510 10 13392 https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/bfa8d995b00f89981abda56a895838b3.pdf a76bc0913d108d6cf06c927dcef3606c PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 YOUTH PROJECT FOLLOW-UP MEETING Toronto, ON - March 20 – 21, 2004 The Board of Directors of the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance through the help of additional funding was able to have a very much needed follow-up meeting with some of the Youth that took part in our Project called: “The Youth Project”. This meeting took place in Toronto, Ontario, in March 2004, and we are very pleased with the outcome and results of this meeting. We would like to thank HRDC for this special opportunity that would not have otherwise been possible. Please find a report written by Rob Lindsay, in relation to this special follow-up meeting inside this issue on page 5. Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ....................................... 2 Special Appreciation.............................................. 3 Thank You page .................................................... 4 Youth Project, cont’d ............................................. 5 CIWAY Board of Directors ...................................... 6 Cdn Survey on Youth Health & Safety ..................... 6 Day of Mourning Article by Tara Dorval ................... 7 USWA Policy Convention Article .............................. 8 C.I.W.A./ACVAMT Activities ........................... 8, 9, 10 Miscellaneous .......................................................11 CIWA/ACVAMT Info ............................................. 12 Page 1 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E T O D A Y ! Name: ________________________________ Date: Organization: ________________________________ Address: ________________________________ Highlights is published 4 times per year ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Postal Code ________________________________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Phone ________________________________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Fax ________________________________ Donations $ E-Mail ________________________________ Total Web Site ________________________________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: __________ $ __________ Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or for their opinions. PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES OF CIWA/ACVAMT VOLUNTEER BOARD OF DIRECTORS… EXECUTIVE OFFICERS… BC ... Lee Harrison, Surrey President Secretary Treasurer AB… Gerry Gray, Red Deer SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society (Sask.) MB… Vincent Boyce, Winnipeg NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County PEI ... Leonard J. Crawford, Summerside Rob Lindsay Lee Harrison Vincent Boyce ADVISORS… Andy King, U.S.W.A. Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants STAFF… Phil Brake, National Coordinator Monika Wiitala, Office Manager SUMMER STUDENTS… Tara Dorval, Youth H&S Research Assistant Greg Berry, Web Master L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 10098 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6T6 Phone: 807-345-3429 Fax: 807-344-8683 Page 2 CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 STREET ADDRESS 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6R2 email: ciwa@vianet.ca Web-site: www.ciwa.ca �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Special Appreciation April 28, 2004 To Labour Organizations Who helped with attendance of our Youth members at the Day of Mourning Ceremonies in Ottawa, Ontario We would like to express our sincere appreciation and thanks to the following: Western Injured Workers Society Labrador West District Labour Council Regina Outside City Workers, Local 21 USWA USWA, Labrador Local These donations enabled three of our board members of the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Youth (CIWAY) to attend the ceremonies along with three Board Members of the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance (CIWA). This event was hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), at Queen’s Park in Ottawa on April 28, 2004. CIWA is a national organization that exists to strengthen and support the work of local, provincial and territorial injured workers’ groups across Canada. We believe that we can best assist in these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and labour organizations. Once again, a big thank you to these organizations for their very generous donations. Page 3 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Century Farm Waterfront Cottages Point Prim, Prince Edward Island Thank you for your wonderful hospitality during our meeting in June. We experienced a wonderful atmosphere which allowed our Board meetings and AGM to run smoothly. Our Volunteers Thank you to all those who volunteer their time for our organization. Thanks to the Board of Directors of CIWA. Thanks to all the Youth who attended our meeting in Toronto in March, and created the Youth Division of CIWA. Thanks for all the work you have been, and will be putting into the research and development of this division. Canadian Labour Congress For your generous offerings of inclusion in all your activities. The scholarships provided for the Winter and Summer schools available for two regions of the country. The Health & Safety Conferences which we participate in, such as the one coming up in November 2004 in Montreal, Quebec. In general, we thank you for your commitment to injured and disabled workers’ groups, their members, and your support for workers’ rights and issues. Page 4 HRDC Thank you for providing the Operational Funding required to continue maintaining and managing our organization for yet another term. �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail YOUTH PROJECT FOLLOW-UP MEETING Toronto, ON - March 20 – 21, 2004 (Continued from Cover Page) This is a brief report of the ―Youth Project Follow Up Meeting” that was held in Toronto, Ontario. We wanted to find out from the youth what worked and what didn't work from the training they received for our Youth Project— which took place between 2000 and 2002—in order to come up with solutions for improvements on their future presentations. When the youth were consulted about their experiences with the Youth Project, we found there was an overwhelming concern for the apparent lack of funding and physical support that is imperative for the mobilization of the youth initiative. The youth were asked to break up into groups and come back with a 45 minute presentation on how things worked and how things didn't work, and to also come back with some concrete solutions on how and what we need to do to improve the situation and presentations. They were also asked to present a 15 minute skit related to their concerns, regarding the importance of a safe and healthy workplace. Throughout the day we assisted the groups with their presentations and ensured that they were hard at work. Not to our surprise, the youth worked very hard at getting their presentations and skits perfected for March 21st, the presentation date. Many of them worked right through into the evening to get it done. It was just amazing to see the vigour they put forth into their work. This was the same interest they had exhibited in the projects they had participated in before. On the morning of the 21st of March, everyone met and discussed how they were going to do the presentations. In addition, two of the youth spoke about different issues with regard to the importance of this project, which was absolutely wonderful. The presentations began and it was overwhelmingly amazing to see the work and interest that these young people had taken in the cause. The most important issue that came out of these presentations was that they all recognized the importance of a safe and healthy workplace. Perhaps the most encouraging feedback was the inherent willingness and motivation the youth expressed about proactively doing something to ensure that all workers across Canada have fair access to a safe and healthy workplace. Furthermore, to our pleasant surprise, the youth stated that they wanted to become part of CIWA, and that they wanted to create their own division within CIWA! They had decided to form their own organization called: “Canadian Injured Workers Alliance of Youth – CIWAY”. They held elections and formed their own Board of Directors, which includes a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Board Members. They ensured that their Board of Directors was set up to represent all provinces that were in attendance, and to work on having complete provincial representation in the near future. Currently, CIWAY has representation in the Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, P.E.I., Labrador & Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. Their dedication was apparent when they worked at it until 10:00 P.M. that evening to make sure they had everything in place so they could commence their quest to start working towards a safe and healthy workplace for all-especially youth. This was a great achievement for these youth, as they see the need for such an organization to be in place for the youth all across Canada—educating, sharing information and working with each other in regards to O.H.&S. They want to develop a newsletter geared towards youth, develop a special youth web site, and complete projects in the future to continue training youth about their rights and their responsibilities in the workplace. They recognized that they would not have been able to accomplish what they did without the support of CIWA, HRDC, and, of course, the donations from labour. CIWA is also very proud to be able to report back to HRDC the excellent outcome of a well organized project that they had sponsored, and hope that they too would be very proud of the outcome. Page 5 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail CIWAY – Canadian Injured Workers Alliance of Youth BOARD OF DIRECTORS – MARCH 2004 BOARD MEMBERS / Provincial Reps ANDREW BACCHUS Toronto, ON PRESIDENT TARA DORVAL Thunder Bay, ON VICE PRESIDENT DUSTIN EASTMAN Regina, SK SECRETARY JULIE SHOEMAKER TREASURER JESSICA BELANGER Sommerset, MB Winnipeg, MB DAWN HAMILTON Labrador City, NF PAIGE MOORE Montague, PEI AMANDA PERREAULT Brampton, ON DEAN RUDD Whitehorse, YT LILI TRINH Toronto, ON SCOTT WOLBAUM Regina, SK JAMIE WOODHOUSE Winnipeg, MB For information on how to contact any of the above provincial representatives, please contact the office located in Thunder Bay, Ontario at 807-345-3429, or toll free: 1-877-787-7010, fax: 807-344-8683, email: ciwa@vianet.ca or visit our website at www.ciwa.ca Canadian survey on youth health and safety in the workplace Received from Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, Shelley Rowan, Director, Communications: FOR PREVENTION, YOUTHS NEED MORE INFORMATION AND TRAINING HALIFAX, Oct. 15 /CNW/ - Young workers ask for more information and training about health and safety at work. Compensation boards and commissions will meet with employers and educators, workers associations and unions representatives to take action about the poor health and safety situation of youth at work. "The young workers surveyed consistently showed a definite lack of training in the workplace. Only 13% of all youth respondents say they recall receiving information about workplace health and safety from schools. Even if young workers surveyed do not seem as concerned about dangers and injuries as older workers (12% vs. 24%), many report that they would take action if they felt threatened by unsafe working conditions but would not necessarily discontinue working. The Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada will meet with board and commission's partners to discuss the issue of health and safety of young Canadian workers at its 2nd public forum that will take place in Montreal on October 26-28, 2004. For further information and interviews: Shelley Rowan, Director, Communications, Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, (902) 491-8105, shelley.rowan@wcb.gov.ns.ca Page 6 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail National Day of Mourning May 28th, 2004 - 20th Anniversary By Tara Dorval, President CIWAY From Australia to Taiwan, many countries around the world have named April 28th the official marker of Workers’ Memorial Day—a day that recognizes those who have been injured or killed as a result of hazardous workplace environments. In Canada, this day of commemoration is widely known as the National Day of Mourning. Thus, on April 28th of every year, nearly the entire globe reserves this universal day to ―mourn for the dead and fight for the living.