest that they've cheated you, all they say is: "Sue us !" and then laugh all the way to the bank. Suing an insurance company is like fighting a hungry barracuda barehanded and all businesses would have them for protection against suits.

The second is the time it takes for any lawsuit even to start, then go through a series of legal maneuverings and appeals. A person could die of old age before the case is over.

The best way is to reorganize the WCB and make it working for people. I remember one occasion, about 40 years ago in Vancouver, when they made a small shop I used to do business with, repaint the whole shop, as they considered the dirty walls unsafe condition. We used to have 2 WCB visits per year and they weren't fooling around.

Ed Deak, Big Lake

"The best way is to reorganize the WCB and make it working for people."

I couldn't agree more, but since it is no longer working for the people, I think we need to look at different options. I agree with all your points on it being difficult to sue, however, it does give degree of power back to the injured employee. If you are an employee of a small or medium business, having a fatality on your worksite will either bankrupt you or cause your insurance rates to skyrocket. Right now, it seems that small and medium size companies, because of the protections WCB (WorkSafe) provides them, are completely insulated from any responsibility when their practices cause serious injury or death to an employee. That WorkSafe has issued an edict that they will pursue criminal prosecutions is, I believe, more lip-service than anything. Until they actually DO SOMETHING about the problems, they are not working in the best interests of any working people.

There is another edge to the lawsuit sword. An employer would also be able to sue an employee. IE, an employee deviates from the employer's instructions and some productivity is lost. In todays world, the employer is out of luck when it comes to the negligence of it's employees. This is a very real blessing in heavily regulated industries like transportation. BC Ferrys would have been able to sue the workers who neglected to fit a cotter pin onto the propeller shaft of the Oak Bay last summer if the rules of the blame game were extended to the courts.

Fiat lux Ed I appreciate what your saying but the reality of the situation is that Work Safe (I wonder how much money they spent and will continue to spend for this no brainer name) already behaves in the same manner as insurance compaines but in lieu of suing them or the Co. you can appeal your case, this is your only option,(I believe this probably occurs in about 35-40% of all the claims) this procedure the last I heard, takes about 8-12 months to hear, then you can wait 3-6 months for your appeal decision if its awarded in your favour the company retains the right to appeal that decision, another 12-16 month wait, all this time with out receiving any money from the WCB, the same goes true that if you lose your 1st appeal you can appeal that decision, again another 12-16 month wait and still no money over 24-36 months yet no money.
they(WCB) generaly advise you at the on set of your claim that your case may not be approved or accepted in which case they advise you to should seek out welfare,cpp , or possibly you may have "other" couverage, in other words do any thing you wish but leave us alone.
Ed you said 40 years ago they made the Co. repaint the dirty walls , today they would tell the Co. to tear out the walls and let the peons deal with the weather, but most defiantly protect their products from the elements.
If your working part time or on minimum wage and you should become disable your screwed, under their pay out formula ,you go straight to welfare( or possibly end liveing on the streets) and the tax payer ends up footing the bills for the compaines and WCB, their off the hook and the claimant become some one elses problem.

Eddy Haskel that cotter pin was the responsiblty of a private contractor, and yes he should be sued.

Woody...I'm not against one company sueing another company. But to start holding persons personally accountable for the actions of others? The private contractor would only place the blame on the employee. If the refinery in Burnaby were to suddenly purge thier piping in the mid-afternoon... who would you blame? Who would you go after for compensation? The company? Or the employees? You can't have it both ways unless you want to live in some sort of facsist/extremeist society where everyone is looking over each others shoulders and never trusting anyone and trying to cover-up everything lest they all get caught peeing in the soup, if you know what I mean.

Eddy Haskel Whats wrong with making people responsible for their own actions, we do as far a law is concerned,have you ever been injured because of an inept fellow worker? I have, on at least two occasions, these two dolts should have been responsible for my injuries, not the Co. Like I stated earlier you should have your own couverage,(just as you must have on your automobile), no couverage,you don't work simple.You don't hire some one to work on property or house unless they have their own proper couverage do you?

If the guy is criminally negligent, sure, prosecute him criminally. I'm under the phillosophy that if a guy makes a workplace error then at least a dozen others let him do it. If you hired an under-insured contractor... is that also not your fault for failing to check his insurance out. A few years ago CN lost a train crew because of a bridge that was allowed to go to dry-rot. Which employees would you blame for that? Many of them would be retired and no longer part of the company. You blame others for your injuries. However, you are the one who got hurt. Not your fault? You let it happen.

The mention of criminal prosecution is dead on the money. I was a Level III OFA first aider for 10 years and witnessed how there has been a watering down of both standards and enforcement.

