NO JUSTICE FOR TWO WORKERS DEATHS

Today's Kitchener-Waterloo Record carrys the following story " Supervisor fined $22,500 in deaths of migrant workers on Grey County farm". Sixteen months ago two workers were overcome by fumes while attempting to repair a pump at Filsinger's organic foods and orchards near Ayton, south of Hanover Ontario. The original charges under the Occupational Health and safety act included the owners and a supervisor. The charges were dropped against the owners and the supervisor pled guilty to a single charge. This did not go down well with an advocacy group called Justica for Migrant Workers. They stated "This decision implies that employers have carte blanche to engage in health and safety violations, and that the legal mechanisms meant to protect workers in fact shield employers from any form of accountability for deaths of their employees.".

It is my belief that each and every serious on the job injury and death should be front page news. Instead this article is a tiny one on page B8 of the Record. The number of major serious injuries and deaths in Waterloo Region is staggering and should be well publicized. Many employers, just like on the environmental front, can be shamed and embarassed into compliance with the laws of the land. Fines generally mean little or nothing. Publicity and public condemnation do mean something to them.