Trade unions and workers in North America have been objectified and in
strumentalized by all political regimes, including the social-democrat
ic New Democratic Party in Canada. And it is means-end non-thinking th
at characterizes government policies. Liberal elites and policy-making
have marginalized ordinary workers making them ''superfluous'' withou
t any vision of an ''ethical community'' and demonstrating contempt fo
r democratic initiatives. There are oppositionary voices to the domina
nt social structures that oppress and undermine community and solidari
ty. However, trade unions and occupational health and safety ''activis
ts'' have yet to reassess their strategies on workplace health and saf
ety 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 profession
als, who shape how we think about work environment matters; and they a
ccommodate government regulators in mediating worker experiences and e
xpectations with employer interests. The author suggests the beginning
of a strategy that does not succumb to present-day liberal public pol
icy-making and the atrophy of alternative options. In part, this strat
egy calls for a rudimentary phenomenology of moral judgment and a reco
nstruction of labor ''tradition''.