http://themilitant.com/2015/7936/793601.html
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Vol. 79/No. 36 October 12, 2015
(lead article)
Join Oct. 11 march for rail safety in Quebec!
Rail workers framed up for gov’t, boss disaster
Photos: Reuters/Mathieu Belanger
Above, burned tankers after 2013 derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec,
killed 47. Canadian government, rail bosses are responsible for
disaster, organizers of Oct. 11 protest say. Inset, from left next to
cop, train controller Richard Labrie (hidden), company manager Jean
Demaître and train engineer Thomas Harding, face frame-up as officials
try to shift blame.
BY JOHN STEELE
“The railroad catastrophe of July 6, 2013, in Lac-Mégantic was the
result of several breaches and negligence by the MMA company, related to
non-rigorous surveillance by Transport Canada relative to the
application of its rail safety management policy in Canada,” the
resolution says.
It points to the lack of government oversight of the rail company, the
excessively worn tracks, the fact that the railroad’s current owner, the
Central Maine and Quebec Railroad, has made “few serious and thorough
repairs,” and the refusal of Transport Canada authorities to enact any
new requirements for the rail bosses to carry out “preventive
maintenance and immediate repair.” The resolution calls for immediate
government action to meet “the right to complete safety in relation to
the tracks” for people in the region.
The resolution was referred to the Congress of the Union of Quebec
Municipalities Sept. 26, where the representatives of some 300 towns
adopted it unanimously.
As a profit-raising cost-cutting measure, Transport Canada in 2012 under
then Minister of Transport Denis Lebel approved Montreal, Maine and
Atlantic’s request to run its trains, including those carrying crude oil
from the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota to the Irving refinery in
New Brunswick, with a “crew” of only one person.
To divert attention from its role in the disaster, the federal court in
Quebec, with backing from the rail bosses, filed frame-up charges
against Tom Harding, the train’s locomotive engineer, and train
controller Richard Labrie, both members of Local 1976 of the United
Steelworkers union. They each face 47 counts of criminal negligence
causing death. Conviction could result in life imprisonment. Minor
former company official Jean Demaître faces similar charges.
“The federal government is as guilty as the MMA for the disaster.” André
Blais of the Citizens’ Coalition and Groups Committee for Rail Safety in
Lac-Mégantic, one of the groups organizing the Oct. 11 protest, told the
Militant. “Transport Canada let the MMA get away with not maintaining
its tracks and equipment in safe condition.”
The weekly Écho de Frontenac published the Citizens’ Coalition release
urging people across Quebec to participate in the protest, which is
assembling at the Lac-Mégantic Sports Centre at 12:30 p.m. and marching
at 1 p.m.
Labor and environmental groups in Chicago have called a rally outside
the Canadian Consulate Oct. 12 at noon on the theme: “Bomb Trains. Show
Solidarity with Quebec! We Could Be Next!”
As momentum for the Lac-Mégantic action builds, dangerous conditions on
the railroads are becoming a growing issue in the Oct. 19 Canadian
federal elections.
Protest organizers say the demonstrators plan to return to the Sports
Arena to participate in a debate on the Lac-Mégantic disaster among
federal candidates in the area, to demand they support safer conditions
on the rails.
Harding has widespread support in Lac-Mégantic. After the derailment and
explosion, he, along with a group of workers from the city, put
themselves in harm’s way to uncouple some full oil cars still on the
tracks and move them to prevent further explosions.
Government prosecutors are attempting to move his trial out of the area.
The Steelworkers union has set up a fund,
www.justice4USWRailworkers.org, to help finance the two workers’
defense. A September 2014 union newsletter noted the widespread support
in the area, saying people there “shared a widely held view that workers
were being made scapegoats.”
Taking advantage of the ongoing federal election campaign, the
Toronto-based Safe Rail Communities sent a questionnaire to the four
main federal parties Aug. 31 on their policy on rail safety. The replies
received to date from the Liberal, New Democratic and Green parties all
complained about the current Conservative government budget cuts to
Transport Canada. However, none raised the need for rail workers to win
control over conditions on the job, or discussed the government-backed
profit drive of the rail and oil bosses, or spoke out against the
frame-up of the USW rail workers.
The candidates of the Communist League, Beverly Bernardo running in
Montreal Papineau and Joseph Young in Calgary Skyview, have been
distributing a statement demanding, “Drop the charges against
Lac-Mégantic train engineer Tom Harding and train controller Richard
Labrie now!” It explains why working people should join the fight
against the frame-up of Harding and Labrie by the rail bosses and the
government.
“We stand with working people in Lac-Mégantic who are demanding that
Ottawa build a railway bypass around the town,” the statement says. “In
addition we should fight to make it illegal for the railroads to operate
without four-person crews” and demand “a maximum train length of 50.”
They are campaigning to build the Oct. 11 protest.
The immediate focus of the march is to demand the City Council get a
court injunction to prevent the Central Maine and Quebec Railway from
hauling dangerous goods until it repairs the unsafe track system through
Lac-Mégantic.
The railway transports propane and other dangerous cargo and is expected
to resume crude oil shipments sometime in early 2016. Most recently
Central Maine and Quebec bosses refused a request by the City Council to
repair a rusted-out culvert under its tracks.
For information or to send letters of solidarity to the October 11 march
contact: infosecurail154@xxxxxxxxx.
Related articles:
Steelworkers picket ArcelorMittal mills protesting bosses’ cutback demands
VW scandal: Bosses junk safety in drive for profits
On the Picket Line
Deaths on the job rise as union membership falls
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