"
Death toll mounts in blast at US
auto plant
By Helen Halyard
16 February 1999
On Sunday 44-year-old Ken Anderson of
Wyandotte, Michigan became the fourth worker to
die as a result of the February 1 powerhouse
explosion at Ford Motor Company's Rouge complex
outside Detroit.
Eleven other workers remain hospitalized at the
University of Michigan's burn unit, Detroit
Receiving Hospital and St. Vincent Hospital in
Toledo, Ohio. Of these, seven are still in critical
condition.
A task force consisting of representatives from the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA), Ford Motor Co., the UAW, insurance
companies and the Dearborn Fire Department are
currently investigating the cause of the blast. A
report is expected by the end of the month.
Reports made available to the WSWS by OSHA
show a definite pattern of repeated violations of
safety and hazardous conditions in every building
comprising the 1,100-acre sprawling Rouge facility.
However, within a day of the explosion the UAW
and Ford said there was no relationship between
the blast and cost cutting-measures that have been
carried out by the company for the past 10 years.
In the course of the past decade 12 workers, not
including those who died in the recent explosion,
have been killed at the Dearborn facility. In this
same period, Ford has gone from near bankruptcy
to its present position as the world's most profitable
automaker.
At the power plant, site of the February 1 blast,
Ford was cited and fined on March 5, 1996 and
again in June 1997, following complaints called in
to OSHA for problems with machine controls.
During this same period numerous complaints
were filed over hazardous conditions in the glass
plant, Dearborn Assembly, the tool and die plant,
Dearborn Engine and the frame and stamping
plants.
Serious violations, those that did or could result in
death or serious injury, numbered 155. There were
also 72 repeat violations and 200 other citations.
Fines issued to the company totaling $190,275, a
paltry sum when compared to Ford's profits, are
still being negotiated.
The role of the United Auto Workers leadership at
Rouge has been disastrous for workers. Pursuing a
policy that identifies the interests of workers with
those of Ford Motor Co., union leaders have
allowed the deterioration of safety at the Dearborn
facility, setting the stage for the fatal explosion.
Workers at the Rouge complex have taken issue
with the official position of the UAW that the
explosion was just an "unfortunate accident." The
World Socialist Web Site spoke to workers outside
the Dearborn Assembly plant, which is located
approximately 200 yards from where the blast took
place. Physically shaken by the tragedy, they
expressed bitterness toward Ford Motor Co. and
the United Auto Workers.
"There have been other times when accidents have
happened, people have been killed, and production
continued," one worker commented. "Ford is
mainly interested in production. Ford says it is for
teamwork, but the team concept really means you
do all of the work and the company reaps the
profits."
During a planned inspection of the assembly plant
on May 28, 1991, Ford was cited for two serious
violations, 10 repeat violations and 17 others. These
included exposed live wires, inadequate air
pressure, no guards for open-sided floors,
platforms and runways and broken equipment.
When questioned why the company did not carry
out the necessary repairs, a worker explained, "It's
because of cost cutting. You go to the union, they
say 'we're going to do this,' but nothing ever
happens. People say we don't have a union. You
put new personnel in there, but it still seems like
nothing is done. It is the company that runs the
show."
His coworker added, "It is well known that the
UAW works for the company. We have a name for
this place. We call it the 'Big Plantation.' And the
biggest overseers are black union officials."
On December 15, 1995 a worker with just a few
years to retirement was crushed to death at the
stamping plant by a power press fitted with the
wrong sized hinges. The fine issued to the
company was a mere $6,000, and has remain
unpaid until this day.
John, who witnessed the accident, explained,
"When they take shortcuts--and believe me, there
are many--it's like gambling. You keep feeding that
machine money hoping to hit the big one. But here
we are dealing with workers' lives, not with just
losing some cash. They are not spending the
money necessary to maintain all the equipment
and instead they keep their fingers crossed hoping
that nothing will happen.
"Let's take the way the accident happened in my
plant. In most of the facilities you have three shifts.
In the stamping plant there are massive machines
weighing thousands of pounds. Because of the
pressure to keep production going there is as little
down-time as possible. When machines need work
they are taken down by the day shift, worked on
by the afternoon shift and put back up by the
evening shift. In the morning the supervisor gives a
green light that it's okay. On the day Williams died
I had actually pushed the machine down the line
and the entire piece came down on top of him.
Apparently the hinges used were not correct. I still
get visions of what was the most horrible thing I
have ever seen in my life.
"These things should never happen. After the
investigation, the foreman was made to retire with
nothing else being done. In other words, he was
used as a scapegoat and no other issues were
addressed. The union never called a meeting or
issued its own report on the tragedy. OSHA came
in, the news came in and then things were quiet.
There was no discussion after the event happened.
Most of the buildings at Rouge were built in the
beginning of this century, and in my view a lot of
the equipment in there is antique and should be in
a museum. Even before I got hired in 30 years ago,
they should have gotten rid of it.
"All my life--and I am now 56--I have not seen
much change in the conditions of the working
man. It used to be that you could inch your way
up and do better than your parents, but today my
two boys are doing worst than I am. They are
working to eliminate that middle class and only
have the poor and the rich. They tell us that poor
people are happy and when you die, you'll go to
heaven. Well, I don't know, it's pretty much like
hell now. Those men with terrible burns from the
accident will suffer for the rest of their living lives."
Reports of the tragedy have virtually disappeared
from the local newspapers, replaced by news of
efforts by Ford Motor Co. to get things back to
normal. But for the families who are maintaining
daily vigils at hospitals, or had to bury their loved
ones, things will never be the same.
