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Issue No. 221 | 21 May 2004 |
Wage Fixing
Interview: Machine Man Unions: Testing Times Bad Boss: Freespirit Haunts Internet Unions: Badge of Honour National Focus: Noel's World Economics: Safe Refuge International: Global Abuse History: The Honeypot Review: Death And The Barbarians Poetry: Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Porkies Leave Shearers In Tents Occupation Focuses Anglo Minds STOP PRESS - Mitsubishi Carves Up SA
The Soapbox The Soapbox Sport Politics Postcard
Labor Council of NSW |
News BHP In Hedland Horror
A gas explosion at BHP Billiton�s Port Hedland briquette plant left four men suffering horrific burns and battling for survival after being airlifted to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Then, today (Friday) a teenaged apprentice was critically injured at a Pilbarra mine operated by the same multinational corporation. BHP's Billiton's Port Hedland iron ore operation was the focus for accusations reported in last week's Workers Online resulting from the death of AMWU activist, Cory Bentley, whose head was crushed in an early-morning accident. After Bentley's death, management began removing bright red posters that urged employees to "aim high, move fast" and spelled out massive tonnage targets required by the company. AMWU secretary, Jock Ferguson, said it appeared BHP Billiton had put production before safety. The claim was amplified by ACTU Pilbarra organiser, Will Treacy, who said safety standards had "plummeted" since the company launched a 1999 campaign to de-unionise its Pilbara operations. BHP Billiton lured nearly 40 percent of the workforce onto non-union AWAs with massive inducements, worth up to $100,000 to some employees. "The thing with these contracts is that they inhibit people from speaking out on safety for fear of being hammered in performance reviews," Tracey said last week. "Anyone who speaks out on safety is labelled a trouble maker." A stunned Ferguson this week repeated his call for an independent safety audit of the whole BHP Billiton operation. One of the men burned at Port Hedland this week, after hydrogen exploded during maintenance work, was said to have suffered severe burns to 90 percent of his body. Three contract workers sustained "bad" burns to their faces and bodies in the same incident. Their injuries sparked the West Australian newspaper to go digging and within 24 hours it was bringing readers stories from other workers who had been injured in explosions at Port Hedland. Ken Te Wano told the paper he had been in an "almost identical" accident in July, 1999, while Mary Halls, the cousin of one of the men injured this week, confirmed she, also, had been burned while working at the facility. "I can't believe this has happened twice to the same family, it is a really dangerous place," she told the West Australian. Workers Online understands the teenager hurt in the mine accident was being sustained by a life support system. "BHP makes a massive amount out money out its Pilbara operation but this senseless loss of lives has to stop," Ferguson said. "There has to be a change to its culture of production at all costs."
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