‖ Ever since the Canadian Labour Congress first incited the Day of Mourning as a period of remembrance in 1984, memorial ceremonies have been honoured around the world to provide a forum for change, and unite people in a moment of silence. Sponsored in partnership by the Canadian Labour Congress, the Ottawa & District Labour Council, and the Ottawa & District Injured Workers’ Group, Ottawa held one such ceremony on April 28th—the 20th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning. Several members of the freshly formed youth division of CIWA, known as the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Youth (CIWAY), attended this ceremony. They held their own CIWAY banner high and proud, so everybody in attendance could see that youth are visibly concerned and conscientious citizens, too. A ceremonial wreath was placed at the foot of the National Monument out of respect for those workers who have died from occupational hazards and diseases. Rob Lindsay, the President of CIWA, and Tara Dorval, the President of CIWAY, addressed the audience about the urgency and commitment to keep occupational health and safety issues affront in the public eye, so that safety initiatives will remain engaged and proactive rather than reactionary and stagnant. All those who spoke or listened that day had reached a consensus that many of the injuries and fatalities that occur in the workplace are not just accidents, but, nonetheless, preventable crimes of negligence. It was the first time that a Youth organization in support of injured workers rights, had attended the National Day of Mourning ceremonies in Ottawa—at the forefront of the service. Everybody from all walks of life who were there, including mourning families and supportive friends, union representatives, social advocates, the media, and politicians along with leftwingers and centres, had taken notice of CIWAY due to this exposure. In fact, many of the speakers proceeding after Rob and Tara soon acknowledged the presence of youth in the movement of worker health and safety, and most importantly, recognized that young workers are the most at-risk demographic for workplace injury and death. As a result, the 2004 National Day of Mourning in Ottawa has opened up many eyes and minds to the concerns of young worker safety. This is imperative for active change to be implemented in the crusade for workers rights—the rights of those who come from all walks of life, and finally, those of all ages. Page 7 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail CIWA/ACVAMT Current Activities CLC Winter Schools - Harrison Hotsprings - Abbotsford, BC - CAW H&S Centre, Port Elgin, ON Board of Directors Meetings - January 2004, Edmonton, AB - March 2004, Toronto, ON - June 2004, Point Prim, PEI AGM - June 2004, Point Prim, PEI Formation of Youth Division of CIWA - at Board meeting and Youth Project follow-up meeting in Toronto, ON – March 2004 Day of Mourning Ceremonies – April 28, 2004 - Ottawa, ON USWA Steelworkers of America Policy Convention – April 21 – 25, 2004 - Vancouver, BC CLC 2nd National Disability Rights Conference – November 11-14, 2004 - Montreal, QC Alberta Workers’ Health Centre – “A Global Workplace: Challenges & Strategies for Occupational Health & Safety” Conference – October 2004 - Banff, AB Round Table Project – September 2004 - Toronto, ON UNITED STEELWORKERS’ OF AMERICA POLICY CONVENTION APRIL 21 – 25, 2004, VANCOUVER, BC CIWA was invited to the Steelworkers’ of America Policy Convention held in Vancouver, BC, April 21 – 24, 2004. Phil Brake, our new National Coordinator, Robert Lindsay, our new President, and myself Lee Harrison, BC Representative and Secretary attended the Convention. We had the opportunity to set up our information booth. Many people attended the Convention, and we were well received. CIWA was recognized by many of the delegates. We handed out many information pamphlets. Interest was shown in our completed project reports, videos, resources, and copies of our Newsletters. We all had the opportunity of meeting the outgoing USWA National Director, Lawrence McBrearty. Ken Neumann was sworn in as the new USWA National Director and Steve Hunt is the new District 3 Western Canada Director. I appreciated the opportunity of meeting with the USWA. We are pleased that they continue to support CIWA in our efforts to assist Injured and Disabled Workers’ across Canada. Lee Harrison, Secretary BC Representative Steve Hunt New District #3 Western Canada Director Lawrence McBrearty Retiring National Director, USWA Ken Neumann New National Director, USWA Page 8 Robert Lindsay President, CIWA Addressing the Convention �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail CIWA/ACVAMT Current Activities INTERNET Our web site provides an open forum and easy access to information for clients on a truly global basis—24 hours a day and seven days per week. Information available on the site and referral links provide clients with access to information they require in order to develop and pursue a plan of action in managing injuries and disabilities. Clients are able to discover service providers situated locally, and obtain direct contact information for our office. Internet based communication has also enhanced the effectiveness and information flow amongst the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance’s Board of Directors. This permits Board members to function across the vast distances between the Provinces and Territories within which they live. A successful funding application through the HRDC, ―Summer Career Placement Program‖, allowed for the hiring of a student to upgrade and maintain our website once again this year. Greg Berry has given our web site a whole new refreshing look. Please check it out at www.ciwa.ca. Our Youth Page was revised, copies of Canadian Injured Workers Alliance newsletters posted to the site, as well as various other enhancements to website functionality. The site was also updated with all current information from our databases. The forum page allows persons to post their experiences as well as view other’s stories, and request others for their input. INFORMATION & REFERRAL Referral services are constantly provided to injured workers, injured worker activists, organizations, and the media. Canadian Injured Workers Alliance responds to information requests via telephone, email, fax, and office walk-ins. Information and referral services are a key element of our mission, and a valued service to those who contact us seeking information and resources. Clients have sought and received information on a wide variety of topics including Worker’s Compensation issues, ergonomics in the workplace, and Health and Safety matters among others. Frequently, clients who contact us exhibit effects of emotional upset and stress. These clients may be attempting to deal with substantial changes in both their work and home lives, in addition to serious financial impacts associated with work related injuries. The appropriate aid that these individuals require will therefore stem from one or all of the following classes of referral: 1) Case Management Assistance of managing claims, completing reports, obtaining required documentation, acquisition of medical documentation, understanding claim determinations, appeals processes. 2) Emotional Support Assistance to the injured or disabled worker and the immediate family in dealing with change, adjustment, depression, stress, anxiety etc. 3) Medical Support Obtaining diagnosis, treatment, therapy. Counseling on alcoholism, substance abuse. 4) Financial Management Adjusting to income changes, debt consolidation, credit counseling, and financial solvency issues. As part of our referral process, we give individuals the opportunity ―to tell their stories‖ and be heard. Clients need a source to turn to where their voices will be heard, and where they can discover new directions to apply their energies in an applicable effort to resolve troubling issues. In 2003, Canadian Injured Workers Alliance was an instrumental aid in the intervention and referral of a client that prevented the potential suicide of an injured worker whose emotional condition had reached a critical state. As a result, this individual was able to obtain the supports he needed to address both the emotional and practical issues of the crises he was enduring. Page 9 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail ROUND TABLE CIWA continues to be actively involved on the Advisory Board with the Round Table Project. Another meeting is scheduled for September 2004, in Toronto, Ontario. BUILDING INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES One of the key barriers to the effective governance and communication of local organizations is conflict within the group, and/or conflict with related groups in the community. CIWA submitted a proposal in March 2004 to HRDC, Social Development Partnerships Program (SDPP-D). We are hopeful in receiving funding for this proposal, a pilot phase thus titled: ―Building Inclusive Communities‖ (formerly known as ―Conflict Resolution that Works!‖). This project is about helping injured and disabled workers, who volunteer in local self-help/advocacy groups, to increase their effectiveness and involve more people in the social change process towards inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of Canadian life. STRENGTHENING RELATIONSHIPS WITH ORGANIZED LABOUR CIWA has attended spring & winter schools hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), for a number of years now. Most recently, CLC afforded us the opportunity for two of our representatives in two regions to attend CLC Winter School training sessions in Ontario and British Columbia. The Canadian Labour Congress is hosting it’s 2nd National Disability Rights Conference in November, 2004, in Montreal, Quebec, titled ―Doing MORE – Moving FORWARD‖, where CIWA will also have representatives attending. If you are interested in attending this conference, the registration fee is $250.00, and the deadline to register is October 12, 2004. For more information contact their office at: Ph: 613-521-3400, Ext. 202 Fx: 613-521-3959 Email: women&hrights@clc-ctc.ca The CLC has purchased land in Ottawa to build a monument commemorating April 28th, National Day of Page 10 Mourning, in memory of lives lost due to workplace accident or occupational disease. CIWA was very proud to be part of the Ceremonies taking place in Ottawa along side the CLC for the National Day of Mourning on April 28, 2004. BOARD OF DIRECTORS The CIWA Board of Directors has held their regular board meeting in Point Prim, PEI, in June, 2004. In addition to the regular Board meeting, CIWA also had it’s AGM and invited injured worker groups from that area to attend. The Executives of the Board of Directors meet on a regular basis to review financial statements and discuss ongoing issues. Sub-committees also meet on a regular basis to review plans and goals for CIWA. The CIWA Board of Directors will meet again in the fall sometime via conference call to continue to direct the organization and review its goals, activities and current activity progress. CHRONIC PAIN Our volunteer board members have been actively researching and in contact with the Canadian Pain Coalition, developing partnerships, and developing a study on the causes and effects of chronic pain. CIWA has been invited by members of the medical community to form part of a coalition to increase awareness of the importance of finding solutions for persons suffering from this disease. Chronic pain occurs in the early stages following an injury. Understanding, preventing, and treating debilitating and persistent pain associated with an injury can factor on whether or not an injured person will develop chronic pain. Persons suffering from chronic pain become powerless and feel that they have no control over what is happening to them, as it drains away their strength, independence and happiness. The Chronic Pain Conference, focused on the importance of Peer Support sessions. Representatives from injured worker groups in attendance acknowledged that peer support actually reduced the risk of chronic pain, as persons related their pain and experiences with each other. Find out more at: www.curepain.ca �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Miscellaneous Recommended Internet site – – – The new Office of the Worker Adviser Web site is ―Live‖. Check it out at: www.owa.gov.on.ca http://www.owa.gov.on.ca It has an abundance of useful resources on-line such as sample letters for appeals, how to acquire a copy of your file through the Freedom of Information Act, and links to sites such as the Workplace & Insurance Act (Ontario). PIPEDA – Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act - - This is the federal legislation that applies to organizations as of January 1, 2004. PIPEDA establishes outcomes regarding the collection of personal information in the course of commercial activities. The legislation affects the type of personal information that is collected and how it is maintained, used and disclosed. The Coalition of Ontario Voluntary Organizations is partnering with Capacity Builders to develop training sessions to help not-for-profit organizations understand and comply with the Act. Are you interested? Contact: Joan M. Christensen at the Coalition of Ontario Voluntary Organizations, Toronto, ON Ph: 416-7841420 / Fx: 416-256-3021 / Email: general@covo.on.ca or visit their website at www.covo.on.ca. Summary information about the Act for Non-Profit organizations is also available at http://garberconsulting.com/nonprofit_news_03_12.htm. It is the site of Nathan Garber & Associates Consulting & Training for the Not-for-Profit Sector. It also contains a lot of other interesting information for non profits. Bill No. 20 – Workers’ Compensation Act (NS). – Chronic Pain - - An Act to Amend Chapter 10 of the Acts of 1994 – 95 of the WC Act, and Chapter 7 of the Acts of 1996, of the Occupational Health & Safety Act, Bill No. 20 as was introduced on October 16, 2003 regarding the Workers’ Compensation Act of Nova Scotia. The Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on October 3, 2003 regarding Chronic Pain establishes it to be a compensable injury. Chronic Pain is defined in S. 10A of the Workers’ Compensation Act as follows: ―Chronic Pain‖ means pain: a) Continuing beyond the normal recovery time …. b) disproportionate to the type of personal injury that precipitated, triggered, or otherwise predated the pain, and includes chronic pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, myofacial pain syndrome, and all other like or related conditions, unless significant, objective, physical findings at the site of the injury indicate the injury has not healed. For more information on the Supreme Court of Canada Decision of October 3, 2003 visit the Court Challenges Program at http://www.ccppcj.ca or contact the office of the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance. Bill C-45 – Employers’ Criminal Liability in Health and Safety Issues - Canada now holds employers criminally liable for health and safety issues which cause harm to workers, ―Sending the Boss to Jail‖ is now possible under Bill C-45. 