Support of the independent ranking to the death of the actuator worker

In order to achieve the National Steel Car-Rang-and-File Committee or to support an independent workers' examination to the death of the star dealer Ronald Adams Sr., fill out the form at the end of this explanation.

Siblings:

We all know the risks we take when we start in the National Steel Car. Since the cruel deaths (better than industrial murders), this has been home to our former colleague Fraser Cowan, Colin Grailey and Quocle in the NSCS Hamilton, Ontario, to a greater extent.

Unfortunately, the same fate is Ronald Adams Sr., a Stellantis autocorker in Michigan, USA, under very similar circumstances.

The National Steel Car-Rang-and-File Committee clearly supports the initiation of the International Workers Alliance of Rang and File Committees (IWA-RFC) of an independent examination of his death, and we will do everything we can to support it.

Some may be wondering why we make this statement about a worker in another country? Simply expressed, a injury to one is an injury to everyone! The basic cause of the death of Ronald Adams Sr. was the same as that of the three deaths in our facility here in Hamilton: the prioritization of corporate gains compared to the security and very life of the workers who produce. Adams also worked for Stellantis. Stellantis has institutions in Canada in which the employees here suffer from the same questionable security practices as in the NSC and in the same legal framework (the law on the health and security law of Ontario and the law on employment standards) that do not account for employers. With regard to workers' fights, international boundaries have become relatively meaningless.

Ronald Adams, Sr. [Photo by Adams Family]

Ronald Adams Sr. was a 63-year-old specialist who was crushed to death on April 7 during a night shift in the Startantis Dundee-Motorwerk. The work is currently being implemented for the production of engines and frame components for a new generation of gas -powered, hybrids and electrical vehicles.

So far there are only a few details about how this fatal incident happened. Both the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Stellantis are very tight. The incident “is currently being examined by the Department of Health and Security Department of UAW-Steitantis with the support of the International Union, the Department of Health and Security by UAW and the Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Administration (Miosha).”

Adam's family has not even received the death certificate from the district's medical examiner. His family and colleagues were not officially said what caused Adam's death, although some facts have escaped.

In the early morning of April 7, Adams worked on a cinetic washing machine (used to clean engine blocks) when an overhead gantry crane was engaged at some point. It stuck Adams between the wardrobe and a sponsor, which led to fatal squeeze injuries in his upper upper body. The area is switched off so that nobody can get in there when he operates. There is a goal, but if it is open, the entire operation should shut down. If a trade has to work in the region, the gate is opened, the power supply is switched off and the trading barrier is locked out with its lock.

Somehow the castle was avoided, that is, potentially manipulated. Unlike NSC, where we are still in the industrial dark age, this is a highly automated system and there would be a recording of the company's IT system. This system records how often the machines went down, how long it took, how long the time of day, the shift, etc.

The possibility that safety equipment has been manipulated will surely meet us. After the death of Grailey, it became light that the manlift's ground controls on which he stood was separated. The maintenance protocols for the chain inspection were mysterious just a few days after the death of Quocle.

The family of Adams Sr. – now minus a husband, father and grandfather – demands answers. The fact that you have not heard anything for over six weeks is shameful, but not surprising. The UAW and the Stellantis will undoubtedly try to achieve a kind of negotiated agreement about it, which are announced as “fair”. We all know what “fair” means for prevailing class employees and the Union bureaucrats who shine their proverbial shoes.

Three industrial murders in the National Steel Car

A review of the terrible security record at NSC is required here. Workers who are not familiar with this system may not know their importance for the broader economy. We build iron cars for the large railway companies, whose networks are all over North America, including the Canadian National, the Canadian Pacific Kansas City and BNSF. The company's annual turnover in 2021 was over 500 million US dollars, but practically none of this is issued for the protection of our security.

In September 2020, Fraser Cowan was crushed when a 700 pound Linster device fell on him after he accidentally lowered a crane and the device was out of his own because there was no safety bar on the hook. This happened after NSC had previously been instructed by the Ministry of Labor.

In April 2021, Colin Grailey was put down in a skyjack after a health problem. He passed out with his hand on the lever while he was hanging over the rail. The skyjack continued until he hit something and Grailey was put down to death. The job had previously been a two-man job, but Grailey worked alone. As we already mentioned, it later became clear that the soil controls were separated from everyone without any known.

