Union concerned about the increase in injuries....

Trade unions are an important partner in many of our plants around the globe . When management and trade unions have a good working relationship everyone benefits. On occasion that relationship can become adversarial and in many instances plant safety declines. Here is a recent story when a trade union is at odds with plant management regarding safety. The APSB has chosen not to name the plant nor location.

Union members who work at the aluminium smelter are concerned by the number of employees being injured at the plant, their organiser says.

About 40 smelter union members attended a two-hour stopwork meeting one day during the week of October 5, 2014 yesterday as part of a "global day of action against smelter owners ".

The union's organizer for the aluminium smelters workers, said about 40 people attended the meeting and he was extremely surprised at the workers collective concern over the number of injuries happening at the smelter.

He believed up to six workers were medically retired from the smelter each year because of injuries suffered on the job. They were mainly arm and shoulder injuries, he said.

The union said he tried to set up a meeting between the smelter general manager, federal worker safety agency and health and safety representatives last year to discuss the issue, but nothing came of it.

"As far as I am concerned there are job tasks down there that should be identified as significant hazards, and no-one wants to know about it. Now it's developed to the situation where workers are being medically retired."

In the potline and rodding room departments - where the work was hard and physical - was where most injuries happened, he said. Staff redundancies had aggravated the issue because workers were not being rotated between job tasks as often as previously.

The smelter's union member workers wanted the smelter and smelter’s owner to start working constructively with the union to improve conditions.

The smelter general manager said they took the health and safe of their employees very seriously and they worked continuously to eliminate hazards in the workplace.

The smelter was seen as setting a benchmark for industrial safety in the country, the general manager said. The smelter had spent millions of dollars over the past 20 years to eliminate health and safety risks, engaging the best experts in the field to consult and advise, the smelter general manager said.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that both parties work together to continue to improve safety at this smelter. Though the APSB chose to omit the name and location of the smelter, we are aware of the good work that this smelter has done in the past regarding promoting worker safety. We are also confident that this particular smelter will continue to promote safety in the future.

The number of workers retiring because of injury at this smelter is a common topic that our industry is facing. Many of these workers are older or seasoned workers. It is not uncommon for the APSB to meet a worker who has 25-30 years of service in an aluminium plant. The toll one’s body takes when working a job that in many instances are physically demanding is great. The safety and training of the older or seasoned workers is a challenge that never ends. It takes a unique approach and understanding of the workers themselves and the workplace to find a collective balance where production and safety can succeed.

If in the near future if the smelter management and trade union are still not seeing eye to eye, maybe mediation could be explored.

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