Date: 2017
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Vincent Venne had spent 34 years as an insulator by 2017. He started at Sherritt Gordon in Fort Saskatchewan while he was still in high school. His insulator dad had the pull to get him hired. He has numerous relatives in the trade. Venne has faced little racism in his work, but, like many Indigenous people, his connection to nature causes him concern about the land ripped up to get gasoline and the failure to reclaim land in a timely manner.
Venne was injured when he was not informed that he was working on a caustic soda line. After a few days he couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t seek medical attention because companies compel workers not to report injuries. “Most insulators died of cancer caused by asbestos.” Ammonia releases are common at Sherritt Gordon. Across the companies, falls and collisions leading to injuries and deaths are suppressed. The employers won’t provide frost-free glasses because of cost. When 80% of the work was covered by the Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, the union struck employers for better treatment. But now only 20% of the work is union, and the union serves mainly as a hiring hall.
Keywords: Asbestos and cancer; Environmental damage witnessed by insulators; Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers; Insulators; Insulator deaths and asbestos; Reduction in union strength; Sherritt Gordon.
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See also: Indigenous Labour in Alberta; Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta