QUEBEC – The Parti Quebecois (PQ) does not want to give up the fight against the new occupational health and safety law, adopted last week.
Bill 59 breaks the principle of parity and does not take climate change into account in prevention plans, deplores the spokesperson for the Parti Québécois, Sylvain Gaudreault.
“This fight is far from over,” said the PQ member for Jonquière, in an interview with The Canadian Press published Tuesday.
“It is a personal failure of the Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, not to have succeeded in seeking a broader consensus on his law. Both the bosses and the unions are against it. ”
Climatic changes
During the study of the bill, the PQ wanted to force employers to take into account the risks of climate change in prevention plans, but the Caquists opposed it.
For example, in the event of a heat wave, an employer should have adjusted the schedule of construction workers, or even provided showers, or shaded areas for agricultural workers in the fields, or rapid evacuation measures for workers. foresters, if there are forest fires, mentioned the PQ member.
“You have to be able to determine the risks associated with climate change, and to forecast accordingly,” argued Mr. Gaudreault, especially since the new law must be designed for decades to come.
Injuries linked to climate change are “extremely present” among agricultural workers, he continued. In addition, municipal employees will have to work in areas prone to flooding more frequently and will thus be exposed to “bacteriological risks”, due to sewer overflows, etc.
Parity
In addition, the new law grants discretionary power to the employer, in particular in the application of his prevention plans, if he manages several establishments.
The same plan can be imposed even if it is two or more different establishments, without even discussing it with the workers.
“The Minister is breaking the principle of parity and that seems unacceptable to me,” deplores Mr. Gaudreault. The principle of parity is fundamental ”in the origin of the occupational health and safety system.
There is no better placed than the worker to properly target the risks related to his workstation, he pleaded.
The PQ member intends in particular to monitor the publication of the regulations that implement the law.
“Unanimity against him”
It should be remembered that this law, which fundamentally modifies the occupational health and safety regime in force for more than 40 years, is far from reaching a consensus.
All unions are opposed to the latest version of the legislation, even if it had been amended.
All the opposition parties, which have nevertheless contributed to modifying important parts of the bill, voted against during the stage of final adoption on Thursday.
“The minister managed to achieve unanimity against him,” condemns Mr. Gaudreault, recalling that the original law of 1979, which the new law replaces, was “historic”: it had passed the test of time because ‘she was consensual.
“We can say today that Bill 59 is also a historic moment, but because the Minister succeeded in achieving unanimity against him. This is history. ”
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