12 years ago, the lobbying efforts of then-leader of the NDP, Alexa McDonagh and the labour movement, especially the CLC and the Steelworkers, finally forced the federal government to take action by enacting legislation as a result of the Westray tragedy in Nova Scotia. Bill C-45, The ―Westray Bill‖ received Royal Assent in November 2003, and took effect March 31, 2004. Page 11 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  To work towards a just  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.  PARTNERSHIPS  We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.   INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.  system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available         The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE COMING TOGETHER VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  YOUTH PROJECT MANUAL, 2002  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 10098, 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6T6 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Email: ciwa@vianet.ca Web Site: www.ciwa.ca Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 12 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Summer 2004 Description An account of the resource Articles about the followup to a Youth Project, a survey on youth health and safety in the workplace, the 20th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning. CIWA current activities. A thank you letter for labour organizations that donated and helped CIWA with the Day of Mourning celebrations in Ottawa. Information about the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Bill 20 and Bill C-45. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/2f4a52e198aca5a657b3a812475fa096.pdf 9632a7caed36d306aa2b4c6de9cec948 PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Duty To Accommodate Re: Human Rights Tribunals Unions And Employers We are starting to see a very serious trend regarding lack of employer concern for employees, and fair treatment in regard to Duties to Accommodate. Over the past decade we have seen many employers not looking after their employees by not accommodating them back into the work force. Society has always placed the responsibility of Duty to Accommodate, solely on the employer. I believe that Unions need to be held dually responsible, and ensure that their members are properly represented. An example of how responsibilities should be placed on unions as well as employers, is witnessed in the DECISION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL, October 10, 2003 according to Section 28 (2) of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code (―Code‖) and the Duty to Accommodate in the workplace, in the case of Gary Wayne Kivela vs. the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 21 and the City of Regina, in the. Both parties were held responsible, the employer, for not accommodating; and the union for non-representation. The award for damages to the employee by the Tribunal’s Decision will cost the employer and the union a tremendous amount of money now in the future. Some unions even tell their members that they are not obligated to represent employees regarding WCB CLAIMS. This issue must surely also come also under non-representation. Employers and unions must realize from the outcome of this Human Rights Tribunal that they are both responsible for ensuring that the injured worker or anyone with a disability must be represented and accommodated in returning the individual back into the work force. We understand that there are already three more possible human rights cases in the process, in the Province of Saskatchewan alone. Empowered with the confidence that proper union representation is available for members, a much stronger, productive, and united force in the workplace would exist. Robert Lindsay Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ....................................... 2 Special Appreciation.............................................. 3 Healthy Workplaces .............................................. 4 Study on Charitable Fundraisers ............................ 5 Short Stats ........................................................... 6 Eye Exercises ........................................................ 6 Bridging the GAP ................................................... 7 C.I.W.A./ACVAMT Activities ............................... 8 - 9 Miscellaneous .......................................................10 WorkSafe .............................................................11 CIWA/ACVAMT Info ............................................. 12 Page 1 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E T O D A Y ! Name: ________________________________ Date: Organization: ________________________________ Address: ________________________________ Highlights is published 4 times per year ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Postal Code ________________________________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Phone ________________________________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Fax ________________________________ Donations $ E-Mail ________________________________ Total Web Site ________________________________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: $ __________ __________ Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or for their opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE VOLUNTEER BOARD OF DIRECTORS… EXECUTIVE OFFICERS… BC ... Lee Harrison, Surrey, BC President Secretary Treasurer AB… Gerry Gray, Red Deer SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society (Sask.) Phil Brake Rob Lindsay Vincent Boyce ADVISORS… Andy King, U.S.W.A. Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants MB… Vincent Boyce, Winnipeg LAB Phil Brake, Labrador City NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County PEI ... Leonard J. Crawford, Summerside STAFF… Monika Wiitala, Bookkeeper, Desktop Publisher, Database Manager, General Office Person L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 10098 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6T6 Phone: 807-345-3429 Fax: 807-344-8683 Page 2 CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE email: ciwa@vianet.ca Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 Web-site: www.ciwa.ca �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Special Appreciation Donation of Air-Miles From: Mr. Tom White We would like to express our sincere appreciation and thanks to Mr. Tom White in Labrador – Newfoundland, for his generous donation of air miles to our organization. This donation enabled five of our Steering Committee members as well as one staff person to meet in Vancouver, BC. Each year our Steering Committee meets in different cities across Canada and invites local injured worker groups to attend workshops specially designed to answer any questions which they may have regarding our organization or organizing their own group. CIWA is a national organization that exists to strengthen and support the work of local, provincial and territorial injured workers’ groups across Canada. We believe that we can best assist in these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and labour organizations. Recently with the help of injured workers and youth, we developed a project called the Youth Project. The Youth Project was created to increase awareness of occupational health and safety and to reduce the incidence of workplace injury and disease among young workers. In addition, the project aimed to increase the involvement of young people in community-based injured workers’ organizations. Once again, a big thank you to Mr. Tom White for his very generous donation. Page 3 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Are Healthy Workplaces more productive? De milieux de travail sains sont-ils plus productifs? Friday, June 6, 2003 – Are healthy workplaces more productive? It would certainly be hard to argue the converse. Le Vendredi, 6 juin 2003 – Des milieux de travail sains sont-ils productifs ? Il serait certes difficile de soutenir le contraire. Intuitively, there have to be benefits from ensuring a healthy workforce and a healthy workplace. But, as with all population health matters, it isn’t so easy to quantify the impact on output of a dollar spent on improving working conditions. Nor is it easy to determine how much of the benefit accrues to the employer, to the individual, and to society as a whole. And that, of course, raises the question of who should be responsible for ensuring a healthy workplace. Intuitivement, s’assurer que la main-d’œuvre est en santé et que les milieux de travail sont sains doit sûrement présenter des avantages. Mais, comme c’est le cas de toutes les questions relatives à la santé de la population, il n’est pas facile de chiffrer l’impact sur la production d’un dollar dépensé pour améliorer les conditions de travail. Il n’est pas facile non plus de déterminer la proportion de l’avantage qui est dévolue à l’employeur, à l’employé et à la société dans son ensemble. Pour cette raison, on peut se demander à qui devrait revenir la responsabilité d’assurer un milieu de travail sain. Email News received from: ―e-network‖ <e-network@lists.cprn.org> In a recent report prepared for Health Canada, Work Network Research Associate, Graham Lowe, explores the relationship between workplace health and productivity. He tackles two questions from an interdisciplinary perspective:  What work environment and organizational factors improve workers’ health and wellbeing?  Are organizations that promote good health for their employees more productive? Lowe’s message for employers: workplace wellness programs can yield cost savings and productivity payoffs. But he also points to the public policy interest in workplace health. Healthy work environments contribute to the well-being of workers and to economic performance. They also reduce the overall costs of both public and private health care. Lowe concludes that governments must treat health, employment and economic issues as related policy spheres. For plenty of other interesting related material (all downloadable), and a weblog on high quality work that is updated daily, visit the Web site of The Graham Lowe Group at: www.grahamlowe.ca Page 4 Email News received from: ―e-network‖ <e-network@lists.cprn.org> Dans un rapport récent préparé pour Santé Canada, Graham Lowe, associé de recherche au Réseau de la maind’œuvre, analyse les liens qui existent entre un milieu de travail sain et la productivité. Il aborde deux questions dans une perspective interdisciplinaire :  Quels sont les aspects du milieu de travail et les facteurs organisationnels qui contribuent à améliorer la santé et le bien-être des travailleurs ?  