In June 2022, Quoc Le was crushed to death by a Schott for a gondola car after a chain.

Workers who protest on Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Hamilton, Ontario, before the National Steel Car, three days after the 51-year-old worker Quoc Le had been killed in a terrible accident at the workplace. [Photo: Hamilton and District Labour Council ]

Even after three industrial murders within a few years, the United Steelworkers (etc.) repeatedly informed us that we had to cope with this through the legal system, as it was about setting up. That they take themselves in hand was not the way to deal with these topics. How wrong they were!

On July 31, 2024, the National Steel Car was finished at work with a fine of 240,000 US dollars plus a sacrificial surcharge of $ 60,000 for the death of Quocle – the third in its facility in less than two years. As we said, this was the result of a deal that was dismantled by NSC lawyers, prosecutors and crown. That brought the overall penalty to NSC:

• Fraser Cowan -a fine of 140,000 US dollars and a fine of 25 percent (35,000 US dollars)

• Colin Grailey -a fine of $ 140,000 and a fine of 25 percent (35,000 US dollars)

• Quoc LE – $ 240,000 fine and sacrificial surcharge fines of 25 percent ($ 60,000)

A comprehensive total number of $ 650,000 for killing 3 people! In one of these deaths, nobody was charged with criminal negligence or homicide, let alone do. It is clear that the NSC management essentially considers these expenses as the cost of business.

The Westray Mine Law (Bill C-45) is as hollow as always! It was introduced in 2004 to enable the company management for deaths at the workplace in response to the Westray -Mine disaster, which demanded the life of 26 miners in 1992. After more than 20 years in the books, not a single criminal persecution under this paper tiger of a law was ever successful.

The government at all levels is only involved in the terrible working conditions with which we are confronted here at National Steel Car. In the five years between June 1, 2017 and June 9, 2022, the Ministry of Labor in Ontario visited our facility for “preventive inspections” and after complaints from employees about health and security problems, which corresponds to a visit a week. In the year immediately before the death of Le, there were 75 visits to Provin Zinspectors, which between June 2021 and June 20222, gave 78 commands to the company.

This is the legal framework that the etc. would assume and to hold the employer into account. Although it is in another country, the legal framework that the UAW, Stellantis and Miosha have in stock for the Adams and Adams family have no more effective if it reaches Adams' death on the bottom of the Adams.

If the decision of last year about the death of Anthony Gaston is to do, the result of the official investigation of the death of Adam will be even more offensive and obscene than our experience here. Gaston, another star dealer, was whispered to death and worked on the assembly in Toledo, Ohio Jeep, and in the assembly line. The joint security committee for UAW management there in combination with OHSA in Ohio tried to tüst the incident. Stellantis was fined, not because of another incident of industrialords, but because of “uncertain working conditions” a poor sum of $ 16,000! Stellantis appeals!

Autocores have complained about poor security conditions that are not treated for a long time and fall on the deaf ears of the joint safety committees of union management.

The National Steel Car-Rang and film committee is in solidarity with the Adams family, the IWA-RFC and the rank and the UAW autocorkers to request an independent examination, which exactly happened in Ronald Adams SRS death. We support the five questions of the IWA-RFC with all my heart and demand answers:

• Was the safety blocking system in the 7300 department compromised by the Cinetic washing machine?

• Is there more than one blocking system on this workstation and others that contain gantries and robots?

• Are there documented records of previous malfunctions with this specific wardrobe, especially after its relocation from the south to the north complex?

• Did workers, cost reduction and the rush to restart the production, contributed to this fatal incident?

• Which specific security violations and systemic errors enabled this “accident”?

No faith can be used in the bureaucratic corporate to work for one of its members. Nobody can expect anything from Stellantis. They seem to have as many concerns about people's lives as National Steel Car. In the United States, employees should not trust the “security organizations” of the government. They not only proved to be ineffective before, but now they have been disappointed by Trump, but the potential leader who currently lives in the White House.

The fact that the union and companies have been silent for over a month shows the need for an independent examination to get to the bottom of what was going on, show the truth and take into account those responsible. Adams Sr.'s surviving family, friends and colleagues earn nothing less.

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