My only son, when he was about 12 years old, had acquired an insider's knowledge of certain construction skills. He had acquired these skills safely, while accompanying his father, the instructor, who taught -- among other things -- a method of pre-building a natural log home, numbering its parts, dismantling it, then reassembling it elsewhere on its permanent site.

At the time, these skills were much in demand. One day, a casual acquaintance asked if my son would like to spend a weekend working for him. As the man was a college instructor himself, we agreed. But we went to visit the work-site ourselves and what we found, horrified us.

The "men" on the crew seemed ill at ease, having a 12-year-old calling the moves so that a hydraulic crane could lift a 2-ton log. They'd guess at what he meant, then do it a different way, to assert their superiority, creating confusion and, at times, danger.

Dilemma: take him home and humiliate him in front of his peers? Or trust him. With aching hearts, we trusted him. He came home to us OK, but I think he was less trusting or respectful of society's adults after that.

Later, it happened again, when a close friend (a schoolteacher) asked my young son to come and work for him as he built his home. Similar result: although the boy's skills were needed, the "adult" couldn't accept the child's input as valuable. The boy worked all weekend but wasn't paid ... and he was by then mature enough to go to see our friend and insist on receiving his wages.

Meaningful, constructive work is a wonderful stepping stone in a youngster's life. It validates and strengthens them for the future. However there are hidden dangers in allowing children into any adult workforce where they can be hurt emotionally, even if they escape physical injury. They definitely are not valued as they should be.

I really don't agree with forbidding all children from participating in all forms of work, either. The best learning is done, I think, at the side of the parents. All I know is that not all adults are emotionally mature; and that some adults, removed from the parents' watchful eyes, can create bad situations which harm kids. I've seen it, where I least expected it.

Percy: "Oddly, Cupe is a major voice in opposing the deportation of illegal workers"

The demand for full status occurs within the context of the larger context
of immigrant rights in Canada. According to Harsha Walia of the STATUS
Coalition in Vancouver: "For decades immigrants have been scapegoated for
social problems such as unemployment and crime; and now since 9/11, the
false link between immigrants and terrorism has developed. Yet the labour,
lives, and sweat of immigrants have shaped this society and a "Day Without
an Immigrant" would cause the collapse of the Canadian economy. We demand
an end to detention and deportations and a life of dignity for our
communities."

For more information:

Solidarity Across Borders-Montreal
solidarityacrossborders.org - 514-848-7583

No One Is Illegal-Toronto
toronto.nooneisillegal.org -

STATUS Coalition-Vancouver

- 778-552-2099

The Regularization of Non-Status Immigrants in Canada 1960-2004:
ocasi.org/STATUS/Regularization_booklet.pdf

12 Principles for Regularization:
solidarityacrossborders.org/en/demands

"Canada's Creeping Economic Apartheid: The Economic Segregation and Social
Marginalization of Racialized Groups":
socialjustice.org/pdfs/economicapartheid.pdf

Where oh where was Philip Hochstein at the Workers' Day of Mourning ceremonies? I looked and looked for him at the Vancouver Art Gallery and all the way down to the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. I search through the 10:00 am memorial service that WorkSafe BC held at Hastings Park. Amazingly, he was nowhere to be found. Surely someone so involved with worker reform cares about the occupational health and safety (OH+S) of workers? (rolleyes)

My experience over the last number of years with OH+S and Human Resources has shown that far too many people are still unaware and exposed to hazardous products in the workplace. I believe that the chain effects of these numerous exposures are far-reaching and target many aspects of our lives with the root causes escaping virtually unnoticed. I will go as far to say that employers who are not practicing workplace “due diligence” and are causing deaths are committing murder. It is murder because the high majority of these deaths, if not all, are preventable.
Federal “Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System” (WHMIS) legislation fails to protect workers health. Not because it is a poor system, on the contrary, it is very effective but only if it is enforced. Rarely, if ever in construction are atmospheres monitored to see how many Parts Per Million (PPM) of a hazardous substance workers are exposed to. The effects of solvents and various other hazardous products can cause cancers, reproductive, kidney, liver, lung and central nervous system problems as well as other debilitating ailments. These products are given to workers that have had inadequate WHMIS training or no training at all. Employers are responsible for OH+S but for them to be trained in it is not a requirement. Can the employer be practicing due diligence to the workers if the employer has not become trained and educated in OH+S but are responsible for the workers health and safety?
Hazardous Materials Specialists (Haz-Mat) would be called in to handle spills of these chemicals donning full protective gear, and rightly so, even though the high levels would only be a short-term exposure. Yet workers can work with these toxins 5-days a week for months or years with minimal training and inadequate ventilation and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Once problems arise with these workers, they enter our health care system and symptoms of these illnesses are usually directed towards another cause. (E.g. smoking, drinking, stress, age, to list a few) Rarely physicians get to the route cause of the problem and ask the patients what controlled products they may use, or instruct their patient to ask their employer for the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) of the hazardous products used in the workplace so the root cause can be properly diagnosed. I pose the question, how much training is given to medical students with regards to Occupational Hygiene within different industries sectors specifically?
The problem can also escalate further into various areas of our society. Acute affects of hazardous products can cause things such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, and irritability. The synergistic effects of drugs and alcohol with these chemicals are unknown but very predictable for those in the know. I believe the results lead to problems such as assaults, dementia, physical injuries, dermatitis, domestic disputes, night sweats, addictions, silicosis, pain and suffering, asbestosis and mesothelioma to name a modest few. These results may seem all over the map, but it mimics the far-reaching effects of the problems associated with OH+S. One wonders how many of our homeless have worked with hazardous products in the past.
(Continued)

