Home
Recently one thousand people rallied in Manukau City Square in response to the three murders that have happened in the past fortnight; a shopkeeper in Manurewa was shot during a robbery, an elderly woman was beaten by a home intruder and another woman was run down with a car after trying to retrieve her handbag from a thief. Some of the protesters held placards calling for harsher sentences and stricter parole laws. Each one of those deaths is a tragedy, yet there have been three other tragic deaths the past fortnight that have received less attention.
On June 18h a forestry worker died after his logging machine fell 15 meters from a bridge into the Mohakatino river, and on June 20 two fish workers from Blenhiem were killed when their boat colided with a former naval vessel in the Marlborough Sounds. There has been no thousand strong protest about these fatalities, yet more New Zealander’s die in their workplace than will die at the hands of a murderer. While there were 88 homicides in 2007, there are close to 100 work-related fatal injuries in New Zealand every year, and that number doesn’t include the estimated 700-1,000 workers who die prematurely a result of work-related disease.
Protests like those in Manukau can play into the hands of some powerful interests, protesters can call for increased state power, and target their anger at a scapegoat. Action against workplace fatalities (beyond union bureaucrats meeting in gardens) would be different, workers acting collectively for their interests would increase class consciousness, and improved safety measures would likely impact on the profits of the employers. Its worth asking then, why is out media continually filled with stories about violent crime, when the bigger killer our workplaces?
RSS 
”I too believe that we need more stringent laws which can ensure that industrialist take the lives of their workers on whose sweat they become rich, to be important.”
While I agree with you that we need laws that are more protective of workers and harsher on capitalist bosses, ultimately the only way to ensure that workers rights are not violated is for workers themselves to fight for them, and for the union movement to take a militant, proactive role in this fight.
The capitalist state acts in the interests of the ruling class, the rich businessmen, and cannot be expected to deliver any real justice to workers. In the end, the capitalist state will always act according to the best interests of capital, and the capitalist system, and that’s not a system that’s friendly to workers.
If the union movement wasn’t hamstrung by Labour’s Employment Relations Act (which prevents solidarity strikes, strikes over political issues, and ANY kind of strike outside of negotiations for a new contract), and by union bureaucrats allegiance to the Labour Party, we might well be able to make some real progress with regards to working conditions, living standards and workplace safety in this country. Until we have an independent, fighting union movement, things are going to stay bad and in all likelihood continue to get worse.
Better laws would certainly help, though as Alastair says, a strong union movement is possibly more important; many workplace injuries and fatalities happen now despite existing safety laws, workers need to fight for safe working conditions in their own workplaces, not just rely on the government.
We have to get back to basics - let’s face it more and more don’t give the proverbial stuff about each other. Neighbours don’t know neighbours. Kids often see their folks as ”a drag”. Many parents disown their kids.
We have become over-regulated and expect the State to pickup where we as individuals failed. We have to all claim some degree of ownership for what’s happening ”out there”.
I am proactive in saying ”my bit”, assisting volunteer groups,etc - I have even been known to tackle people doing social mischief. But on oft occasions I am aware if things turned real ugly the public would now ”walk-by” and fail to assist me.
While I agree with many of the above sentiments we have to question how we have acted. Most haven’t - hence the problem and ticking a ballot box to change a Government will change NOTHING. That’s reality even though most of the misguided believe that’s all they have to do and ”their bit” done. Oh if life was that easy!
I too believe that we need more stringent laws which can ensure that industrialist take the lives of their workers on whose sweat they become rich, to be important.