Calling these committees “burdensome” for employers, UCP Labour Minister Jason Copping has announced he’s dramatically slashing the number of committees and scaling back commitments to training (to “reduce time away from work”).
Copping says he’s “heard that the current rules aren’t working.” Translation: employers have told him they don’t like pesky workers having a say in workplace health and safety. Funny how the UCP only hears the complaints of employers but put their earplugs in for everyone else.
Quote from me: “It’s shameful that the Kenney government dismisses rules and protections that make Alberta workplaces safer as red tape. We elect governments to defend the interests of citizens, not to help employers’ cut corners at the expense of safety.”
More quotes from me: “Workplace safety committees are the cornerstone of safe workplaces. No one knows the safety issues in a given workplace better than the workers themselves. And no one is better placed to come up with solutions for addressing those concerns...”
Con’t: “Disbanding and disempowering these committees will undermine safety in Alberta workplaces, not strengthen it. Instead of workers have a mechanism to look after their own safety, they’ll once again be reliant on sporadic enforcement from the government...”
Con’t: “To say that we have no confidence in the UCP to do this would be an understatement.”
Final point: every other province mandates a robust system of workplace health and safety committees. The Alberta NDP brought our province into the Canadian mainstream. With their weasel-word announcement today, Copping and the UCP are putting us at the back of the pack again.
They’ve chosen to put the narrow concerns of employers who want to cut corners and save a few bucks over the broader concerns of working people, who just want to get home safely at the end of their shifts. Shameful, but predictable from a party that represents bosses, not workers
