Vol. 78/No. 35 October 6, 2014
‘Right on front line’
This is the best newspaper out there right now. The Militant doesn’t shy away from what’s happening out there around the world. You are right on the front line, giving us the best and highest morale of any newspaper. Keep doing this work. It’s real, not phony. You all are about the struggle that we all face.A prisoner
Florida
Electrocution no ‘accident’
Roopnarine Surajpal, an electrician apprentice and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union, was electrocuted on the job near Albany, New York, Sept. 11.Surajpal was working on the lighting system in an expansion of the Fage Yogurt plant in Johnstown. He was killed when he came into contact with a live circuit.
Johnstown police chief Mark Gifford called Surajpal’s death an “industrial accident.”
Word of the electrocution spread within a couple hours to the large construction site in Malta, New York, where I work. Many electricians here do not consider it to be an accident.
Why was an apprentice working on “hot” electrical wiring? Union rules and safety traditions call for only trained, journeyman electricians to do this. Why was the lighting circuit not turned off?
Standard lockout/tagout procedures are required on every job site, but bosses too often ignore these rules.
One of my co-workers pointed out that contractors make new apprentices do journeyman work to make more profits.
Another, a recent graduate of the program, said that the union’s apprentice program should instill confidence that it is OK to say “no” in an unsafe situation.
Ray Parsons
IBEW Local 236 member
Albany, New York