health and safety
Articles about health and safety, and struggles over health and safety in the workplace.
French air traffic controllers continue strike
Workers at Paris' three air traffic control centres have been strking since Monday.
The strikes led to 50% of flight from Orly airport being cancelled with many others suffering delays of up to five hours. Marseille, Nice, Lyon and Toulouse airports were forced to cancel flights to Orly knowing that they would not be able to land. The Airport at Roissy was largely unaffected.
Edinburgh rail workers in wildcat strike
Rail signallers in Edinburgh went on wildcat strike, bringing the station to a standstill for an hour on Monday.
The action at Edinburgh's Waverly station was taken in a dispute over the provision of cover for breaks. David Simpson, of Network Rail in Scotland, said the "deliberately disruptive, unprovoked action" was "completely unacceptable".
Ian MacIntyre, the RMT's regional organiser for Scotland, was reported as saying: "Our members took the action in the interests of safety.
Belgium: train conductors wildcat over violence
[1].jpg "2003 rail picket in Liège")
A wildcat strike by conductors over violence has rapidly spread across Belgian railways.
The strike began late Monday night at the Mons et La Louvière depot after two conductors were attacked on a train and their colleagues walked out in support. As new shifts arrived from 4:30am more workers joined the action. In all only two conductors crossed pickets and at least 30 trains had been cancelled by 6:30am.
Dock unions urge for strike after workplace deaths near Venice
Three of Italy's main unions called for a nationwide ports strike to start on Friday after two workers died overnight in a port near Venice.
The call for a strike which could paralyse the country comes as Italy debates workplace safety following a fire last month at a ThyssenKrupp steel plant in Turin which killed seven workers.
Labor federations CGIL, CISL and UIL said in a statement they "strongly protest following incidents which reached unbearable levels in 2007 and, unfortunately, continue".
Wildcat grows Argentine airport strike
Check-in workers in Buenos Aires walked out after passengers stranded by a baggage handlers strike rioted on Saturday.
Xinhuanet reported that travellers tossed computers in the air, shoved security guards and attacked ticketing counters at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza international airport Saturday after Aerolineas Argentinas suspended most of its flight there.
India: Wildcat strike following docks death
Ships were stranded at India's Haldia port after the workers walked out following the death of a colleague.
The death, ironically, came at a time when the port trust is observing a ‘Dock Safety Week’.
South Africa: Miners hold one-day strike
The National Union of Mineworkers called out its 270,000 members on Tuesday in protest at the poor level of safety in South African mines.
The NUM launched the one-day strike to put pressure on mining companies, who they say aren't doing enough to guarantee the safety of miners. The strike, which also included a massive demonstration of 40,000 miners in Johannesburg, brought production to a complete halt, with no gold being extracted at all on Tuesday.
Building Worker newsletter - Autumn 2007
Newsletter containing articles on organising site workers ahead of the Olympics, fighting the blacklist in Manchester, pay and holiday pay, a recent strike against racism and the dangers of trusting union officials.
If you want or need help organizing and would like to meet rank and file union members with enough experience of how to help and advise you. Phone UK R&F BWC on 07942 252280. We’ll gladly meet you in a pub or anywhere else you choose after work near your site for a chat.
UK: Two fatal accidents at construction sites this weekend
A 20-year-old man has been killed on a construction site on Plymouth, just one day after a similar accident took the life of an 18-year-old in Scotland.
In the latest incident, a worker on a Kier Western site at Cattedown Enterprise Centre was hit on the head by a skip or pallet of bricks, according to the Plymouth Herald. It is believed that the man was walking under a telehandler carrying the bricks when the accident happened.
Independent report into ICL plastics disaster finds health and safety regime 'dangerously dysfunctional'
On 11 May 2004, nine workers were killed and more than thirty-three injured in an explosion at the ICL Plastics plant of Grovepark Mills in Maryhill, Glasgow. This was the worst health and safety incident in Scotland since 1988. An independent study into the health and safety regime at the factory before the explosion has today been released.
On sentencing ICL Plastics Ltd and ICL Tech Ltd to fines of £200,000 on 28th August 2007, Lord Brodie stated the following in relation to mitigating factors:
"This is not a case of failure to heed warnings or where a decision was taken to run a risk in order to save money. The companies apparently have a good safety record prior to May 2004, going back to the 1960’s."
