SEARCH
USW: Oil Safety Issues Must be Negotiated
The United Steelworkers (USW) wants to sit down with the oil industry to discuss health and safety issues.
The public’s awareness of the lack of oil industry safety has been heightened by the tragic BP/Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers, set off the largest oil spill in Gulf history and put thousands of people out of work. But the reality is that safety has been an ongoing problem.
During April and May, there were 13 fires, 19 deaths and 25 injuries in the oil industry, USW says. This year, refineries have averaged one fire per week. These figures reflect only reported incidents. There could be more because refineries have no legal obligation to report every incident.
USW Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the union’s oil sector, said in a statement:.
I’ve asked the industry to sit down and have an honest discussion about handling safety effectively. Let’s conduct a thorough analysis, then negotiate a signed agreement that addresses the alarming deterioration in safety throughout the oil industry.
The same loose attitude toward risk and willingness to put cost ahead of safety that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster exist throughout the oil industry. It’s not just offshore drilling and it’s not just BP.
The negotiations with the oil industry would require reopening the national pattern agreement and would cover such items as process safety, the right to refuse unsafe work, fatigue and reporting of process safety indicators. The oil industry has responded that it is not interested in reopening negotiations with USW.
As the Gulf disaster has demonstrated, refinery safety is everybody’s business, Beevers said, affecting the community as well as workers. Worker involvement is key for creating effective safety programs.
We need enforceable health and safety provisions, whether it’s through negotiations with the industry or through regulation and legislation. We prefer direct negotiations, but if the industry refuses to bargain, we are prepared to go to Congress, OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration], EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)—whatever it takes.
 |
Become a Fan on Facebook |  |
Follow Us on Twitter |  |
Subscribe to YouTube |  |
Subscribe to Blog RSS | ||||
2 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
The oil industry doesn’t give a damn about what the USW thinks about “health and safety” issues, and more than it cares about the environment, the destruction of the entire Gulf of Mexico, or even about Global Warming, which threatens the very survival of humanity on this planet.
These lame demands to even “discuss” issues are rightly regarded with total contempt our the corporate masters. The oil companies, the entire energy industry (oil, coal, gas, nuclear, etc.) along with the military-industrial complex are in total control of the federal government, both Democratic and Republican parties.
By their ownership and control of mass media (including PBS and NPR), the ruling corporate elite control the mass media spin about every crisis caused by this run-amok and gangster capitalism.
Thanks to the continued clueless massive support from the “business partner” AFL-CIO of Obama and the corporate controlled Democratic Party, the economic and survival conditions of working people and humanity are increasingly on the decline.
The crises humanity faces are intrinsically caused by corporate capitalism forever corrupt in it’s insatiable demand to maximize profit. Thus BP and other polluting companies are forever willing to pay relatively trivial fines, bribe politicians, spend millions on lawyers to fight anything that would diminish profits.
The U.S. Wars in the Middle East are all rooted in the quest for oil profits and control of the world’s dwindling natural resources, against all foreign competitors.
The working people of the U.S. and the planet are being destroyed by U.S. and global capitalism.
Unless the so-called “leadership” of organized labor breaks with the historic “partnership” with this gangster capitalism, nothing will change.
Break with the corporate owned Democratic and Republican Parties this November 2010 and call for the formation of a new
political party. A new “second” party, a socialist party, refusing all corrupting corporate money and agendas, must be established to finally represent the economic and social interests of the vast majority in society, the working people.
The B.P. oil “spill” will never be “solved” in the interest of the people as long as B.P. remains in control, forever dragging it’s feet trying to save every dollar it can. The oil industry should be nationalized permanently to end the destruction of the planet, to save lives of working people, to put an end to the wars in the Middle East, to address the fundamental causes of Global Warming.
I don’t know who said this
but there is more truth to it then we want to admit
“Hello, you’ve reached the U.S. Senate. If you’re a corporate CEO,
press 1 for immediate assistance. All others please press # to hang up.”