Read on Twitter
You may wonder "why" a company would want something like this.
Presumptive coverage makes it very hard to tell the employee to report to work. To minimize the trauma, tell them to "be a man" and get to site.
But if they don't come to site, we have a recordable. 1/ https://twitter.com/albertaNDP/status/1344358054645571584
Presumptive coverage makes it very hard to tell the employee to report to work. To minimize the trauma, tell them to "be a man" and get to site.
But if they don't come to site, we have a recordable. 1/ https://twitter.com/albertaNDP/status/1344358054645571584
While investigating my first process fire, I traced the path that the worker must have taken to escape being burned alive. It required a jump from approximately 16'. No idea how he lived. Hung off the side and dropped, maybe. I couldn't interview him. He was at work, 2/
but he couldn't go near the unit (the scorch marks were a punch in the gut to me, and I hadn't lived through it) and he couldn't REALLY talk about the incident without panicking. I was a sensitive 23 year old. I got it. PTSD was reasonable. But since he didn't miss work... 3/
the coverage was pretty limited. Couldn't exactly claim it later, when he'd signed off on coming back to work the next day. Which management needed him to do. Because they got a bonus if we didn't have any recordables that quarter. 4/
He'll be fine, right? How bad could it have been...
It's really easy to sit in your big office and make those kinds of justifications. None of those people crawled through the scorched pipe racks and FELT the plant vibrate under the strain of "maximum rates." 5/
It's really easy to sit in your big office and make those kinds of justifications. None of those people crawled through the scorched pipe racks and FELT the plant vibrate under the strain of "maximum rates." 5/
see, I had to go climb all over that plant. I had to catalog all of the charred metal, figure out what had melted, what had vaporized, and what was still in tact. Find out how hot it had gotten. Because it was still running. And management needed it to stay that way. 6/
a smarter 23 year old might have wondered if it was all that safe to be climbing all over that plant, if no one was really sure yet what damage had been done...but it was my first fire. And my boss told me to do it. So I did it. And what luck! Flash fire of light hydrocarbon 7/
Not too hot to melt the heavy wall steel the pipes were made of. Plant "safe." No recordable. Everybody wins.
I still don't know who the operator was. But I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help. I hope he's ok. I hope he's better than me. 8/
I still don't know who the operator was. But I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help. I hope he's ok. I hope he's better than me. 8/
Cause that job was the one that got stuck in my gut. The one that won't let go. The one that sat me on my ass and made me ask "what the hell are we doing here..."
And that's when I noticed, more and more often. Noticed all the little ways workers are treated as disposable. 9/
And that's when I noticed, more and more often. Noticed all the little ways workers are treated as disposable. 9/
Noticed all the ways that humanity is viewed by the corporate machine as a liability. Devalued.
But you see, they don't get it, corporate. They think that automation is their salvation. Robots don't get hurt, right? 10/
But you see, they don't get it, corporate. They think that automation is their salvation. Robots don't get hurt, right? 10/
I worked with robots too. A whole bunch. Some of the most sophisticated automation technology in the manufacturing industry. And corporate is missing something. Robots don't have a sense of duty or loyalty to exploit, either. A robot can't ever exceed its programming. 11/
A robot can't miraculously survive a fall that should maim or possibly kill someone, and a robot sure can't identify the difference between the *hiss* that means "run" and the one that means "this valve is operating normally." 12/
The corporate machine has miscalculated, especially in Alberta. Their chronic, systemic abuse and exploitation of workers is reaching a head. They will begin to find out that their corporate managers and automated systems don't know how to keep their neglected plants running. 13/
I hope the general public wakes up to the reality before too long as well. That sense of panic and dread you feel, constantly worried about losing a job, because the only thing worse than the boss you have today is the prospect of hitting the job market again...14/
It has a lot more significant consequence when we run out of people who can safely operate our refineries and chemical plants. And we are throwing those people away like used wrapping paper in Alberta. Demonstrating in every possible way that they are worth less than the 15/
multinational corporations and institutional investment houses that we call "job creators" like the sheep that we are in this Province.
Alberta has a real choice to make, over the next few years. Is this the future you want? Do you want your daughter 16/
Alberta has a real choice to make, over the next few years. Is this the future you want? Do you want your daughter 16/
suicidal in her first real job, because of the staggering, life-changing realization that short-term profit is more important than human life?
My early work experience in Alberta isn't special or unique. I just have nothing left to lose, career wise. I gave it all up. 17/
My early work experience in Alberta isn't special or unique. I just have nothing left to lose, career wise. I gave it all up. 17/
For a Province full of people who claim to value self-sufficiency and personal choice, there's a disturbing number of people willing to hand over the reins on EVERY aspect of their lives to corporations on the one side, or the State on the other. 18/
Neither situation is liberty.
Regulation is a tool that can maintain a balance of power. If you think workers in Alberta have ANY power, you are sadly mistaken. I do, however, hope with all my soul that you are allowed to maintain your delusion. 19/
Regulation is a tool that can maintain a balance of power. If you think workers in Alberta have ANY power, you are sadly mistaken. I do, however, hope with all my soul that you are allowed to maintain your delusion. 19/
Because being thrown into the situations that make the reality undeniable...I don't wish that on anyone. But we're in for a lot more. Burnout, stress-induced illnesses, anxiety, suicides, addiction, domestic and family violence, these are all outcomes of "non recordables" 20/20