- The Guardian
- Issue #2122
Are you feeling safe? Is your workplace safe? How about the workplaces of people in your family? For a lot of readers, the answer will be “yes.” People in offices, by and large, don’t worry about safety much, apart from the odd fire drill and some boring training exercises about First Aid and trip hazards.
If you’re working in construction, the answer may well be a firm ‘no.’ Construction is a notoriously unsafe profession. Things fall on workers. People get hurt by carrying heavy loads. There are all sorts of machines and vehicles that can maim or kill a worker.
Of course, construction isn’t the only place where there are risks. A lot of workplaces that feel safe, are kept that way by rules and procedures that can seem over the top until you remember that the alternative to ‘feels too safe’ is not ‘just safe enough,’ it’s unsafe.
What stands against the dangers in any workplace – most dramatically in construction – is an effective union. What stands against safety is employers. This isn’t because employers like to hurt people. It’s because under capitalism, an employer’s duty is to maximise profits. Costs stand in the way of maximising profits. Safety is a cost. Employers don’t make money from workers being properly trained in using machinery. They don’t make more profit from a workplace being properly checked out for hazards. Those things cost money, so employers are motivated to skimp on them.
A lot of people reading this editorial aren’t in construction. Many will be in offices. Some will be in classrooms, shops, or hospitals. While safety is a factor in every job, the dangers construction workers face may not seem real to people working elsewhere. Even if you’re not going to be on any building site any time soon, construction workers are facing a danger right now. It’s a danger that will affect you, no matter where you work.
An effective union stands against danger for workers. The CFMEU has been placed under an undemocratic and unaccountable administration that will make the union far less effective. If you don’t believe us, just check out the business pages, or newspapers like the Australian Financial Review. The big building employers are absolutely licking their lips at the prospect of a weakened CFMEU. They’re already trying it on when it comes to wages and agreements. They’ll get around to attacking safety – except they’ll call it “cutting red tape” or “less union obstructionism.”
The administration is much more serious than just making it harder for workers to enter a site (something which also affects safety). It makes the world less safe for any union trying to help any worker. It sets up the precedent that the government can put any union under an unelected all-powerful administrator on the basis of untested allegations – which amounts to ‘if the government feels like it.’ There’s no reason why this can’t be done to unions that cover office workers, childcare workers, or nurses.
Employer groups know about this precedent, and they’ll be watching for chances to pressure future governments to do it to other unions that stand in the way of profits. If there’s a Coalition government, they might not even have to ask.
If you don’t want less safety in your job, join us in fighting the administration. Read the Guardian’s work on this topic, and if you like it, donate to the Press Fund. Contact a politician and let them know you support democratic and effective unions.
Teacher, doctor, tradie, supermarket staff – whoever you are, your safety is on the line.
