History is full of tragic tales of injury and death among coal miners, foundry workers, factory workers, labourers to name but a few, from the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Many thousands of workers have died and continue to die (albeit in lessor numbers) to produce profits for private and multi-national corporations. The unions over the years fought many battles with owners and governments to make workplaces safer for the worker, to end exploitation of children, to gain better wages and conditions for all and in more recent times, to protect the environment in which we live. Sure, there are a few companies which embrace the need for safe and good working conditions for its employees, but there are equally a large number who merely pay lip-service to these ideals, putting profit ahead of everything else. Every day, during my fathers time as a coal miner, we prayed that he would come home safely and that the long blast of a mine whistle signifying a cave-in or blast was not for his mine. We were fortunate, my father survived his time down the pit only to die later from coal miners lung, which was put down to being a hazard of the job, many families were not so lucky, tragedies were many.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:29:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015