THIRD WORLD WORKERS DIE EVERY DAY ON THE JOB

8,000 dead workers while on the job over the last twenty years. That averages more than one every single day of the year ie 400 per year. What single country am I referring to as a third world country? If you guessed Canada you are one of the few. The Waterloo Region Record is hardly a bastion of left wing socialist radicals. Nevertheless yesterday's Record carrys their Editorial titled "Another view: Too many workers die on the job". After the Westray Mine explosion and deaths in 1992, the federal government passed legislation which introduced changes to the Criminal Code . These changes enabled the Crown to charge corporate chiefs who were negligent in protecting workers lives and health while on the job. To date the sum total of charges equals exactly zero. This is despite 8,000 more deaths in Canada while on the job since 1992. A skeptic might be inclined to think that corporate Canada look at workers deaths as merely a cost of doing business. A bigger skeptic might think that our politicians and governments agree with them.