Last Chance.

        International Workers Memorial Day, April 28th. has passed, but to remember and honour those who died simply by going to work to try to earn a living, the powerful exhibition to emphasise the dangers inherent in working for a living in this society, put on by the Glasgow Keelie, at Glasgow Green, on the Common Drying Green just behind what was Templeton's Carpet factory, will remain until Sunday around 4PM. It will them be removed. So you still have a chance to see this very moving and poignant display on Sunday May 2nd until 4pm. Take that chance, and perhaps be moved to remember the dead and fight like hell for the living.

 

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Blood Red Bread.

         It is such a wonderful and powerful display, so here are some more photos of the Glasgow Keelie's International Workers Memorial Day event on Glasgow Green, yesterday April 28th. 2021. The display will remain in place until Sunday, May 2nd.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk   

Manslaughter.

      Work is glorified in this capitalist system, it is spouted as giving meaning to your life, to give you dignity and to give you a decent standard of living. Of course experience tells us none of this is near the truth. Under the capitalist system, work is exploitation, maintained at the lowest wage rate the employer can get away with.There is also the fact that health and safety is seen as eating into their profits, so will be by-passed when and where possible. One thing that is never mentioned, under these conditions, work is often a killer, not just from avoidable "accidents" but also from industrial diseases. The corporate powers are without doubt, in many cases, guilty of corporate manslaughter, all in the name of profit. Under no circumstances should your occupation be a possible death sentence. However, not until all manufacturing and distribution is under the control of the those who work their, will this corporate manslaughter stop. The interests of the corporate bosses and those of the workers are diametrically opposed, the circle can't be squared. 

         IndustriALL Global Union’s Korean affiliate the KMWU believes that POSCO workplaces will only become safer when union representatives are able to participate fully in safety structures. Instead, POSCO recently dismissed three union activists for exposing union busting, and failed to reinstate them after the National Labor Relations Commission ruled that the dismissal was unfair.
       The KMWU argues that large-scale industrial disasters happen at POSCO due to management decisions to not upgrade aging facilities and equipment, to downsize subcontracted workers, and to outsource risks instead of eliminating them.
      POSCO blocks the KMWU from accessing accident sites and refuses to allow union safety experts to participate in accident investigation. The company fails to disclose the true cause of an accident after an investigation is concluded, leaving workers to face the same risks that killed their colleagues.
      South Korea has the highest occupational fatality rate among OECD countries and every year 2,400 workers die in industrial fatalities. In 2018, trade unions and civil society launched a campaign for a Corporate Manslaughter Bill after a young worker in his twenties was found dead in a power plant after the company violated standard operating procedures.
       The signatures of 100,000 citizens placed this bill before the Korean National Assembly. The intent of the bill is to impose heavy penalties on employers who cause the death of workers, and to ensure that they adopt comprehensive preventative measures.
         The KMWU believes that if the bill becomes law, POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi should the first person to be held accountable.
        Accidents in November and December at POSCO’s Gwangyang steelworks in Korea resulted in the deaths of five workers. On 24 November, an explosion near a blast furnace lead to the deaths of three workers. In further incidents on 9 and 23 December, another two POSCO workers lost their lives.
      The lastest is the 18th accident in the past three years at the company’s Pohang and Gwangyang plants. POSCO workers have been killed by asphyxiation, explosions, fires, physical crush injuries, fatal falls, and overwork. The accidents have continued despite the plants being subject to an inspection conducted by the labour ministry.

       In this society we work to survive, that shouldn't mean we face death for our daily bread.work 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk   

CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER???

AN INJUSTICE TO ONE IS AN INJUSTICE TO ALL.

       Two disability claimants, both from West Dunbartonshire, who were deemed fit for work during a work capability assessment, have both died of their disability while waiting for their appeal to be heard. Both had their incapacity benefit withdrawn while waiting for their appeal. It is obvious that their assessment was wrong and it is difficult to imagine the stress added to their lives by having to face this type of work assessment, but to have your benefit cut while waiting for your appeal to be heard is a totally unnecessary and further injustice heaped on vulnerable people. The organisation and the people that carry out these work assessments have a duty of care for those they are calling to be assessed. In the corporate world there is such a thing as corporate manslaughter, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a landmark in law. For the first time, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care. Surely this can be applied to a company that is acting on behave of the government. It would be fair to assume that the wrong assessment of these two poor individuals and the further difficulties they faced through lose of benefit could be a contributory factor to their deaths. Where was the duty of care for these two cases, it would seem that the company failed in its duty of care in both these incidents. Could it be a case of corporate manslaughter? Perhaps the duty of care was to the shareholders of the company responsible for the assessments and the government that pays them handsomely. How many more people deemed fit for work, will die of their disability while waiting in dire poverty for the appeal to be heard?

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