http://www.theprovince.com/index.html
Mark Gordienko is president, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada; Steve Hunt is director, United Steel Workers District 3; Brian Cochrane is business manager, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115; and Tom Sigurdson is executive director, B.C. Building Trades.
“I look at it from the perspective of the importance of coal…..in terms of employment, it’s huge here but I would remind city folk that it provides employment also for people in the Greater Vancouver area.” — Sparwood Mayor Lois Halko
While there has been much attention and controversy surrounding a small, proposed coal terminal — Fraser Surrey Docks — the larger picture of how important coal mining and exports are to British Columbia’s economy is being missed.
Our unions’ members are the coal miners and workers who ship steelmaking coal from B.C. to markets overseas, where steel is made to produce everything from cellphones to wind turbines to subway cars to surgical equipment.
B.C.’s coal sector employs 26,000 people directly and indirectly, creates $3.2 billion in economic activity and generates $715 million in tax revenues for the province and B.C. cities and towns every year.
In other words, coal pays for hospitals, schools, roads and other public services.
Some object to coal based on misinformed health concerns — and yet all of our unions have members working closely with coal daily but do not see any negative health impacts.
How is it that workers — sometimes up to their knees in coal — mining, running coal trains and loading coal directly onto ships are all healthy for decades and yet “experts” tell the public to beware of the “dangers” of coal dust?
Our unions are responsible for our members’ health and safety — if coal caused illnesses, as claimed, we would know and would have acted long ago.
To be sure, in the early days of coal mining before modern equipment and precautions were introduced, it was a very dangerous job. Today it’s still tough and there are some risks but safety has improved incredibly.
Today’s coal industry in B.C. creates family-supporting jobs all over the province — including Metro Vancouver — and is a big part of our economy.
Surprising to many, Canada’s total coal mined is less than one per cent of world production.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/10/26/gordienko-hunt-cochrane-and-sigurdson-environmentalists-get-facts-wrong-about-coal/