A few words about the Brandizzo massacre

The massacre in Brandizzo (Piedmont), where five workers intent on maintaining the railway network lost their lives on August 30, briefly landed the dramatic issue of work-related accidents on the front pages of newspapers. Then, after a few days, everything has been "forgotten" and the news has slowly disappeared. But even in the brief period in which it has been talked about, it has been done poorly, falsely and hypocritically. Indeed, it has been said that the root cause of the tragedy was a "human error" perhaps committed by the site manager of the RFI company (the company that manages the Italian railway network) who should not have allowed the workers of the contracting company to be on the tracks at that time.

Against "human error" the press, television and the men and women of the government immediately lashed out. All of them were anxious to find a convenient "culprit" that could be useful for hiding the real responsibilities and those really responsible for a massacre that, according to (underestimated) official figures, kills in Italy alone more than three workers a day.

Which one was the "human error" that made three migrant farmhands die from overwork in the blazing fields between July and August? Which is the "human error" that causes workers on construction sites to die like flies?

It’s true, sometimes there may be "human errors." But these "errors" are caused by the logic of the market, the laws of competition and the thirst for profit of companies that impose stifling work rhythms and shifts and that to do "fast and cheaply" de facto oblige (just like in the case of Brandizzo where in three hours was requested to do what used to be done in five) to put aside even the most basic safety measures. So-called "work accidents" are not matter of chance, but a well-calculated and well-accepted "risk" for businesses and employers. For them, a percentage point in the stock market is well worth the life of a few workers!

What about the institutions? and the governments? Aside from all the chatter, they are precisely the first defenders of this system that in the name of profit does not care to crush lives and health of workers, retired people and proletarians all. Wasn't the progressive destruction of public health care to the advantage of private health care (started by previous governments and accelerated by the Meloni government) one of the main causes of the spread of the (often forgotten) covid-19 pandemic? And is it not always in the name of the god-profit that Italy is in the first line supporting NATO-US-EU aggression against Russia and its workers? Appealing to the government and institutions would be like lambs appealing to the wolf. Two facts, among others, are proof of this:

·       one of the first acts of the Meloni government was to change contract regulations by giving the way to wild maximum-bid contracting and subcontracting without limits or controls (the people who died on the Piedmont tracks were, “coincidentally”, all outsourced workers).

·       a few weeks before the Brandizzo massacre, Minister Salvini precepted railroad workers to prevent a strike that focused among other things on the need for more safety measures at work.

Standing up against this daily and deliberately hidden massacre is possible and necessary. But it can be done in one and only one way: by engaging in the workplaces, in the union and everywhere to establish the basis for an organized workers' movement that can adequately fight to impose by force on the employers and the government all the necessary (even if costly to companies) safety measures in factories, worksites and throughout society.

ORGANIZZAZIONE COMUNISTA INTERNAZIONALISTA

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