1,000 signatures reached
To: WA Premier Mark McGowan
Kill a Worker, Go to Jail: Unions Seeking Justice
We are calling on the McGowan Labor Government to make industrial manslaughter a crime in their first term of government.
Industrial manslaughter laws send a clear message to negligent employers – if you fail to provide a safe workplace and a worker is killed, you will face industrial manslaughter charges.
Changing the legislation, as promised in the WA Labor state platform, will make our state safer and protect West Australian workers.
Why is this important?
We will not tolerate inaction.
In 2018, nearly 50 workers have been killed on the job already. We cannot stand idly by and let this happen under our watch. Our government should be as shocked by these figures as we are.
In 2015, two Irish backpackers working a construction job in Perth were crushed to death when a concrete slab fell on them. Less than a year later, a young female backpacker fell 13 storeys to her death. Her boss allowed her to work at a height without providing a harness, using an upturned bucket as a ladder. MUA members will never forget Andrew Kelly, crushed to death in front of his fellow workers after being directed to handle containers in adverse weather. We have met with affected families. Their devastation and sense of injustice is heartbreaking.
Every workplace death is avoidable. If more had been done by the employers, these workers would still be alive and their families would still be together. If there were significant consequences for big corporations that kill workers, then our workplaces would be safer.
Employers are getting away with workplace deaths occurring under their watch. This is sickening. Not one more wreath should have to be laid, not one more memorial attended. We want action and justice now.
The good news is that there are ways to make our industries safer. Harsh penalties will improve workplace safety, worker health and wellbeing, and productivity. They will force cowboy employers to think twice about allowing unsafe work practices to continue. Strong laws will mean negligent employers can be charged with industrial manslaughter when a worker dies on their watch.
It’s time for WA Labor to step up. We call on the McGowan Labor Government to introduce industrial manslaughter legislation in line with other states or territories in Australia, which imposes $10 million in fines and jail time of up to 20 years.
Labor is the party of workers. It is the party to provide and defend dignity at work. WA Labor is letting down our workers, our families and our communities. Every death at work that goes unprosecuted in the harshest possible terms, is a failure of the party.
Kill a worker, go to jail!
Christy Cain
MUA WA Branch Secretary & National President
and
Mick Buchan
CFMEU WA Branch Secretary
If you or someone you know has been affected by a workplace injury or death and feel distressed by the content on this page, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.