Workers in the oil and gas industry have been used as a talking point by the Alberta NDP and United Conservative Party, both parties say they are the best choice for workers to get the Trans Mountain pipeline built and create more jobs in the industry. Albertans go to the polls on Tuesday, April 16. Continue readingWhat is it actually like to work in Alberta’s oil patch?
Workplace Safety
By Bob Barnetson Last week, the Parkland Institute and the Alberta Workers’ Health Centre jointly published as report entitled Safer by design: How Alberta can improve workplace safety. This report was based upon a 2000-worker survey funded by the Government of Alberta OHS Futures Grant program. The crux of the report is this: 1. Most Continue readingMaking Alberta workplaces safer
By Bob Barnetson What is the effect of the workers’ compensation changes in Alberta’s Bill 30 (An Act to Protect the Health and Well-being of Working Albertans) on receiving and maintaining compensation? Occupational Diseases It is often difficult for workers to get occupational diseases accepted by the WCB for compensation. Diseases often have long latency periods, Continue readingAlberta’s Bill 30: Psychological Injuries, Deeming, and RT
By Bob Barnetson On November 2 Alberta passed Bill 19, An Act to Protect Gas and Convenience Store Workers. This legislation requires customers to pay before pumping in an effort to prevent gas-and-dash injuries as well as increases employers’ obligations around staff safety. Unfortunately, Bill 19 was only a half-measure that leaves workers vulnerable to other, more Continue readingAlberta’s Bill 19 a missed opportunity on violence prevention
By Maya Bhullar In 2012, Lawrence Daquan “Day” Davis, a temporary worker, was killed on his first day at work. The film about this case, called A Day’s Work, will be screened twice at Mayworks this year as part of this year’s theme, Arts Against Precarity. It is the opening night film, screening on Friday April 28 at 6:30 p.m. in conjunction with Continue readingMayworks’ opening film is helping to build a movement
By David Newberry Until 1998, Ontario worker’s compensation system compensated workers with mental health injuries, whether they were chronic, acquired over time, or acute, from a traumatic event. For many years, the basic principles of workers compensation allowed workers who suffered from conditions such as major depressive disorder, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder because of Continue readingWSIB ignoring workplace chronic mental stress
By Matt Corbeil Elliot Lake is a city with a history. Home to one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, the city grew in tandem with the US military’s nuclear weapons stockpile. But if the purpose of the stockpile was to keep the “free world” safe from the threat of global communism, little thought Continue readingThe McIntyre Powder Project: An interview with Janice Martell
My endless battle for workplace safety “It has been a long four years and even though we now have a lawyer, not much has happened, which is very frustrating,” reads a recent email from a former co-worker. Almost a decade later, specific workers are still being harassed in my seriously toxic former workplace. What happened Continue readingForced out by a broken system
On June 1, hundreds rallied at Queen’s Park in Toronto for justice for injured workers. The target of the protest was a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board failing to support injured workers and actively working against some of the most in need, including migrant workers. The WSIB administration was also targeted for their massive compensation Continue readingWeekend Video: Justice for Injured Workers
By Natalia Mozayani (Executive Director of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada) Nobody should go to work to die. Whether it is the day shift, night shift or a “9-to-5” office job, when we leave home for work we all expect to return home, reunite with our families and enjoy life. But the reality is Continue readingWe don’t go to work to die