Les organisations qui font la promotion de la bonne santé de leurs employés sont-elles plus productives ? Le message de Lowe pour les employeurs : les programmes de mieux-être en milieu de travail peuvent entraîner des réductions de coûts et des gains de productivité. Mais il souligne aussi l’intérêt que la santé en milieu de travail soulève pour les politiques publiques. Des milieux de travail sains contribuent au bien-être des travailleurs et à la performance économique. Ils permettent aussi de réduire les coûts d’ensemble des régimes publics et privés de soins de santé. Lowe conclut que les gouvernements doivent considérer la santé, l’emploi et les questions économiques comme des domaines de politiques connexes. Pour de nombreux autres travaux d’intérêts connexes (tous téléchargeables) et un relevé de travaux de haute qualité qui est mis à jour quotidiennement, visitez le site Web « The Graham Lowe Group » à l’adresse : www.grahamlowe.ca �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail The following is a condensed news release concerning highlights of a study released March 24, 2003 by the Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) and the Association of Fundraising Professions (AFP). The study is the first to assess the working conditions, standards and professional concerns of fundraisers across Canada. A Power Point presentation of the highlights is available on the CPRN and AFP Web sites at www.afpnet.org. Study on Canadian Charitable Fundraisers – A First March 24, 2003 – Toronto, ON – Professional fundraisers are the key to the future success of Canada’s non-profit sector. Canadians have come to rely on non-profit organizations to deliver an increasing range of essential goods and services. At the same time, public sector cutbacks have left the non-profit sector facing increasing demand with diminished resources. This leaves nonprofit organizations more dependent on fundraising than ever before. Despite this, we know very little about the professionals charged with generating non-profit resources. A new study by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and the Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) addresses that knowledge gap. AFP hopes to use the data collected in the study to promote the critical importance of the non-profit sector in Canada. The survey was conducted through the support of the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy – Canada, AFP International Headquarters, AFP Greater Toronto Chapter, AFP Calgary Chapter, The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, DVA Navion, Ketchum Canada Inc., Anne Moore & Associates and an anonymous donor. The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) represents more than 26,000 members in 170 chapters throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education, and certification programs. The Association fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession. For more information visit www.afpnet.org CPRN is a national not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to create knowledge and lead public debate on social and economic issues, important to the wellbeing of Canadians, in order to help build a more just, prosperous and caring society. For more information visit www.cprn.org For more information on this study, contact: Joyce O’Brien, Senior Director of Public Affairs, AFP, Tel: (800) 666-3863 x 457, Email: jobrien@afpnet.org or Peter Puxley, Director of Public Affairs E-mail: ppuxley@cprn.org Website: http://www.cprn.org 600-250 Albert St Ottawa, Ontario Tel: 613 567-6665 // Fax: 613 567-7640 Join e-networks, CPRN's weekly news service: http://www.cprn.org/cprn-e.html NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS - Useful Information Volunteer Lawyer Service This project is funded by the Government of Ontario, Ministry of Citizenship – Voluteer@ction.online Program. This is the first web site in Canada dedicated solely to pro bono legal services. It is an outreach tool for small and medium sized communities and provides more efficient and timely delivery of pro-bono services in Ontario. http://volunteerlawyers.org/online/index.html Charitable Status and Political Activities The United Way has published a Bulletin that explains the CCRA’s (Canada Customs and Revenue) Policy Statement that many activities previously deemed political, will now be considered charitable. For more information, contact: Bill Morris of United Ways of Ontario, Manager, Government Relations, at: 800-307-8528, or 416-359-2051 or email: bmorris@uwgt.org or see Information Circular 87-1, Registered Charities Ancillary and Incidental Political Activities. A link to HRDC/CCRA policy on Charities and Political Activities. http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/ic87-1/ic87-1e.html Page 5 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Statistics to make you and think: 1. According to the International Labour Organization, every year around two million workers die because of their jobs. 2. Every single day of the year, more people die at work than died in the terrorist attacks of September 11,th, 2001 3. Each year there are about 17,000 lost time injuries due to falls in the workplace. 4. “Same level falls” like slips and trips account for 65% of all fall-related injuries. 5. Falls from heights that range from a few centimeters to 120 stories account for 34% of work-related deaths that occur in Ontario. Eye Exercises: Give these a try. They will certainly help! From The Doctor's Office - Shaelyn Osborn, D. C. | Editor http://www.brantcountyhealth.org/doctors_office.cfm *Changing Focus Hold a magazine or book as close to your eyes as possible without the print becoming blurred. Focus on the words for 15 seconds. Then, look at an object at least 10 feet away and focus on that. Refocus on the magazine; then refocus again on the distant object. Repeat five times. This exercise helps build stamina so you don't experience eye fatigue as often when working on close tasks. *Eye "Push Ups" Hold a pencil at arm's length in front of your face. Slowly move it toward your nose, holding your focus at the same spot on the pencil. The objective is to bring the pencil to the tip of your nose before you see a double image of the pencil. This exercise strengthens the "convergence ability" of your eyes (that is, the ability of both eyes to aim at the same task), which helps prevent eyestrain and may eliminate the "floating print" that can occur when your eyes are tired. *Eye rolls Close your eyes. Slowly roll your eyes in a complete circle; then move them from left to right. Repeat this exercise three times. This improves blood and oxygen flow to your eyes. *Palming & Cupping Note: If you wear contact lenses, remove them before trying this exercise. Close your eyes. Place the base of your palms over your eyes and press gently for a few seconds. Then cup your hands and place them over your open eyes. Look into your cupped palms as you slowly breathe in and out through your nose for 30 seconds. This exercise relaxes tired eyes. *Blinking or Yawning Both actions produce tears to help moisten and lubricate the eyes. Unicity.com Page 6 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail “Bridging the GAP” Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) has just release it’s second edition of ―Bridging the GAP‖. This is a directory which highlights and contains up-to-date and brief information on how to access a broad range of programs and services of the Government of Canada, which enable Canadians with disabilities to participate fully in the economic and social life of Canada. The information is organized by categories such as accessibility, education, employment, employment and income supports and transportation. Information on these programs and services is also available at www.pwd-online.ca. The following is a sample from a guide we received from the Government of Canada which is also available on the Internet at: www.service-canada.gc.ca. This guide is intended for any entity that speaks or writes displays about issues that affect persons with disabilities and asks that respectful terms and images are used. A Way with Words and Images Suggestions for the portrayal of persons with disabilities http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca INSTEAD OF … Using images that isolate or call special attention to persons with disabilities unless appropriate to the subject matter. Using actors or models without disabilities to represent persons with disabilities. Always depicting the super-achieving individual to represent all persons with disabilities. Birth defect, congenital defect, deformity Blind (the) Visually impaired (the) Cripple, crippled, lame PLEASE USE … Use images that show persons with disabilities participating in society. Use actors or models with disabilities to portray persons with disabilities. Whenever possible, the typical individual who has a disability. Person born with a disability, person who has a congenital disability Person who is blind, person with a visual impairment Person with a disability, person with a mobility impairment, person who has a spinal cord injury, arthritis, etc. Le pouvoir des mots et des images Conseils généraux pour une représentation adéquate des personnes handicapées http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca ÉVITER D’EMPLOYER OU DE DIRE UTILISER OU DIRE Se server d’images qui insolent ou qui attirent l’attentino sur les personnes handicapées, sauf lorsque ces images conviennentau sujet traité. Faire apel à des acteurs ou à des modèles non handicaps pour representer des personnes handicapées. Toujours représentter les personnes handicaps comme des <<superhéros>>. Le vieillard, le vieux Utiliser des images qui montrent les personnes handicapées participant à la sociétè. Une anomalye une informité ou une malformation congénitale Un aveugle, un handicapé visuel Un infirme, un invalide, un estropié Demander à des acteurs ou à des modéles handicpés de jouer les roles des personnes handicpées. Décrire si possible, une personne ordinaire qui est handicapée. Personnes âgées Des adjectives comme fragile, senile ou faible projettent une image negative des personnes âgées et elles ne devraient pas être employées. Personne né avec une déficience, personne handicapée depuis sa naissance Personne aveugle, personne ayant une déficience visuelle Personne handicapée, personne ayant un handicap moteur, personne ayant de l’arthrite ou une lesion de la moelle épiniére, etc. Page 7 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail CIWA/ACVAMT Current Activities Internet Fortunately, we were able to secure funding through the HRDC, ―Summer Career Placement Program‖ to hire a summer student to work on the website this year. Check out some new looks on our site at www.ciwa.ca. Steering Committee The Steering Committee met in Vancouver, BC, from April 29th to May 5th, 2003. Thanks to a donation of Air Miles, Travel Miles from Mr. Tom White from Newfoundland, we were able to cover practically the entire travel costs for this meeting. Round Table Project on Safe & Timely Return to Function/Return to Work CIWA has been actively participating on the Advisory Committee in a ―Round Table Project‖. The committee is made up of representatives from federal and provincial governments, the medical community and labour market sectors. The project focuses on ―Safe & Timely Return to Function, Return to Work‖. The vision of the Round Table Project Stakeholders is ―To improve the systems that help people with illness, injury or disability from any cause, develop and secure their social, personal and economic self-sufficiency and to help stakeholders in the field identify and overcome barriers together.‖ In addition to meeting in person this year, the Executives of the Steering Committee meet on a regular basis via conference call, to review financial statements and discuss ongoing issues, on-going activities, and to review the direction of CIWA. Sub-committees also meet on a regular basis to review the progress of their plans and goals. Through CIWA’s participation in the Round Table discussions, we were asked to actively participate in the advisory committee, and to direct the future development of the project. It is important that we become more involved in this project. The Steering Committee will meet in the fall sometime and will make plans for the next physical meeting (location, agenda, etc). Canadian Injured Workers Alliance/ACVAMT attended the Canadian Pain Summit in Ottawa in November of 2002. This summit was organized by the Canadian Consortium on Pain Mechanisms, Diagnosis and Management, working with the Canadian Pain Society. The consortium is a group of researchers from across Canada representing basic, clinical and social sciences, which was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to further develop pain research. Youth Project We are continuing research and proposal writing to continue and expand on the Youth Project. We are hoping to train more folks across the country. Many people, who were not able to attend the previous sessions, expressed a great interest in the project. If you are interested in becoming involved in our future Youth Project, please let us know by contacting the office at 1-877-787-7010 or by emailing us at ciwa@norlink.net Chronic Pain Summit CIWA is in the process of partnering with the Canadian Pain Society in establishing a Canadian Pain Network. This consortium is holding follow-up meetings with stakeholder groups, and pursuing initial funding opportunities for its current work, another summit, and the Canadian Pain Network through the 2003 Network of Centres of Excellence Program. The reason they want to create a Canadian Pain Network is: - Canadians suffer unnecessary pain. - Pain is under-researched and under-treated. - Pain has enormous impact on individuals, families, society and the economy. Page 8 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail CIWA/ACVAMT Current Activities (Continued) The consortium would see that the Canadian Pain Network would: - Stimulate multidisciplinary work and streamline the links among researchers, health professionals, the public, government and industry; - Formalize the dissemination of new knowledge, and allow assessment of the impact of knowledge translation; - Streamline the process of translating knowledge to the marketplace for innovative products and services aimed at reducing pain and its impact; - Solidify the base of evidence needed for effective treatment, good policy decisions and productive future research; and - Focus on training future generations of highly qualified personnel. We are very excited about this project and look forward to this partnership. Coming Together CIWA believes it needs to increase its membership and this can partly be accomplished through a follow-up of the Coming Together Project. CIWA continues to work on developing a second component to the Coming Together Project. CIWA has submitted a proposal in June, to the Canada Volunteerism Initiative. We are hopeful in receiving funding for this proposal, a pilot phase entitled: ―Conflict Resolution that works!