Class, Agency and Action: The Class Distortion in Public Policy Formulation Respecting Worker’s Compensation and the St. Lawrence Fluorspar Mines

Abstract

The workers' compensation policies for the mine workers of St. Lawrence has received considerable attention with regards to the vast social repercussions.  Little emphasis has been placed on how these inadequate policies were generated. This paper thus focuses on the public policy processes that shaped the worker's compensation policy with regards to the St. Lawrence fluorspar mines.  Through outlining how class shaped the early stages of the policy process, it is argued that class was a primary force that fundamentally determined the policy response.