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Vol. 81/No. 39 October 23, 2017
Railworkers face frame-up trial in Lac-Mégantic disaster
BY MICHEL PRAIRIE
AND JOHN STEELE
SHERBROOKE, Quebec — The state began presenting its frame-up case
against locomotive engineer Tom Harding and train traffic controller
Richard Labrie, members of United Steelworkers Local 1976, in court here
Oct. 2. The two unionists are charged with 47 counts of criminal
negligence causing death from the July 6, 2013, derailment and explosion
of a runaway 72-car Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway oil train in
downtown Lac-Mégantic. In addition to the multiple deaths, the disaster
wiped out most of the city’s downtown. Also on trial is former low-level
company manager Jean Demaitre.
All three are fighting the charges. They could face life in prison.
Some 50 people attended the first day of the trial, including several
activists from the Citizens’ and Groups Coalition for Rail Safety in
Lac-Mégantic, and others who came to show their support for the rail
workers.
“Why isn’t Edward Burkhardt, the MMA CEO in the courtroom?” said
Lac-Mégantic coalition spokesperson Robert Bellefleur. “What about
Transport Canada, which gave the MMA special permission to run the train
with a crew of just one person, Tom Harding?”
“I don’t want answers from the three men on trial,” Jean Paradis, told
the media. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic executives are “in the
[United] States. Transport Canada has let those cheap companies run
railroads for less money, for making more money instead of acting for
the safety of the people. Safety should come first, not third.”
Paradis barely escaped with his life as the massive fireball from the
explosion that night engulfed the Musi-Café where a majority of those
killed were incinerated, including three of his close friends.
“The three accused are victims of the system. The ones at the end of the
line are always targeted,” Richard Custeau told the Journal de Montreal,
explaining his hopes that one day those higher up in the hierarchy of
the rail industry will be punished. Custeau’s brother Réal was killed at
the Musi-Café.
“The MMA was a railroad bought cheap by investors, in order to increase
its profits and then sell it,” Harding’s lawyer Thomas Walsh explained
to a crowded hallway full of reporters at the lunch break. “Today most
of the same people are running its replacement. Only the name has
changed. Profits are being made at the expense of safety. Transport
Canada looked the other way.”
Many in Lac-Mégantic consider Harding a hero. On the night of the
disaster, he parked the train on the main line on a grade at the village
of Nantes about 7 miles from Lac-Mégantic, left the lead engine running
to power the locomotive air brakes, set hand brakes on seven tanker cars
and took a taxi to a Lac-Mégantic hotel to get his night’s rest, as he
had done many times before. As he slept a small fire broke out on the
lead engine due to cost-cutting inadequate maintenance by Montreal,
Maine and Atlantic.
When local firefighters arrived to put out the flames, they shut down
the locomotive and, unknowingly, the locomotive air brakes. Harding
received a call about the fire and offered to go to the train to make
sure everything was OK. He was told that it was all taken care of and to
go back to sleep. A short time later the train began to roll towards the
city.
Awoken by the explosion, Harding rushed to the site, risking his life
helping firefighters detach and move a number of unexploded tanker cars,
preventing an even worse disaster.
Harding the main target
The prosecution said Harding’s actions were criminally negligent,
claiming he didn’t set a sufficient number of hand brakes and didn’t go
to check the train after the fire.
“Harding didn’t make the decision to park the train on a slope with the
engine running. This was company policy,” Walsh told reporters. “It’s
all about saving money at the expense of safety. This was a tragedy
waiting to happen.”
The Toronto Globe and Mail reported in a March 2016 exposé that if the
backup automatic air brake system on the tanker cars had been used, the
train would not have rolled at all. But Harding was forbidden by company
policy from using the system because it would cost time — which means
money — to replenish the system with air before the train could depart
in the morning.
The trial is the rulers’ way to make Harding take the fall for the
disaster, instead of the rail bosses and the Canadian government.
“Tom Harding and the others should not be in court today,” Chris
Yeandel, a locomotive engineer and vice general chairman of the
Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, Locomotive Engineers East, told the
Militant. “Why aren’t the MMA and Transport Canada officials on the
stand? If Harding and the others are convicted, other rail workers will
face criminal negligence charges for more tragedies caused by the
profit-driven policies of the rail companies.”
The trial is expected to last at least two months.
Messages in support of Harding and Labrie should be sent to USW Local
1976 / Section locale 1976, 2360 De Lasalle, Suite 202, Montreal, QC
Canada H1V 2L1. Copies should be sent to Thomas Walsh, 165 Rue
Wellington N., Suite 310, Sherbrooke, QC Canada J1H 5B9. E-mail:
thomaspwalsh@xxxxxxxxxxx.
Related articles:
Supreme Court set to take on anti-union case vs. dues checkoff
Labour Party mayor in London puts 1,000s of Uber drivers out of work
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