‖ This project was developed with the objective of seeing the development, testing and evaluation of conflict resolution tools and a training program with a focus on building inclusive organizations that reflect the diversity of their communities. We will use an interactive approach, using plain language principles in order to engage local volunteers who may have low literacy comprehension. In order to accomplish the goal of helping injured worker groups to develop and become strong, we plan to coordinate activities such as meeting with local injured worker groups, holding press conferences and local events when traveling to other organized activities, such as our Steering Committee meetings. Organizations in Prince Edward Island and Alberta have both expressed interest in becoming more involved in our organization. Strengthening Relationships With Organized Labour We continue to work towards developing a strong relationship with organized labour in order to help create a better relationship with injured workers and injured worker groups. CIWA has been invited to attend spring & winter schools hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) for a number of years now. Recently, two of our representatives attended CLC training sessions in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. CIWA is proud to take part in these events and to be present at the forefront of advocating for injured and disabled workers along with the CLC. CIWA is pleased that CLC is making injured workers issues a high priority. This illustrates that CIWA does have an impact on the labour community and the awareness of injured and disabled workers issues. One of our representatives has also recently attended a meeting of the Canadian Labour Congress – Occupational Health, Safety & Environment (CLC – OHS&E) and WCB Committee. The CLC has secured land in Ottawa, to build a monument commemorating April 28th National Day of Mourning in memory of lives lost due to workplace accident or occupational disease. The CLC is planning a mid term conference in October which our board members will be attending as well. The session attended in Nova Scotia was a ―Think Tank‖ on ―Return to Work‖. Representatives from across the country shared experiences and strategies to reemploy injured and disabled workers. A man knocked on the pearly gates of heaven, his face was ragged and old. St. Peter asked “What have you done to gain admission to the fold?” The man replied, “I’ve fought for many years with the WCB.” The gate swung open wide, St. Peter rang the bell. “Come in” he said, “you’ve had your share of hell.” Page 9 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Miscellaneous Web Sites of Interest London Occupational Safety & Health Centre A United Way funded agency, is a community based, non-profit resource centre and library. Their aim is to prevent— and help people recover from— workplace injuries. Every person has the right to a safe and healthy workplace. Find out about the student teaching project. Read about the young worker who died after falling 6 metres from a steel beam on July 31, 2003. www.losh.on.ca Community Legal Education Ontario CLEO is a community legal clinic that produces clear language material for people with low incomes. Main topics include social assistance, landlord and tenant law, refugee and immigration law, workers' compensation, women's issues, family law, employment insurance and human rights. www.cleo.on.ca United Ways of Canada "To improve lives and build community by engaging individuals and mobilizing collective action." www.unitedway.ca March of Dimes of Canada Serving Canadians with physical disabilities. Promoting programs, advocacy, research and prevention. Find out about the new “Disability Travel Card”. It provides identification to a person with a permanent disability allowing an accompanying adult attendant to travel at no cost. http://www.esmodnc.org/marchofdimesc anada.htm National Fibromyalgia Association This site has excellent links to all kinds of resources for Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain across Canada, Internationally,and in the USA. http://www.fibronorth.com/links.html Page 10 Survivor Support on Enablelink Visit EnableLink to connect with electrical burn survivors and those who treat or support them. www.enablelink.org International RSI Awareness Day Visit this web site to find out about RSI Awareness Day, held on the last day of February, it is the only "non-repetitive" day on the calendar and is officially observed on February 29th. http://www.ctdrn.org/rsiday Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety CCOHS promotes a safe and healthy working environment by providing information and advice aobut occupational health and safety. Visit: www.ccohs.ca Work Smart Ontario Visit: www.worksmartontario.ca For more informative links check out our web site, or check this site from Paul Marxhausen, who is with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. http://eeshop.unl.edu/rsi.html The Court Challenges Program of Canada This is a national non-profit organization which was set up in 1994 to provide financial assistance for important court cases that advance language and equality rights guaranteed under Canada's Constitution. The Program has a volunteer Board of Directors responsible for making sure the administration of the Program runs smoothly. In addition, there are specialized, independent panels to make decisions as to which cases or projects will be funded and in what amounts. The Language Rights Panel and the Equality Rights Panel are made up of experienced and knowledgeable individuals with a history of involvement in equality or language issues and community organizations. You can find more information on-line about the Court Challenges Program of Canada at: www.ccppcj.ca “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Inner Strength If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills, If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains, If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles, If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it, If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time, If you can overlook when people take things out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong, If you can take criticism and blame without resentment, If you can face the world without lies and deceit, If you can conquer tension without medical help, If you can relax without liquor, If you can sleep without the aid of drugs, If you can do all these things.................................. Then you are probably the family dog. Important Dates To Remember: FEBRUARY 28, 2004 - RSI AWARENESS DAY APRIL 28, 2004 - NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING (20TH ANNIVERSARY) JUNE 1, 2004 - INJURED WORKERS DAY (Ontario) workSafe An information email received fro Simon Hardman simon@binarylogic.biz One way to Combat Repetative Strain Injuries. on Web Site: www.binarylogicgroup.com The worksafe programme from Binary Logic monitors your computer related work pattern and decides when a break is required by using a real time analysis engine. It measures work input of both keyboard and mouse usage and is not merely based on a time out system. The engine is tuned as closely to the human body as practicably possible, whilst utilizing Einstein’s theory of special relativity. The software monitors and shows the users strain, based on current and previous computer usage. This is partly based on the individual user settings of how frequently RSI strain is suffered, and the speed of their recovery. The programme identifies exercise movies with a brief description of the movement required to ease the strain. make-your-business-work-software.com Last fall we received some information on a software program that helps people who are experiencing discomfort working at the computer. It works by running in the background of the operating system, neutralizing an irritating inaudible noise in the microprocessor at the heart of the computer. The following is an excerpt from their web-site about their program. Here's what Beta testers reported: • • • • • Increased task performance and overall productivity Increased clarity of mind and ease when focusing on work Increased satisfaction and comfort while working on the computer Decreased eye strain and relief from upper body tension (including wrists and fingers) Decreased fatigue for working as long as they want on the computer How can a software program do this? The software program works with the microprocessor at the heart of your computer to neutralize an inaudible noise found in man-made electricity. The chaotic influence is instantly transformed into an orderly influence so you can get more done on your computer. So far everyone who has tried this software has found it indispensible for working on the computer. Page 11 �Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  To work towards a just  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.  PARTNERSHIPS  We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.   INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.  system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available         The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE COMING TOGETHER VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  YOUTH PROJECT MANUAL, 2002  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 10098, 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6T6 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Email: ciwa@vianet.ca Web Site: www.ciwa.ca Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 12 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Winter 2003/2004 Description An account of the resource Articles about the Duty To Accommodate re: Human Rights Tribunals for Unions and Employers, Provincial Reps to the Steering Committee, special appreciation for donation from Mr. Tom White. Email news for the question "Are Healthy Workplaces more productive?" Condensed news release on the study on Canadian Charitable Fundraisers. Update of non-profit organizations, statistics for injured workers, eye exercises. Review of publication "Bridging the Gap", suggestions for the portrayal of persons with disabilities, CIWA/ACVAMT Current Activities, website suggestions, important dates. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003, 2004 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Winter 2003/2004 Description An account of the resource Articles about the Duty To Accommodate Re: Human Rights Tribunals for Unions and Employers; email news- "Are Healthy Workplaces more productive?"; research from "Study on Canadian Charitable Fundraisers"; response to Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) "Bridging the GAP". Special appreciation to Mr. Tom White for donation; useful contacts for non-profit organizations; eye exercises; language suggestions for the portrayal of persons with disabilities; injured workers statistics information; current CIWA/ACVAMT Activities; websites of interest. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003, 2004 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/b561d6fe21422899768a1351ced3ca11.pdf 00a6ffd7a9ee7249676926aa3f40655c PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Focus on Employer’ Attack This issue of our Also we have news on an exciting CIWA/ACVAMT project reaching out to youth in our communities (see pg. 3 for more info). You may want to get involved. As well, there are news and views from across the country so please, read on. We encourage you to write in to Highlights, with your story or news in your area of Canada. The next issues will focus on the Employer attack on Injured Workers‟ benefits. Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ...................... 2 Youth Project ...................................... 3 News & Happenings ............................ 4 Rehab-(Physio vs Primary Caregiver)(Eng/Fr) . 5 - 6 Medical Issues ..................................... 7 – 9 Letters to Editor ........................... 10 – 11 CIWA/ACVAMT Info ........................... 12 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Date: Organization: ________________________________ Address: ________________________________ Highlights is published 4 times per year ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Postal Code ________________________________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Phone ________________________________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Fax ________________________________ Donations $ __________ E-Mail ________________________________ Total $ __________ Web Site ________________________________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver COMPONET SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society (SASK) MB… Vincent Boyce, Winnipeg Injured Workers Association of Manitoba ON... Jessica Schmidt, Kitchener Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... EXECUTIVE OFFICERS… NF... NATIONAL COORDINATOR … LAB Patricia Dodd, St. John's NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County YT… Robbie King, Whitehorse Yukon Injured Workers Alliance President Secretary Treasurer Phil Brake Rob Lindsay Patricia Dodd ADVISORS… Andy King, U.S.W.A. Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants STAFF … Melanie Smith, Executive Assistant Monika Wiitala, Bookkeeper, Desktop Publisher, Database Manager L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE P.O. Box 10098 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6T6 Phone: 807-345-3429 Fax: 807-344-8683 Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 Page 2 email: ciwa@norlink.net Web-site: www.ciwa.ca �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Youth Project HAVE YOU HEARD …..? We are pleased to announce that The Canadian Injured Workers Alliance has now held ____________training sessions for the Youth Project in Ontario and British Columbia! The first training session was held in Thunder Bay, Ontairo The second session was held in Orillia, Ontario The third session was held in B.C. There was an awesome turnout of young folks and injured worker activists from local groups across the province! In total, 38 folks attended the sessions. Participation was extremely high and contributed greatly to the success of each of the sessions! Thanks everyone for making Phase II of the project a great success! What was the main item on the agenda, you ask? Well, the main focus was learning how to present a 45 minute workshop on Workplace Health and Safety to youth. The workshop is interactive and includes a combination of skits, facts and personal stories. And of course, getting to know each other was very valuable! By sharing experiences and ideas and participating in a variety of exercises, folks learned more about each other and their similarities and differences. The result: By the end of the session, participants were quite comfortable with the workshop and the idea of presenting it to youth! As well, folks learned from each other, built links and had FUN! In addition, many injured workers left the session with a better understanding of how to reach out to young people and get them involved in injured workers‟ issues. BE A KEY PLAYER Good News! Our funding to take the project across the country has been approved. As a result, we will soon be holding a session in your area! If you are or someone you know is interested, contact your CIWA Provincial Representative or CIWA directly on our toll free number at 1-877-787-7010. Let’s try to get as many people involved as possible by spreading the word about the Youth Project to all those we know! Recommended Reading “Fast Food Nation”, by Eric Schlosser Houghton-Miffin (http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com) Gerry Tremere suggests this is a great, great book. Every injured worker should read Chapter 8, “The Most Dangerous Job”. An injured worker in Colorado won a $2,000,000 US lawsuit from a company that tried to deny him WCB. The book deals with the abuses of our new age McJob economy. (He borrowed it from the Library) Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. Page 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance News & Happenings DO YOU KNOW OF YOUNG WORKERS Who Died as a Result of Their Work? The Friends of the Quilt Committee has been looking for names of young workers (ages 15-24) who have been injured or killed on the job. These names are included on the Quilt For Life, a quilt mural being created by visual artist, Laurie Swim. This quilt was support to be completed in November 2001. The finished work will tour across the country during the next two years. The CAW Newsletter November/December 2001 invites you to be part of this exciting and worthwhile project. You can spread the word about this Quilt, invite others to contact the Friends of the Quilt Committee to share their story, making financial or in-kind donations, or even volunteer to help construct the quilt. For more information, contact Laura Pascoe at the Workers Health and Safety Centre at 416-441-1939, 1-888-8697950, laura@whsc.on.ca Page 4 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance WHAT’S A GOOD JOB? The Importance of Employment Relationships The Canadian Policy Research Networks recently released a study by Graham Lowe and grant Schellenberg on what it is that makes a „good job.‟ Typically „good jobs‟ have been associated with so-called standard, full-time jobs and „bad jobs‟ with contingent types of employment such as temp work, part-time jobs or self-employment. The study seeks to flesh out our understanding of employment relationships from workers‟ actual experience. The authors define employment relationships in terms of their legal basis and in terms of four social/psychological components: trust, commitment, influence, and communication. Their conclusion is that “not all non-standard jobs involve week employment relationships. Nor do standard jobs necessarily guarantee strong employment relationships.” This study merits serious attention from trade unionists as it offers new insights about the nature of both standard and non-standard work. For instance, many temporary help agency workers consider themselves to be permanent employees by virtue of their relationship with an agency. As a result, there could be as many as 50 per cent more temp workers out there than typically thought. In a different vein, the study shows what many already suspected: 12 per cent of self-employed individuals have a “high overlap with paid employment – they could be „disguised employees‟.” The study fleshes out the legal arrangements governing employment. For instance, while virtually all unionized workers have a written contract, less than one-half of non-unionized workers have only a verbal agreement with their employer. While some conclusions of the study will be self evident to most, i.e. the strength of individuals‟ appreciation of their job largely reflects the environment in which they work, that a healthy and supportive work environment is the most important factor in creating „robust‟ employment relationships, that organizational change, such as downsizing and restructuring, is associated with reduced levels of trust, commitment and worker influence, the study contains many findings that might be useful for both organizing and negotiation purposes. Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance ROTATING SHIFTS HURT WORKER Michelin man suffered a „disabling‟ ailment Shift work that results in badly disrupted sleep patterns and leaves workers unable to function safely is a compensable workplace injury, a Nova Scotia Page 6 Workers‟ Compensation Board appeals tribunal has ruled. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Employer’s Attack Strong words ... however, in the opinion of workers injured on the job, these words are not strong enough. Workers' Compensation is a mandatory, employer financed, no-fault insurance system which was designed to provide benefits to workers for workplace injuries and diseases. The fundamental principles of Workers‟ Compensation legislation were established by The Meredith Royal Commission in 1913. These principles, which were incorporated into all provincial Workers' Compensation legislation, have been grossly misunderstood, misrepresented and distorted to the benefit of employers. Following are a few examples of such manipulation of a system that was created to benefit both the employers and the employees. Security of payment: Many employers, across the country, work to ensure that claims are not accepted. Often, they do so by trying to prove that some preexisting condition is at fault. If you are active in sports, hobbies or work around the house, the employer frequently tries to link the injury to those activities instead of work duties. Commonly, applications for compensation are being denied and delayed as the worker is considered guilty until s/he proves him/herself innocent. Most importantly, many employers are lobbying intensively that "benefit of doubt" not be given to the worker. No-fault system: With the "historic compromise", workers gave up their right to sue the Employer in exchange for fair compensation. No longer is this nofault system stable or an option for many workers. The erosion of workers‟ rights, mainly the right to fair compensation, may be directly related to the demands of many employers to have less responsibilities placed upon them and to employers attempts to deny workers of their financial and moral rights. Employer funded collective liability: "The sins of the past and the present" have a lot of employers fighting with all their might because they don't want a collective liability fund. They only want to pay for their own costs. Administration by an independent agency: A number of employers want independent investigators and believe that management should be given these responsibilities because employers don't trust the Board. As such, the employers attack is directed at the worker to avoid their liability and their accountability. Injured workers can not sue their employers: This practice was supposed to benefit employers and workers to avoid years of court cases & the costs associated with that process. Today, giving up the "right to sue" by the employee is not considered to be in the best interest of the worker. The employers attack is real, and it is believed to be destructive to the healthy functioning of our society. The employers attack is making a mockery of the Nofault system that was put into place to help and to protect workers and employers. Today, workers across the country would certainly oppose giving up the right to sue, if we were considering an alternative system! Editor’s Note: ………………….. Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Employer’s Attack (continued) In order to report to our readers on the subject of “Employer‟s Attack” for information on each of our provinces, we asked our Steering Committee members the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What are employers demands regarding Workers Compensation? How do they promote their demands, do they have a strategy? For example, do they use other Provinces as examples? Please explain. How does the Government respond to the demands of employers? Are employers successful in having their demands implemented? If yes, what are the issues? How is the injured worker movement responding in each province? These are the responses we received: British Columbia Northwest Territories / Yukon In the Yukon, many employers are demanding that Workers‟ Compensation reduce assessment rates, create stricter benefit payments to injured workers and employ an advocate for employers. In order to promote their demands, employers use other provinces as examples. When we (injured workers and activists) point out that the Yukon is the smallest jurisdiction in the country and that problems in other provinces are not necessarily applicable here, our comments fall on deaf ears. Employers‟ tactics are working because, unfortunately, the government listens to their demands. Here, the government is a member of the Chamber of Commerce which we feel is grossly out of line!!! On the other hand, they are not a member of the Yukon Federation of Labour. Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Ontario Employers have many demands regarding the current compensation system in Ontario. The main issues appear to be economically driven, for example, encouraging the Board to reduce employer premium assessment rates. Employers also target entitlement issues, and more recently, early and safe return to work issues as well. The strategy used by employers in seeking their demands is apparent both directly and indirectly. Employer representatives meet with the WSIB (WCB) and Provincial Government on a regular basis to discuss and promote their issues. Another strategy is reflected in the rising number of employers who challenge and contest entitlement or related decisions in a worker's claim. As a counter-attack, the Ontario Network of Injured Worker Groups continues to meet Page 8 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance at bi-annual stakeholder meetings with the WSIB, where employer stakeholders are also present. ONIWG also meets with the management of the WSIB to promote the interests of the injured worker community. ONIWG continues to lobby both the WSIB and the Provincial Government in its efforts to achieve a fair and just system for all injured workers in Ontario. Lobbying comes in many forms, ranging from public demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, petitions, and bringing forth awareness to the issues affecting injured workers. The demonstration of June 1st, 2001 regarding the Government's proposed Mega-Tribunal is a great example of how effective injured workers are when united and working together to achieve a common goal. As a result of the demonstration, the Provincial Government pulled back on the issue. Quebec LES EMPLOYEURS ATTAQUENT! Des paroles dures… cependant, de l‟avis de travailleuses et de travailleurs blessés au travail, ces paroles ne sont pas assez dures. L‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses est un régime d‟assurance sans égard à la responsabilité, obligatoire et financé par le patronat, qui a été conçu pour indemniser les salariés subissant des