BY JOHN SARGE AND JEAN LUC DUVAL
DETROIT - An explosion and fire at the Independence
Professional Fireworks factory killed five people March 29.
The plant, one of the largest U.S. makers of display
fireworks shells, is located in the small town of Osseo,
Michigan. This is the plant's second deadly blast in less
than four months. On Dec. 11, 1998, seven workers were
killed.
The most recent blast occurred in a building used to assemble fireworks, a former employee, Walter Adams, told the press. It was less than 100 yards away from the structure leveled less than four months earlier.
Those killed included Leah Dunning, 34-year-old mother of three, who a neighbor reported "wasn't crazy about going back after the explosion in December. But it was a good paying job for around here." Two other workers, one of the owners, and his wife were also killed.
Government inspectors have refused to order the company to stop production even though they claim that they have not isolated the cause of the first explosion. Michigan's Occupational Safety and Health Office, the agency responsible for government enforcement of industrial safety regulations, did not shut the plant down after the December blast. The day after the second blast, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms refused the demand of area residents for the shutdown of the operation.
Meanwhile, management's continued downsizing and job combinations took the life of another worker at the American Axle Manufacturing auto parts plant in Detroit March 27.
Patrick Hartert, a machine repairman and member of United Auto Workers Union Local 235, was killed when an oversized storage cabinet he and a fork truck driver attempted to move tipped and hit him in the back of his head. While no halt to production occurred, a joint management-union meeting was held several hours later for workers in the plant where Hartert died.
As word of his death spread to other plants on the site, co- workers commented on the increasing number of incidents, where workers are being forced to perform tasks beyond their training and skills, or without the proper equipment. Willie Reid, who works in the adjacent plant, said her co-workers recalled similar unsafe conditions that have taken the lives of two other craftsmen and two outside contractors since 1995.
Jean Luc Duval is a member of UAW Local 235. John Sarge is a member of UAW Local 900.