Media release: May 9 will mark the 29th anniversary of the Westray disaster in Nova Scotia, when an underground methane explosion killed 26 coal miners in 1992. Today, workers are still dying for a living..
Danny Cavanagh: “Changing workplace safety will only happen about when bosses learn “kill a worker – go to jail”. Otherwise, fines are just a slap on the wrist, viewed as the cost of doing business.”
There have been 12 rockfalls at the Donkin coal mine in Cape Breton in the span of three years. Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour worries that neither the mine owner nor the Nova Scotia Department of Labour are dealing effectively with safety issues.
Danny Cavanagh: “When I read this headline this morning, I felt that maybe there has been some movement towards justice for needless workplace deaths.”
Danny Cavanagh, president of the NS Federation of Labour, reflects on workers’ safety on the anniversary of the New Waterford mine disaster,101 years ago. “It’s time to ensure that laws like the Westray Bill are actually enforced, and to enact policies and legislation that are more than “feel-good” laws that remain nothing more than good talking points for politicians.”
The Westray memorial needs our help! Recently the grounds were damaged by vandals driving over the lawn, apparently not for the first time, and likely not the last. Now people are raising funds to build a fence around the park.
This weekend we feature a video about the Westray mine disaster, in recognition of Friday’s National Day of Mourning. But it’s two for the price of one, as I also editorialize about lessons seemingly never learned, and the godawful safety record of the company that is opening the Donkin mine in Cape Breton.
Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, on this Friday’s National Day of Mourning, Westray and why the federal government must enforce laws holding employers criminally accountable for workplace death and injury.