(Continued from above)
One example may be that Larry is working with solvents all day; he navigates his car home to his common-law partner Martha narrowly sideswiping two cars while crossing the Patullo Bridge. Larry is feeling particularly irritable from the solvents and an argument ensues. Unable to control himself Larry strikes Martha. Martha is injured and goes in our health care system to treat her facial lacerations and a broken hip, she also applies for legal aid. Larry is charged and is vaulted through the courts system on criminal and family issues including the custody battle of their two infant children. Martha is unable to work and needs employment training assistance and financial help with the children. Larry flew off the handle at work, struck his boss, landed himself in jail and requires counseling. The children also need daycare funding. The children develop behavioral problems and continue to spiral through a web of legal and support systems. Martha needs further surgery to her hip and will also require further rehabilitation. Larry develops liver and kidney problems due to his repeated workplace exposures and requires surgery and continued medical care. This type of scenario is not uncommon and it becomes clear to see how one neglected OH+S incident can lead to an excessive amount of unnecessary societal burdens.
Gordon Campbell’s liberals and his corporate friends are well on their way down the path of cutting WCB regulations that have been derived from human flesh. They were written on the backs of our suffering workers and families. One third of these regulations have been cut and snuck into “guidelines” that are weak and unenforceable. In addition to these cuts, enforcement, pensions and appeals have also been slashed. This mandate, as well as with other new liberal legislation, opens the floodgates for an onslaught of unethical corporate corruption and greed to construct the venues toward our 2010 Olympics leaving bodies discarded behind in its wake. Who will be counting the human effects from now until well after the monetary peak of 2010 comes and quickly retreats?
Exposures are not the only issue facing occupations in the trades sector. Workers also need to be trained in Fall Protection, Confined Space, Respirators, Self Propelled Elevated Work Platforms, Suspended Stages, Scaffolding, Ladders, Blueprint Reading, Lockout, Rigging, Supervisory, Effective Workplace Communications, Noise, Vibration, Heat Stress, Math, Ergonomics, WCB Regulations, and Hand and Power Tool Safety as well as other specific trade requirements regarding materials, fabrication and applications.
If there are so many challenges facing our youth attempting to get into apprenticeship and learn a trade, then why has Gordon Campbell made it even more difficult for people to secure a solid apprenticeship? An apprenticeship where journeypersons train apprentices to be competent and safe in all aspects of the trades, and that are recognized in all parts of Canada, and our Canada includes Quebec. Could it be that Campbell only wants an uneducated, cheap, disposable workforce for his corporate cronies with little accountability? Could it be that Gordon’s conies will only have to pay minimal compensational benefits and pensions when workers are injured, die or get sick due to his unethical changes? We need an educated workforce that will stay out of our healthcare system and develop meaningful education and employment that fosters retention in the trades.
(Continued)

(Continued from above)
My experience in OH+S and employment counseling has shown me that exposures go generally unreported and many tradespeople leave their trade due to work place exposures. Experienced workers either attempt to transfer into a different trade or get out altogether. These people also deter others from wanting to enter a trade. The heavy-duty mechanic that has skin aliments all over his lower arms and hands from hydraulic fluid, the welder that is wheezing all the time and is poisoned from heavy metals and says he just doesn’t want to do it any more. The painter that can’t think straight, the roofer so sensitized to isocyanates his lungs just cease up on him, or the two young demolition workers exposed to asbestos that will inflict an abrupt ending to their lives 15 to 20 years from now. These tragic cases are not great role models or inspirational to our journypersons of tomorrow. We must look at apprenticeship as a serious issue that requires a structured, consistent, education model that reduces costs to our health care and societal system.
We need to question the fact that Gordon Campbell also wants to drag our children as young as 12 into this corrupt work arena. This came as a shock to other Canadian provinces that were already shaking their heads at BC’s provincial apprenticeship changes and who were getting ready to slam their borders shut on our BC workers if they modularized worker training and did not uphold the Red Seal Certification. Now they seem to be pushing modularization in order for big business to get the workers to fulfill their immediate “needs”, but how many will jump through the hoops to complete an apprenticeship of 6 or 7 modules. (*Check new glazing program at BCIT) If training for apprentices is not transferable across Canada then this will only increase Canada’s skills shortage and leave us with a province of semi-skilled people.
Kevin Falcon the transportation minister from Surrey Cloverdale refused to answer my specific concerns on WHMIS issues. One wonders how a transportation minister that is involved with road construction is not concerned about, or educated in, how to properly protect workers’ health. Where does the labour minister stand on these issues? Do they support an Occupational Health and Safety Centre for BC? One that clearly supports workers with all types of OH+S needs. Surely there’s a justifiable need for a centre in BC as we build-up to the 2010 Olympics, or will BC be awarded the Gold Medal for workplace death.
(Conclusion)

