Unions threaten OSHA campaign

At a press conference at SWWTU Hall yesterday, the union leaders expressed concern about the Wednesday night explosion at National Flour Mills (NFM), in which four persons were injured.

It was reported that one worker sustained 90 percent burns to the body, another worker 70 percent burns, while two others sustained minor injuries.

Businesses are now operating under an Act passed in 1948 — the Factory Ordinance Act.

NATUC president general Robert Giuseppi said all legal means necessary will be used to get the Government to pass OSHA.

"Everyone has to ensure a workplace that is secure and safe. We are the victims," he said.

SWWTU chairman Michael Annisette expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the NFM explosion.

"We are meeting with the management of NFM to investigate the matter," he said. He said the Government was unwilling to implement OSHA after ten years.

"There is no excuse and we will embark on a campaign," he said.

Annisette said the National Employment and Disability Bill should be reintroduced.

He expressed his concern to Giuseppi, telling him to lobby workers to take action.

Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) president, Vincent Cabrera, slammed Government ministers, saying that OSHA had already been passed in the Lower House.

"Now the minister says it is wrong, and it should be changed," he said.

"That is because the Government will have to pull up their socks and businesses will have to pay more money!"

Meanwhile, Giuseppi stated that the proposed redundancies of staff at the Caribbean Development Company (CDC) will put hardship on displaced members.

"The current market position of CDC places it in a stronger financial position in the brewery industry to recover the sums of severance payout," he stated.

The union leader added that the current severance scale does not compensate displaced workers.