accidents et des maladies au travail. Les principes fondamentaux de la législation sur l‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses ont été établis par la commission royale Meredith en 1913. Ces principes, qui ont été intégrés à toutes les législations provinciales d‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses, ont été mal compris, déformés et dénaturés de façon éhontée au profit des employeurs. Voici quelques exemples de pareille manipulation d‟un régime qui a été créé pour profiter tant au salariat qu‟au patronat. Garantie de paiement : Plusieurs employeurs au pays s‟efforcent pour que les réclamations ne soient pas acceptées. Souvent, ils font cela en essayant de prouver qu‟une quelconque condition préexistante est en cause. Si vous êtes actif ou active dans les sports, dans les loisirs ou dans les travaux à la maison, l‟employeur essaiera souvent de lier la lésion à ces activités plutôt qu‟aux tâches professionnelles. Il est courant que les demandes d‟indemnisation soient refusées ou retardées parce que le travailleur ou la travailleuse est considéré-e coupable jusqu‟à ce que cette personne prouve son innocence. Mais surtout, plusieurs employeurs exercent des pressions intenses pour que le « bénéfice du doute » ne soit pas accordé à l‟employé-e. Régime d‟indemnisation sans égard à la responsabilité : Dans le cadre de ce compromis historique, le salariat a cédé son droit de poursuivre le patronat en justice en échange d‟une juste indemnisation. Ce régime sans égard à la responsabilité n‟est plus stable ni une option pour plusieurs salariés. L‟érosion des droits des travailleurs et travailleuses, notamment le droit à une indemnisation équitable, peut être liée directement aux requêtes de plusieurs employeurs d‟avoir moins de responsabilités qui leur soient imposées et aux efforts d‟employeurs de priver les salariés de leurs droits financiers et moraux. Responsabilité collective financée par l‟employeur : « Les torts du passé et du présent » font que beaucoup d‟employeurs se battent de toute leurs forces parce qu‟ils ne veulent pas de fonds de responsabilité collective. Ils veulent payer seulement pour leurs propres coûts. Administration par un organisme indépendant : Nombre d‟employeurs désirent des enquêteurs indépendants et estiment que cette responsabilité devrait échoir au patronat parce que les employeurs ne font pas confiance à la Commission. Ainsi, l‟attaque de l‟employeur est dirigée à l‟employé-e afin que l‟employeur ne soit pas responsable. Les victimes d‟accidents et de maladies du travail ne peuvent pas poursuivre leur employeur : Cette pratique était censée profiter aux employeurs comme aux employés afin d‟éviter des années de litige devant les tribunaux ainsi que les coûts afférents. De nos jours, céder « le droit de poursuivre en justice » par l‟employé-e n‟est pas considéré être dans le meilleur intérêt du travailleur ou de la travailleuse. Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance L‟attaque de l‟employeur est réelle et elle est considérée comme dévastatrice pour le bon fonctionnement de notre société. L‟attaque du patronat bafoue le régime d‟indemnisation sans égard à la responsabilité qui a été institué pour aider et protéger employeurs et salariés. Aujourd‟hui, les travailleurs et travailleuses d‟un bout à l‟autre du pays s‟opposeraient certainement à l‟abandon du droit de poursuivre en justice si un autre régime d‟indemnisation devait être envisagé! Newfoundland The 2000 Annual Report from Workplace Health, Safety & Compensation presented to Government, documents for that year, Long-term disability caseload -2,561, Short-term claims - 6,541, Health Care Only Claims - 6,306 and Accepted Fatality Claims -38. Conclusive proof that our workers are under attack… and with Governments consent! Employers demand that assessment rates be lowered, that it is a disincentive because of the "high cost of doing business here". They compare this province with other provinces that have lower premiums & lesser claims. They insist that Case Managers at the Commission are not trying rigorously to "reduce and eliminate the financial liability to the Employer". Blame is cast on the workers; they are not co-operating with their recovery or they are not trying hard enough to get better. The worker is at fault for even having an accident and the burden on employers is the workers' fault. They want lesser claims accepted and want the workers rights taken away. They plead ignorance to Occupational Health & Safety procedures and Legislation. Justice and fairness is not an option if you can't go back to work 100%. Once damaged, workers are no longer valued by their own employer, who would prefer to send injured workers elsewhere to look for work. They expect & demand more investigation and surveillance of the worker and not of the accident. It is not about prevention of an accident but covering it up. The Injured Workers Movement is a volunteer, unfunded effort and we lobby Government and Workers compensation to recognize that this employer strategy of attack is destroying lives, families and society. The bottom line: profits are their priority! Labrador New Brunswick Nova Scotia Page 10 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about  To work towards a just SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.   PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.  INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.   system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available         The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE COMING TOGETHER VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 10098 Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6T6 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Web Site: www.ciwa.ca Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 11 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Spring 2002 Description An account of the resource Articles about CIWA/ACVAMT Youth Project with workshop on Workplace Health and Safety to youth; "What's a good job?- The Importance of Employment Relationships"; "Employer's Attack" -Workers' Compensation across the provinces. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/cfa68c9c15e87ee013f3252ccdb2ffbf.pdf 3e8c386d0f50cca10ab3a8abc8ef2f1b PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Focus on Medical Issues This issue of our newsletter has a focus on the medical treatments, programs and assessments that an injured worker may go through as part of their recovery. As well, how these medical issues relate to their claim with the Workers Compensation Boards. This can be a complex and too often a controversial process where injured workers and their lives get caught between various medical practitioners‟ opinions. Often, this process can result in conflicting opinions and recommendations. Then who is the injured worker to believe and which recommendation does he/she follow? And then, what impact will that have on her/his future benefits and future health? We have a chart starting on page seven that lays out the comparisons of how this works across the country. Also we have news on an exciting CIWA/ACVAMT project reaching out to youth in our communities (see pg. 3 for more info). You may want to get involved. As well, there are news and views from across the country so please, read on. We encourage you to write in to Highlights, with your story or news in your area of Canada. The next issues will focus on the Employer attack on Injured Workers‟ benefits. Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ...................... 2 Youth Project ...................................... 3 News & Happenings ............................ 4 Rehab-(Physio vs Primary Caregiver)(Eng/Fr) . 5 - 6 Medical Issues ..................................... 7 – 9 Letters to Editor ........................... 10 – 11 CIWA/ACVAMT Info ........................... 12 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Date: Organization: ________________________________ Address: ________________________________ Highlights is published 4 times per year ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Postal Code ________________________________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Phone ________________________________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Fax ________________________________ Donations $ __________ E-Mail ________________________________ Total $ __________ Web Site ________________________________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver COMPONET SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society (SASK) MB… Vincent Boyce, Winnipeg Injured Workers Association of Manitoba ON... Jessica Schmidt, Kitchener Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l’ATTAQ NF... Patricia Dodd, St. John's NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County YT… Robbie King, Whitehorse Yukon Injured Workers Alliance ADVISORS… Andy King, U.S.W.A. Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants NATIONAL COORDINATOR … Steve Mantis, Canadian Injured Workers Alliance STAFF … Melanie MacEachern, Executive Assistant Monika Wiitala, Bookkeeper, Desktop Publisher, Database L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE P.O. Box 10098 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6T6 Phone: 807-345-3429 Fax: 807-344-8683 Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 Page 2 email: ciwa@norlink.net Web-site: www.ciwa.ca �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Youth Project HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS? We are pleased to announce that The Canadian Injured Workers Alliance has now held 2 training sessions for the Youth Project in Ontario! The first training session was held in Thunder Bay while the second session was held in Orillia. There was an awesome turnout of young folks and injured worker activists from local groups across the province! In total, 38 folks attended the sessions. Participation was extremely high and contributed greatly to the success of each of the sessions! Thanks everyone for making Phase II of the project a great success! What was the main item on the agenda, you ask? Well, the main focus was learning how to present a 45 minute workshop on Workplace Health and Safety to youth. The workshop is interactive and includes a combination of skits, facts and personal stories. And of course, getting to know each other was very valuable! By sharing experiences and ideas and participating in a variety of exercises, folks learned more about each other and their similarities and differences. The result: By the end of the session, participants were quite comfortable with the workshop and the idea of presenting it to youth! As well, folks learned from each other, built links and had FUN! In addition, many injured workers left the session with a better understanding of how to reach out to young people and get them involved in injured workers‟ issues. BE A KEY PLAYER Good News! Our funding to take the project across the country has been approved. As a result, we will soon be holding a session in your area! If you are or someone you know is interested, contact your CIWA Provincial Representative or CIWA directly on our toll free number at 1-877-787-7010. Let’s try to get as many people involved as possible by spreading the word about the Youth Project to all those we know! Recommended Reading “Fast Food Nation”, by Eric Schlosser Houghton-Miffin (http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com) Gerry Tremere suggests this is a great, great book. Every injured worker should read Chapter 8, “The Most Dangerous Job”. An injured worker in Colorado won a $2,000,000 US lawsuit from a company that tried to deny him WCB. The book deals with the abuses of our new age McJob economy. (He borrowed it from the Library) Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. Page 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance News & Happenings COMPENSATION CLAIMS STALLED Years of work on compensation claims for former Owens Corning workers with lung cancer and other illnesses is being stalled by the company, according to the union representing workers. About 170 Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claims opened in 1998, can‟t proceed until the company supplies needed information about the plant that made fibreglass insulation. It closed about 10 years ago. During the past two years, the union has assembled evidence linking exposure to chemicals in the plant to lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses. Information needed by the WSIB to begin making decisions about the claims should be easily available from the company. QUALITY OF LIFE, NUMBER ONE ISSUE OTTAWA, Aug. 30/CNW/ - The Canadian Labour Congress, has launched a series of initiatives designed to place the standard of living and the quality of life of working Canadians at the centre of public policy making. Statistics gathered by the Canadian Labour Congress show that working families in this country have seen their wages stagnate or diminish through the 1990‟s while the public services and social programs that help maintain their quality of life have been cut, privatized, deregulated or otherwise curtailed. Editor’s Note: Keep your eyes open for events in your community SOME ELIGIBLE WORKERS DON’T FILE COMPENSATION CLAIMS Forty per cent of workers who are eligible for workers‟ compensation claims do not submit a claim. This research was presented by Harry Shannon, Institute senior scientist, at the 2001 Congress of Epidemiology. The report was based upon a survey, sponsored by the Canadian Policy Research Networks of 2,500 Canadian workers. Respondents were asked if they had been injured at work in the past year. If the injury required medical aid or time off work and/or a change in job assignment, and whether they had filed a workers‟ compensation claim. These and other criteria were used to ensure eligibility for workers compensation. Just over 10 per cent of the respondents in this group had been injured. But 40 per cent of those eligible to claim had not done so, only 60 per cent had filed a claim if their injury required medical treatment. 