Yeah, kids should be in school--trade schools, if they have good hand-eye coordination and the vocation and desire for working with his/her hands. They should not be out in industry before the age of 17. Especially not now. There are no enforced WCB rules. We've got how many deaths in Logging this year? And how many maimed? But one Company that killed 5 is still operating! When one gets injured in that company, one is fired! Then one needs a union to fight for the WCB compensation. Now, WCB won't even retrain anybody anymore! Campbell and his cronies should be flogged for decimating WCB. Then there is gas/toxins inhalation: cancer, asthma, early Alzheimer's--all these things, a result. Even when WCB was only 75% on the Companies' side (it's never been on Labour's side), there was nothing done about constant exposure to toxins. The trouble is there is a lack of courage and ethics in our workplaces today. The pressure does, indeed, come from immigrants---way too many of them, unassimilated and unaccustomed to sticking up for their rights. Yes, immigrants WILL work for less, will not stick up for themselves, will work in hazardous situations--thus, forcing us ALL to work in toxic workplaces for less money. We haven't got jobs for what's here, so we shouldn't have taken in immigrants, but the Powers-that-be (the CCCE who influence Parliament)want cheap labour. We should be training our own kids to be doctors, dental hygienists, pipefitters, engineers and welders. We're not giving our own kids the opportunity to become any of those things. Only the wealthy and the lucky get those opportunities. Free post secondary education (trades and academics) and good workplace laws (democracy in the workplace would help) would go a long way to solve our countries' wealth distribution. We can't go on making some people filthy rich at the expense of those who do the heavy lifting.

Folks: Child labour, unsafe working conditions, no unions, and wages inflated into nothing are just part of the Neocon/Reform/Tory/Liberal wet dream of globalization.

Of course, those owners of small businesses that post here still believe that they can make a living even when their customers are only making starvation wages.

Vote Gordo! Vote Harper! You know it will be good for you!

R. Smiley

Safety in the workplace is every ones business!
For years we have had Occupational, Health and Dafety Committees composed of both Union and Management representatives. These Committee's weild enormous power to correct unsafe working conditions.

Safe work conditions are mandated by WorkSafe regulations and are pretty clear.

What I do not understand is why they are not working.

Safety in the workplace is every ones business!
For years we have had Occupational, Health and Dafety Committees composed of both Union and Management representatives. These Committee's weild enormous power to correct unsafe working conditions.

Safe work conditions are mandated by WorkSafe regulations and are pretty clear.

What I do not understand is why they are not working.

Well sdgreen, it's really quite simple, for the years we have had Occupational, Health and Safety Committees composed of both Union and Management representatives, and there is the appropriate buy-in from management to supply the proper Personal Protective Equipment along with proper monitoring of workplace hazards and toxins, proper training of workers according to safe work procedures, and properly following material safety data sheet information and WCB regulations, then you are almost 100% guaranteed to have a safe and health workplace for your workers.

Unfortunately, when you have employers that do not have proper Safety Committees in place, intimate, threaten and humiliate workers for "taking the time" to work safely, put in low bids and then cut corners by not providing workers with proper PPE equipment and training, then workplaces become deadly very quickly.

In addition you have a system that is lacking in enforcement of the WCB regulations due to the previously mentioned cuts, and although workers have the "right to refuse" unsafe work, it is well documented that there is very little help (other then a self-help kit) to back them up, and workers just give up and move on or suffer the consequences. It's the big employer and their lawyers that outlast the little employee that needs to put food on their table and keep a roof over their families’ heads.

It is very common to find the worker who claims, "I don't want to say anything, I'll lose my job". This is where enforcement is suppose to step in and protect the rights of the worker. Unfortunately they only sometimes step in when they are called.

What is needed? Every workplace that has a violation, injury or death should be judged using Bill 45 to the full extent.

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

...and mandated to hire an independent safety professional for a minimum 6-month period to oversee the safe working procedures of the company. Since employers are responsible for workplace occupational health and safety then if they cannot provide the due diligence to uphold this serious responsibility, they should hire someone independently who can. Ideally they would not have a choice on whom they could hire, but a professional would be issued to them that they would be mandated to hire.

Then we would begin to see healthy, productive workplaces with good worker moral, retention of workers for employers, and an end to the carnage and backlog of our overburdened health care system. (Which is where most of the chronic workplace injuries incorrectly end up.)