Larry Hubich's Blog: Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon

Larry Hubich's Blog: Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon

Why do we elect cats?

Please click on the link below to find out the answer.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpFm7zAK90

Unions and Politics

By A. Mejia

As we already know Saskatchewan is going to the polls on November 7, 2007.
One must ask the question; should Unions be involved in politics? Well, I believe and certanly hope we all have a clear answer to this question. One might say, “no”, arguing that what really matters is what happens inside the walls of the Union office and being involed in politics will not benefit us as a Union. Yes, if one was to take a narrow path, that is absolutly right to stay within the confines of a very small umbrella of a Union. Some other individual may delve further before answering the above mentioned question; and therefore find the connection between Union involment in the politcal arena. In order to find that connection we must question ourself; who is respossible for electing the government and forming the Unions? If one looks a little closer, one will find that people are the government and also people form the Unions. Unions form, collectively, what is know as the labour movement. Essentially, this labour movement is formed by people whose only power they have, to make a living, is their labour power, because what they might own in terms of investements or property is not enough to generate an income to live off of. In other words, if you rely on working for other people or organizations to make a living, then you are part of this labour movement.
This labour force has formed a movement in years past, a movement that has been involved in politics to elect labour friendly goverments. These labour friendly goverments are respossible for changes to legislations that benefit the working people i.e OH& S organizations, Labour Standars etc. In contrast, the legislations that have been passed to help the business or corporations, have been achieved by corporatist governments that only have in mind the “bottom line” for business i.e lower business taxes, lower minimum wages, no benefits to workers, etc.
In a democracy we are free to vote in a government of our choice. This, sometimes, leads us to choose a government that will work not in our favour. The wrong choice comes when we are bombarded by the corporatist media, making us believe that we are part of the elite circle; making us believe that we are the corporation. You must remember, that if you have been hired you can be fired. If you make a living by selling your labour, then you need a labour friendly government in power.

Health And Safety

By George Brailean, OH&S Co-chair


When I first saw the cartoon and caption that was added to the January Conciliator article
submitted by OH&S Rep Wade Hillmer, my initial reaction was that it’s a little much and
not a true reflection of what I knew as the safety standard of our workplace. The most
recent incident in the Coker of February 7th, makes me think that the cartoon captioned
"We'll fix the machine after the next worker gets hurt" was more appropriate for this
situation than I would have liked. We accepted the existence of a known hazard within
the confines of a Isolation and could not conclusively assure all the condensate was
removed.
There were several efforts made to resolve this by the work groups involved, and OH&S
Reps on both sides of the table. Not to mention our OH&S Officer was told on 2 separate
occasions that I know of, that the matter was to be resolved "within the week". All I can
say is Coop luck has struck again and we are fortunate that this latest incident did not
result in a injury.
The matter was resolved in mere hours, with the fabrication and installation of spool(s).
Obviously this modification was known of and available all along, because few things get
done that quickly. But only in reaction to the Decokers being exposed to yet another
incident, was it decided to be worth pursuing. This incident would have never occurred if
the matter had been resolved satisfactorily as requested. Our Maintenance and/or Process
Departments decided it was not imperative that the modifications be made at this time
and would wait for Turnaround. That’s a pretty easy decision to make if you are in an
office considering there is zero chance you would be directly involved should things not
go as you anticipate. Risk management I guess. Apparently, we aren't as good at it as we
think.
That being said, I have every reason to believe that Safety is Priority 1 as mandated by
our Plant Manager. The Coker saga and how it has been drawn out, makes one wonder if
everyone's understanding of 'Safety First' is the same? And yes, safety can get in the way
of getting things done, as well it should. Until I hear different from the corner office, it's
Safety First.
The bottom line is this is ‘Our’ Safety Program. Without us, it’s just hype and paper. We
get paid by the hour to work, and to work safely. The Company is without a doubt
committed to safety and one would be a fool to say otherwise. We, the workers, have the
final say by refusing to perform unusually dangerous work. Ideally, it should never be
required, but it is our right as provided in Section 23 of the OH&S Regulations.
If You have any comments, questions or concerns, please contact myself or any one of
Your OH&S Committee Reps. Thanks and let's continue to look out for one another.

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