Yellowknife (Mar 29/06) - Workers for the City of Yellowknife do not receive enough safety training and run the risk of being hurt or killed in an accident, a union head told councillors Monday.

“City administration has washed their hands (of safety concerns),” said Norm Smith, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada local representing city workers. “We’ve been snubbed.”

But the claims are an about face for the union. For the last year, Smith, who co-chairs the city’s health and safety committee, signed off on reports that said there were no major accidents involving city workers. That had several councillors questioning the motivation of the union, Monday.

“Why weren’t any of these concerns raised (earlier)?” councillor Blake Lyons asked Smith after the union head blasted city administration during a ten minute speech before council. “Why are you coming before us now?”

Smith said it was not the union’s responsibility to bring those concerns forward. He said it is city administration’s responsibility. “When (city administration) say there are no major incidents, of course I’m going to sign it,” he said.

“There are no major incidents that I knew of at that time,” Smith told reporters after the meeting.

During a press-conference after the council meeting, Smith said the concerns were not raised because the lines of communication between the city and union had broken down.

“You have to understand how health and safety meetings here are run. They’re not run properly. When you’re fighting all the time...you can’t get a health and safety meeting to function,” he said.

Smith highlighted a laundry list of concerns during the council meeting, including:

• a lack of training for workers at the dump and public works garage;
• long working hours - up to 80 hours over two weeks - for workers at the Multiplex;
• unreported accidents; and
• a workforce that is stretched thin.

The problems have led to low morale and a 20 per cent annual turnover rate, Smith said. They also create the potential for deadly accidents.

“We want all of our members... to come home to their families at the end of each day,” he said.

Lyons said, however, those claims and the problem-free safety reports “do not reconcile. I’m very disappointed.”

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said City Hall takes the safety of its workers seriously and senior administration has welcomed inspections from the Workers’ Compensation Board.

“From our observation, there has not been a laxity,” he told reporters.

But city officials would look into the accusations, Van Tighem said.

The union has filled an official complaint with the WCB, though Smith did not know when the investigation would be completed. “Hopefully now things will progress and we will get a proper health and safety committee,” he said.