Global union launches investigation into paper industry deaths

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12445

Submitted by Jesse Russell on November 26, 2009 - 2:39pm
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Lede: The world’s first global union is launching a campaign Britain and the U.S. to save workers’ lives in the paper industry. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

The world’s first global union is launching an investigation into workplace fatalities and serious injuries in the UK’s paper industry. Workers Uniting, a joint effort of the United Steelworkers and Britain’s Unite union, says a recent increase in workplace fatalities may have been brought on by employers pushing to boost profits at the expense of health and safety. A USW survey of U.S. paper industry workplaces shows what the union says is “widespread dilution” of health and safety procedures. This transatlantic campaign in the paper industry is just one example of how Workers Uniting is attempting to use the power of a global union to improve workers’ lives around the world. In January Workers Uniting will launch a campaign to get its members to report unsafe work practices in the paper industry. Those reports will be given to UK and U.S. health and safety authorities.