Importantly, new changes to the criminal code came into effect in 2003 that present a tremendous potential for going after contractors and companies. I wrote a law school paper on the subject. Bill C-45 (as it was) is now law and has radically altered how "organizational" liability works. It completely changes the underlying traditional 'corporate crime' model and allows a spreading of the mental intent required among a number of people and groups. In fact, the mother corp can now be held criminally liable for negligence on the part of contractors or their workers.

The reason we have not seen this applied is that it is up to police and crown prosecutors to make a move. It is highly likely that very few prosecutors are even aware of the changes to the law and the potential that is there. People need to make complaints to the police about their concerns and specifically refer to the 2003 changes to the criminal code.

Eddy Haskel did not C.N. just get fined $70-$75,000 for not adhering to warnings in regards to the quality of the wooden trestle,therefore we know the out come of blame in this case,but what about loss of the crew members lives, we can't get them back,can we? Therefore should not their surviors be allowed to sue C.N. to their fullest extent,I say yes they should, the question being, can they under the present law.
Eddy Im a little puzzled by this remark you made

If I understand you correctly, what your stateing is, by my very presence of being there on those jobs automatically puts me in the wrong.In other words if (you) are driving down a street and a Drunk driver runs a stop sign, rams you and disables or worse kills you,that (you) are in the wrong by the very fact that (you) let this happen, as (you) were there at that point of time, this is your fault,that is what your stateing. Good enough then, go for it.

cosmo very interesting reading, there was a small blip of this which I read in an equipment magazine about 6-8 months ago, I have not heard any more of this untill now, thanks for the update.

what about the 712 deaths of those kids, their fault wrong place?
I've worked in the woods and those contractors only got those contracs because they undercut somebody else and so on work faster, faster oops a leg gone

BC Dude it goes without saying but it is dog eat dog out there but with the same token people(adults) have take responsiblity for their own deeds and actions.

"An employer would also be able to sue an employee."

What makes you think that just because we got rid of the WCB, it would allow employers to sue employees? That is a different piece of legislation altogether. Employers already have the option of firing the employee if they make a mistake. The WCB used to be a good deal for both the employer and the employee. It is not anymore.

First off my deepest condolences Ms.Debbie Geddes.

I attend the Workers' Memorial on April 28th each year. It never ceases to amaze me that workplace incidents causing injuries, illnesses and deaths pass by relatively unnoticed year after year by the general public as well as the media. Sure you hear of the odd case, usually when the incident in some way threatens the public, like a worker falling from a building on a busy city street.

We need all workplace deaths to be publicized by the media and an incident report with a causation analysis submitted to all similar employers and their employees to inform them of the root cause of each incident in order to prevent similar problems from happening again.

Workplace deaths are only going to rise with the current de-regulation of safety standards and lower enforcement, the "lowest bid first" mentality, and also the de-skilling of workers that is infesting our great province. Our Olympics will be built by spilling human blood and poisoning thousands.

Forestry is a horrendous killer but the corporate murders lurk elsewhere at an even higher capacity. The silent slaughter by occupation disease from asbestos, solvents, particulates and the chemical warfare that most construction and other workers are naively up against may not be as graphic as the quick kill spurting of blood, but they are causing more injuries and deaths then even forestry.

We are up against a huge shortage of skilled workers yet we do not protect the ones we have. The idea that deaths are a part of workplace costs has got to stop. All injuries and deaths are preventable.

We are facing health care cost that are unmanageable, yet we continue to let our workers be poisoned on a daily basis causing all kinds of medical, social and judicial costs.

Unfortunately all too often the worker that raises the safety issue in the workplace is the worker who is sent packing with a pink slip, and this is a well known fact with the workers out there.

Workers themselves are all too often complacent and ignore safety issues because they were once too often called a sissy or are uninformed of the reality of hidden hazards. Sadly the injuries they obtain do not go away at quiting time, they stay for much longer.

It's time for a major change in our workplace society.

It's time to lock up illness, injury and death.

Prevention, education and enforcement are the keys.

Here is some more info on Bill 45, I agree with Cosmo wholeheartedly.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/c45/

Chris H. I agree the quote seems off base.

I would suggest any employer who tried to sue an employee because of an accident would have to prove pretty conclusively that the employer orhis/her agents did everything in their power to ensure safety practices etc., were followed.

The workplace remains a palace of rights for the employer, where all decisions, in the end rest with him/her.

Even if a person came to work impaired, there remains a responsibility on behalf of the boss to safegaurd against that.

The right to hire and fire is still as crystal clear as it was a century ago, unless workers are wise enough to ensure a collective agreement spells out their limited rights to defend against arbitrary actions.

Ron Erwin:

Externalizing costs agian, eh? Deaths in the woods are OK, as long it isn't deaths in the boardroom..........