health and safety bonuses

Declaring 2010 "the best year in safety performance in our company's history," Transocean Ltd., owner of the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that exploded, killing 11 workers, has awarded its top executives hefty bonuses and raises.

"Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate," the SEC statement reads. "As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our Company's history...a reflection on our commitment to achieving an incident-free environment, all the time, everywhere,"

On April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig injured 17 workers and killed 11 others, including nine Transocean employees. Millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf. It has been called the worst spill in U.S. history.

The reward for what was described in official reports as "systemic" problems $200,000 salary increase for Transocean president and chief executive officer Steven L. Newman, whose base salary will increase from $900,000 to $1.1 million, according to the SEC report. Newman's bonus was $374,062, the report states. Newman also has a $5.4 million long-term compensation package the company awarded him upon his appointment as CEO in March 2010.

Workers have regularly had to die for oil. When "their" countries go to war over ownership of natural resources, workers are required to do the dirty work of killing and dying for companies like BP. It's much the same in "peacetime": the war to defend profitability, the battle to advance the share of the oil market is fought on front line oil platforms by members of the working class.

Whenever you hear about unsafe working practices, it’s a good bet that it’s due not to individual carelessness but to the need for profit. A sane society will not need to rely on governments, companies or authorities to enforce safety. Socialism will rip the price tags from everything and liberate the productive potential of the world.