What are you in this labor pool?
A prisoner or a slave?
The BC Maritime Employers Association wants to keep this labor pool exactly the way it is.
Why?
Benefits for the Employers Association:
- Keeps a constant supply of desperate / captive workers
- Allows unsafe working conditions, and they do not have to pay benefits for injury / death / medical / dental
- They do not have to pay for travel time or waiting time
There are great costs to you the worker:
- Your travel costs
- No job security
- Low compensation for injury (W.C.B. will pay only at present board level meaning low boards get next to nothing)
- Red dock work should not be mandatory for any worker, especially for women: when this work is done a self-contained air pack and survival suit should be worn
- Wasted time sitting around, with no guarantee of work
- Family / social life suffers
- Keeps you angry and unnecessarily competing with your fellow workers, rather than directing your anger and frustration at the Employers Association
- As a casual you are exposed to the most dangerous of chemical toxins
The Answers:
- You do not have to serve a 9 year sentence for a secure job
- There are things you can do to change this!
Remember: The employers need you.
There should be benefits for casual workers.
- If work is unavailable you should be paid call-out time, as you are required to be at the hiring hall in person as a condition for employment
- There should be greater than present health benefits for casual workers
You as a group can achieve these things... and more. But if you act alone, nothing can be done.
You can end this unneccessary struggle to earn a living.
Ask yourself: Does your take home pay take you home?