14 died building Greek Olympics (inc. airport, metro, train, roads

[papau]

14 died building Greek Olympics (inc. airport, metro, train, roads)

But Counterpunch goes over the top!

http://www.counterpunch.com/zirin08142004.html
150 Workers Died Building the Facilities
Olympic Sized Horror in Greece By DAVE ZIRIN

-snip-We are also getting bombarded with stories about how Athens is "a city transformed" by the Olympic Midas touch. As International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge put it, "At Athens the legacy will be a new airport, new metro, new suburban train, this is a legacy the Greeks will be proud of." But don't let the gold, silver, or soft-core sexism fool you: These Greek Olympics arrive bathed from head to toe in blood and dust.

You won't hear about it in NBC's gauzy coverage, but estimates range that as many as 150 construction workers died in work place accidents building Olympic facilities. The new center right government of Costas Karamanlis, terrified of international embarrassment for not having a modernized infrastructure, turned the screws to finish facilities by any means necessary<snip>


There is a bit of truth in story -14 dead in 30 locations-and bad safety standards may have contributed to some of the deaths. The Union claims as many as 40 during the 8 years (albeit 3 years were just legal wrangling) at all the "sites" (including Athens' new roads, airport, tram lines, and metro) taking the actual death toll to 40. The 150 appears to be pulled out of the air - A BBC story from July details the complaint - but note that not one death is linked to any specific safety standard violation (only poor safety standards, shortage of hard hats/safety boots, and little or no apparent organization are noted) - and note that the Brit papers have been on a 4 year dump on Greeks for not be as scheduled and anal as a proper Brit or German. Indeed this weekend other international media are asking the Brits to admit their bias and over the top stories - which the Brits will not do - saying they were just trying to encourage speed to their good friends in Greece!

In any case, 14 is a very high number by Historical Olympic building records (one person died in the construction of the Sydney Olympics and two in that of the Barcelona Olympics).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3920919.stm

Workers in peril at Athens sites
Evidence of poor safety standards at construction sites for next month's Olympic Games in Athens has been found by a BBC radio programme.

Many workers have been killed - many more than the official death toll of 14, a Greek union representative said.

But, he told the programme, no official numbers are being kept.

The BBC team observed workers - many from Eastern Europe and South Asia - operating without protective equipment and with minimal supervision. <snip>


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3920919.stm

Published: 2004/07/23 14:47:00 GMT

[Spinzonner]

1. That's OK, somebody probably took out Peasant Insurance on them

[kiahzero]

2. Once more demonstrating

that Counterpunch is a fetid pile of shit not worth the bandwidth used to read it.

[Kanary]

3. this story has been posted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2217738

and received the same insensitive and uncaring remarks.

Apparently, loss of life is no longer of concern to Dems.

:puke:

Kanary

[papau]

4. Loss of life, unions, and worker safety are important - but this point of

view is a dump on Greece.

The Brits followed up this story with a discussion on the reasons lesser nations should not be given the Olympics in the future - citing Greece as such a lesser nation.

The Greeks went all out on infrastructure (cost about $7 billion) - so more projects - and they were the bigger projects that always have a loss of life.

The Steelworkers union in the US (of which I am a lapsed member) can tell you how many died for every major bridge built in the US.

This article was a load of crap aimed at Greeks and Greece - and is not about worker safety.

[Kanary]

5. my first concern was those who died

guess that makes me a hippie freak.

:hippie:

Kanary

[Endangered Specie]

6. Care to bet how many Chinese laborers will die

building for the 2008 Olympics?