Hazards conference tackles "the brutalisation of work"

Nearly 600 delegates from 26 national unions representing around 200 branches met on 16-18 July in Manchester for the inspirational Hazards conference, which this year took "workers' resistance to the brutalisation of work" as its theme.

The opening plenary heard Asbjorn Wahl from the Campaign for the Welfare State in Norway explain how "neo-liberal economic policies are a health hazard".

The reality of conditions in UK workplaces was spelt out by Laurence Connelley, who worked at the ICL Plastics factory in Glasgow which exploded in May, and Sue Quinlan from the PCS civil service union.

And Bill Chedore from the Canadian Labour Congress spoke on the new corporate killing law in Canada, known as the Westray Bill.

A debate between Jane Kennedy, minister for health and safety, and Rory O'Neill, editor of Hazards magazine, proved to be a one-sided contest, with the minister quite unable to explain why the government has backtracked on so many health and safety promises.

The death of Alan Dalton, the well known safety campaigner who died last year, was commemorated by the first-ever "troublemaker of the year" award. Known as the "Alan", it was presented to Grace Morrison from the PHASE II campaign, which has fought for safety in the Scottish semiconductor industry.

The conference also started a discussion on updating the Hazards Charter.

Hazards 2005 will take place on 29-31 July in Leeds. To obtain further information on the event, contact the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre on tel: 0161 953 4037, e-mail: [email protected]