Sowry's OSH Attack Immature Mischief Making

"Roger Sowry's attack on the Council of Trade Unions is immature mischief making which displays a lamentable ignorance of the realities of effective workplace injury prevention and health protection," CTU president Ross Wilson said today.
The National Party today claimed that the agenda for next week's CTU Biennial Conference is evidence that the CTU is hijacking the new health and safety laws to use as a weapon against employers.

"It is certainly our objective to organise and build the health and safety rep system so that properly trained and resourced workplace representatives are at the cutting edge of best practice," Ross Wilson said

"It is also a fact that many of the conditions of employment which may cause accidents or disease can be improved through collective bargaining," he said. "That has been the role of unions since the industrial revolution."

International evidence shows that well-organised union workplaces are much safer than non-union workplaces.

"All union members expect their unions to be working to improve their conditions of employment, and nothing is more fundamental than organising to protect their lives, limbs and good health," Ross Wilson said.

"We hope to work co-operatively and in good faith with employers, and we have many initiatives already under way.

"Mr Sowry might think that the current workplace death and injury toll is acceptable," Ross Wilson said. "The CTU certainly doesn't."