Trade unions launch liability campaign

Democrat reporter

THE BRITISH TUC has launched a major campaign aimed at ensuring that employers are held fully responsible and accountable for the health and safety of their employees.

The campaign, which is part of an world-wide trade-union initiative, will culminate in a day of global trade union action on Monday 28 April 2003 -- International Workers’ Memorial Day.

Around 300 workers die in Britain each year in their workplace. A further thousand die driving for their work and thousands more die from occupational diseases.

Commenting in the November edition of the TUC-backed journal Hazards, health and safety expert Owen Tudor stressed that the issue of corporate social responsibility applied both to developed and less developed economies.

As a result of union efforts in the United States there is evidence that some in the business community want to adopt policies on corporate social responsibility as an alternative to legislative controls.

Trade unionists have no problems with this where measures go beyond the legislative minimum, writes Tudor: “But the international trade union movement now wants real corporate accountability, which means that employers who break the law should be treated like any other law breaker.”

Trade unions in Britain will focus on a new law for corporate killing. In addition the TUC is calling for tougher enforcement of health and safety laws and higher fines, additional powers for health and safety reps, and more inspectors to enforce the law.