Sass R
College of Commerce, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Int J Health Serv. 1996;26(4):595-609. doi: 10.2190/QGQV-A0WF-7593-7MGC.
Trade unions and workers in North America have been objectified and instrumentalized by all political regimes, including the social-democratic New Democratic Party in Canada. And it is means-end non-thinking that characterizes government policies. Liberal elites and policy-making have marginalized ordinary workers making them "superfluous" without any vision of an "ethical community" and demonstrating contempt for democratic initiatives. There are oppositionary voices to the dominant social structures that oppress and undermine community and solidarity. However, trade unions and occupational health and safety "activists" have yet to reassess their strategies on workplace health and safety reforms, but are on the defensive in North America. Further, they are complicit with the dominant ideology and the occupational health and safety establishment, including the various and diverse professionals, who shape how we think about work environment matters; and they accommodate government regulators in mediating worker experiences and expectations with employer interests. The author suggests the beginning of a strategy that does not succumb to present-day liberal public policy-making and the atrophy of alternative options. In part, this strategy calls for a rudimentary phenomenology of moral judgment and a reconstruction of labor "tradition".
在北美，工会和工人被包括加拿大社会民主的新民主党派在内的所有政治体制客观化并工具化了。而政府政策的特点是手段至上、缺乏思考。自由派精英和决策过程将普通工人边缘化，使他们变得“多余”，没有对“道德共同体”的任何愿景，还表现出对民主倡议的蔑视。存在着反对压迫和破坏社区与团结的主导社会结构的声音。然而，工会和职业健康与安全“活动家”尚未重新评估他们在工作场所健康与安全改革方面的策略，而是在北美处于守势。此外，他们与主导意识形态以及职业健康与安全机构同流合污，这些机构包括形形色色的专业人士，他们塑造了我们对工作环境问题的思考方式；并且他们在协调工人的经历和期望与雇主利益时迎合政府监管机构。作者提出了一种策略的开端，这种策略不屈从于当今自由派的公共决策以及替代选项的萎缩。部分而言，这一策略要求一种基本的道德判断现象学以及对劳工“传统”的重建。
