Our union has a proud history and is forged in tradition that we are all privileged to carry on. The past few years have been among the most exciting -- and the most challenging in our 70 plus years. We've come through a lot. We've accomplished a lot. And we have so much more to do. Through it all -- the good times and the bad times -- one thing has been proven over and over: we are stronger together.
Stop the Killing. Enforce the Law! It has been more than two decades since the Westray mine disaster in Nova Scotia and a decade since amendments were made to the Criminal Code of Canada to hold corporations, their directors and executives criminally accountable for the health and safety of workers. Even though more than 1,000 workers each year are killed at work, police and prosecutors are not utilizing the Westray amendments, and not investigating workplace fatalities through the lens of criminal accountability.
When a major employer leaves a region, the ripple effect can be devastating. Is it too late for this region in the Ohio Valley?
"If we don't look for trouble, trouble is going to come looking for us." The United Steelworkers Health and Safety Department is working towards a joint union and management comprehensive workplace Health and Safety program. This program will focus on addressing hazardous conditions without blaming workers to slow and eventually stop the frequency of fatalities to our members.
USW International President, Leo W. Gerard, talks about what it's like to grow up in a mining town.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate-driven organization that works behind closed doors to develop laws that serve their funders' interests. The "model legislation" they produce is introduced by state-level lawmakers who assume the ideas as their own. The bills are predictably self-serving: limiting workers' rights, restricting our ability to vote, undercutting safety on the job and more. When ALEC held their spring task force meeting in Oklahoma City in early May, the Steelworkers were there to shed light on this distortion of democracy. Joining with other union members and progressive allies, nearly a thousand people marched and rallied saying "ALEC is NOT OK!"