Victorian workers demonstrate over industrial safety

Issue 

Victorian workers demonstrate over industrial safety

By Sue Bolton

MELBOURNE — The front page of the Age on May 13 reported on a life-threatening industrial accident in which a young construction worker was buried up to his mouth in heavy soil, sand and water on the CityLink tunnelling site. On the same day, in the construction industry alone, two other workers suffered life-threatening workplace accidents.

The City Link accident highlighted problems with workplace safety that construction unions and others have been campaigning about for months.

The campaign has involved big demonstrations and smaller weekly actions, culminating in a Victorian Trades Hall Council demonstration of 10,000 workers on May 14.

The weekly demonstrations outside Radio 3AW, where Premier Jeff Kennett is a weekly guest on the Neil Mitchell talkback show, forced Kennett to back out of a personal appearance. He couldn't hack walking through a demonstration of construction workers each week, and now conducts the show through a telephone hook-up.

The May 14 demonstration called for a doubling in the number of safety inspectors and more stringent safety standards for equipment, and opposed any attempt by the government to restrict workers' access to WorkCover compensation.

The VTHC pamphlet, handed out on the day, drew attention to the problems with workplace safety in Victoria:

loccupational health and safety representatives' right to training has been slashed;

lsafety standards are increasingly vague, subjective and less useful;

lthe government intends to contract out occupational health and safety services.

Martin Kingham, state secretary of the CFMEU, drew attention to the three members of his union who were in critical conditions in hospital as a result of accidents on May 10. He told the crowd that workers on the CityLink tunnelling project were on strike until their safety concerns are addressed.

Leigh Hubbard, secretary of the VTHC, declared that unions would hold further rallies and stop-work meetings before the spring session of parliament.

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