Turkey dinner at the carpenters shop lunch room

$32 Million Injury Award

$32 Million Injury Award - By STEPHANIE REITZ, The Hartford Courant
Worker Paralyzed By Falling Beam At Construction Site In 1994

The injury prompted a lawsuit that took more than 10 years to wind through court where, on Thursday, a jury awarded Pelletier more than $32.1 million in his workplace safety negligence case against Sordoni Skanska Construction Co. of New Jersey.

The company's attorneys said Friday they will appeal the verdict.

Unless the verdict is overturned, Pelletier could also receive up to $8 million in interest in addition to the $32.1 million, since the company rejected Pelletier's offer several years ago to settle the case for $6 million.

Pelletier, 54, won a precedent-setting decision before the state Supreme Court in 2003 for the right to sue Sordoni Skanska, which unsuccessfully argued it could not be held responsible for Pelletier's injuries because he worked for one of its subcontractors.

Since then, his case has been cited several times in claims brought by injured workers statewide.

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Forest death toll angers union

Forest death toll angers union - By MARK HUME, The Globe and Mail
To Mr. Hunt, Western Canada director of the United Steelworkers, the death came as a double blow because not only does he represent unionized loggers in B.C., but he recently launched a major campaign to make the woods safer.

Since a Steelworkers-sponsored forest fatality summit in Vancouver 10 days ago, three more loggers have died on the job.

power poles being lifted by chopper

Summit plans crackdown in the woods

Summit plans crackdown in the woods - Vancouver Sun
'What the hell is going on out there,' said moderator Jack Munro, former head of the IWA, now merged with the Steelworkers. 'We have reported 41 forest industry deaths and the year is not yet finished.'

'What kind of insane world does this forest industry live in when a sub-contractor faller is working alone to clear a right-of-way on a Sunday with his wife who was working as a safety spotter?' Munro asked, citing the lonely death Nov. 13 of faller James Warner, who died when he was struck by a falling snag. His wife discovered his body.

Munro said 'cardinal rules,' like never working near a snag, appear to have been forgotten.

The fatalities summit was organized by the Steelworkers in response to growing awareness of the death and injury rate in the forest sector.

'We don't think and never have thought that it is okay to go to work and die,' Steelworkers western regional director Steve Hunt said.