12-hour shifts for up to 15 days in a row....

The relationship between union and management in an aluminum plant is critical for achieving a safe working environment. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has toured many unionized facilities. The best in terms a safe working environment are where the union and the plant management work together. That’s not saying that they will not have disagreements nor always see eye to eye. But, those plants who can compartmentalize their disagreements and not let them carry over to what is in the best interests of worker safety can achieve great things. Here is a recent story that we have chosen to omit the name and location.

Workers at an aluminum smelter say the company is putting health and safety at risk in the drive to get a newly modernized facility up and running.

The local union has circulated a petition demanding the aluminium company address unacceptable working conditions for the workers at the smelter.

Workplace contaminants have been found in bathrooms, drinking water facilities and eating areas, said union local president.

"Our members have quite frankly gotten really frustrated with the lack of amenities, with a number of health and safety issues, with the amount of mandatory overtime people are being made to work," he said.

Employees are forced to work 12-hour shifts, up to 15 in a row, union president said. He said that contributes to fatigue and raises the possibility that a worker could be injured or killed.

The aluminium smelter spokesman said mandatory overtime will be needed, possibly until the fall, to get the smelter into a "steady state" following its modernization. "There are some areas we are asking workers to have mandatory overtime to help ensure the plant gets up and running, and to its steady state," the aluminium smelter spokesman said, adding overtime hours are expected to be cut back over the summer.

The aluminium smelter spokesman said the company was "looking at" putting eight new crew rooms closer to the main work area, where more than 30 drinking locations are now located, adding temporary washrooms are in place while permanent ones are being installed.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that both parties acknowledge the safety issues and work to remedy them. Our industry has undergone a revolution in the past 15 years with a plethora of new smelters come on line or being revamped. The hours per day and the continuous days working is a concern that the union has. Unfortunately, this is not the only smelter that this issue has been brought up. We hope that both parties will work together to resolve differences.

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