70 per cent filed if they needed time off work, and 60 per cent filed if their injury meant they needed to change their work assignment. The results will have implications for workplace and public policies. It is important to ensure that those workers who are entitled to receive benefits do so. In addition, if workers are not making claims, treatment costs are presumably being borne by the public health care system. Editor’s Note: We have heard this for many years. It‟s good to finally get some research that proves it. CHANGES CHART A NEW COURSE FOR WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SYSTEM Taken from an Alberta Government press release. ALBERTA The changes to the Alberta WCB and the Appeals Commission will:  Increase the accountability of both the WCB and the Appeals Commission to Albertans, through the adoption of an accountability framework audited by the Auditor General;  Improve the WCB decision-making process, by enhancing case management and case manager knowledge of the workplace and communication with workers;  Increase the independence of the appeals system by separating the Appeals Commission and the Office of Appeals Advisors from the WCB, with the Appeals Commission becoming a separate government entity reporting to the Alberta Human Resources and Employment Minister, and;  Improve the appeals process by ensuring the sharing of information, recording hearings and implementing timelines for decisions. A new advisory body, the Workers‟ Compensation Authority, will monitor the implementation of the changes. The Authority will also advise the Minister on the overall performance of the workers‟ compensation system. Page 4 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Rehabilitation: Physiotherapy verses Primary Caregiver/Specialist The Western Injured Workers Society (WIWS) (Sask.) is receiving far too many complaints from injured workers in regards to the treatment received by their rehabilitation therapy team. All over Saskatchewan the WCB is advertising in pamphlets, left at doctors’ offices about early intervention and an explanation of how well WCB’s programs work. These pamphlets say that the physiotherapy team discusses the program and treatment with the injured worker’s primary caregiver, and the primary caregiver has the final decision on the treatment plan. As well, the physiotherapy team and primary caregiver will work together and stay in contact throughout the treatment program. What the WIWS has found out from many injured workers and many primary caregivers is that this is not happening. The primary caregiver is rarely informed that the patient is entering the treatment program. We are also finding out that WCB is forcing injured workers to enter the program much too soon, in many cases with further damage to the original injury. For example, we have injured workers who were told by specialists that they would be needing surgery to correct their problem, but when the injured worker returns to his physiotherapy treatment the therapists tell the injured worker that they don’t need surgery and that most of the problem can be worked out with therapy and that 99% of their pain is in their head. These types of reports are actually sent in to WCB. When the treatment team is questioned or challenged on the issue or asked why the primary caregiver hasn’t been informed, the treatment team actually sends the injured worker home. Then they send a report to WCB stating that the injured worker is not cooperating in regards to treatment. WCB then terminates the injured workers’ benefits. This rehabilitation program seems to overrule the primary caregiver and specialists, which we feel is totally wrong. We see this happening on a regular basis, just another way for WCB to cut injured workers off benefits. When injured workers enter these private clinics they are told to do things like lift weights or do tasks that are much too difficult for the injured worker. This causes more harm than good. Many primary caregivers agree to this problem, but again the treatment team reports to WCB that the injured worker isn’t trying hard enough and now they think that the injured worker has a mental problem too. They then make an appointment for the injured worker to see a psychiatrist, just to make things look even worse. These therapists and treatment teams should be held accountable for the wrong and distasteful things being done to injured workers during the treatment programs. The injured workers are totally humiliated and made to feel degraded, because of the things they are asked to do or the things said to them while in treatment. Take a look at all the private physiotherapy clinics that have started up. We know that WCB has funded most, if not all of these clinics with grants or donating equipment to them. WCB funds these clinics for a reason. One reason only is a scheme to force the injured workers off of WCB benefits. They are funding these clinics and dictating how they want them to run. Of course this is in WCB’s best interest not the best interest of the injured workers. We are seeing the primary caregivers feeling totally frustrated over what is happening to their patients. Our understanding is that the primary caregiver has final say in what treatment the injured worker will receive and if the primary caregiver disagrees or thinks that the treatment would do more harm than good, then the treatment team must accept the primary caregiver’s decision, and not overrule his decision to suit WCB. Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance La réadaptation : le choix entre la physiothérapie et le principal soignant ou le spécialiste La Western Injured Workers Society (WIWS) (Saskatchewan) reçoit beaucoup trop de plaints de la part de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail au sujet du traitement donné par leurs équipes de réadaptation. Partout en Saskatchewan, la WCB fait de la publicité dans des brochures déposées dans les cabinets de médecins au sujet de l’intervention précoce et du bon fonctionnement des programmes de la WCB. Ces publications disent que l’équipe de physiothérapie discute du programme et du traitement avec le principal soignant de la victime du travail et que le principal soignant a le dernier mot quant au programme de traitement à donner. Aussi diton que l’équipe de physiothérapie et le principal soignant travailleront ensemble et demeureront en contact durant tout le programme de traitement. Ce que la WIWS a appris de la part de plusieurs victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail, c’est que ce n’est pas ce qui se passe. Le principal soignant est rarement informé que le patient entreprend le programme de traitement. Nous apprenons aussi que la WCB force les victimes du travail à entreprendre le programme beaucoup trop tôt et que, dans bien des cas, ceci cause d’autres dommages à la lésion d’origine. Par exemple, nous connaissons des victimes du travail à qui des spécialistes ont dit qu’elles auraient besoin de chirurgie pour corriger le problème; par contre, quand la victime du travail Page 6 retourne à son traitement de physiothérapie, les thérapeutes qui annoncent qu’elle n’a pas besoin de chirurgie et que la plus grande partie du problème peut être résolue au moyen de la thérapie, et que 99 % de la douleur réside dans sa tête. Ce genre de rapport est effectivement envoyé à la WCB. Quand on questionne l’équipe de traitement à ce sujet ou qu’on lui demande pourquoi le principal soignant n’a pas été informé, cette équipe renvoie la victime du travail à la maison. Ensuite, elle fait parvenir un rapport à la WCB déclarant que la victime du travail ne collabore pas au sujet du traitement. La WCB met alors fin aux prestations de la victime du travail. Ce programme de réadaptation semble prévaloir contre le principal soignant et les spécialistes; nous croyons que cela est tout à fait injuste. Nous voyons cela se produire régulièrement; ce n’est qu’une autre façon pour la WCB de priver les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail de leurs prestations. Quand les victimes du travail vont à ces cliniques privées, on leur dit de lever des poids ou d’accomplir des tâches beaucoup trop difficiles pour elles. Ceci cause plus de tort que de bien. Plusieurs principaux soignants sont d’accord au sujet de ce problème, mais là encore, l’équipe de traitement déclare à la WCB que la victime du travail ne fait pas assez d’efforts et qu’on pense que cette personne a un problème mental en plus. On organise alors un rendez-vous avec un psychiatre pour la victime du travail, ce qui fait paraître la situation encore pire. Ces thérapeutes et équipes de traitement devraient être obligés de rendre compte pour les choses injustes et désagréables faites aux victimes du travail dans le cadre de ces programmes de traitement. Ces personnes sont complètement humiliées et forcées à se sentir méprisables à cause de ce qu’on leur demande de faire ou des choses qu’on leur dit lors des traitements. Considérez toutes les cliniques privées de physiothérapie qui ont été établies. Nous savons que la WCB a financé la plupart sinon la totalité de ces cliniques avec des subventions ou par des dons en équipements. La WCB finance ces cliniques pour une raison. La seule raison est de priver les victimes du travail de leurs prestations. La WCB finance ces cliniques et dicte la façon de les exploiter. C’est clair que ceci est dans le meilleur intérêt de la WCB et non dans celui des victimes du travail. Nous constatons que les principaux soignants sont très frustrés au sujet de ce qui arrive à leurs patients. Nous estimons que le principal soignant a le dernier mot au sujet du traitement que la victime d’un accident ou d’une maladie du travail doit recevoir et que si le principal soignant est en désaccord ou croit que le traitement fera plus de tort que de bien, l’équipe de traitement doit alors accepter la décision du principal soignant et non la renverser pour plaire à la WCB. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PROVINCIAL COMPARISONS ON "MEDICAL ISSUES" NF 1. YES NS A) NS ON SK BC YES 3. YES NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC DOES THE WCB SEND INJURED WORKERS FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT? YES YES YES YES YES YT On the advice of their medical personnel or of the treating Dr. BC The WCB in BC often imposes medical treatments, medical rehab programs, work conditioning/hardening programs etc. under the threat of discontinued benefits against the advice of more qualified treating medical practitioners. Furthermore, the WCB often delays recommended time sensitive medical treatments recommended by treating medical practitioners including treating specialists pending approval by WCB Medical or Nurse Advisors who most often never examine the worker. NO 2. PEI IS THIS DONE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE FAMILY (TREATING) DOCTOR (PRIMARY CARE GIVER)? YES Some times. At first it is done by a family doctor. When the Board takes the initiative on sending a worker for treatment, in many cases the only way the family doctor will be made aware of it is through the injured worker. The Board should be consulting the treating physician as it is the treating physician who actually SEES the worker, not just information in a file. It is suppose to be done through consultation with primary caregivers, but it never happens Very rarely, most often this practice is in direct conflict with the family (treating) doctor (primary care giver)? ARE FAMILY DOCTORS BEING OVERRULED BY WCB DOCTORS? BY PHYSIOTHERAPISTS? BY CHIROPRACTORS? YES YES YES YES YES NS Doctors are quite frequently overruled by WCB doctors. They are also known to rule over physiotherapists, and chiropractors. NF Most especially by Occupational Therapists functional capacity evaluations. The WHSCC, in policy, sets the guidelines that they require, to access function to match to an occupation that WHSCC wants assessed to match the worker. The result is then they reduce benefits or eliminate them, to the worker. ON Yes, yes and yes. The Board will overrule a family doctor using arguments like "lack of objective findings", or "inability to establish a causal link between the injury and the work history" etc. If a family doctor gives a worker an expected recovery time of 8 weeks, and the worker's chiropractor gives an expected recovery time of 4 weeks, the chiropractor‟s opinion will be given more credence as it is what the Board wants to hear. At times it seems like a reverse auction: whoever bids "lowest", their opinion wins. Even Orthopaedic Surgeons and highly skilled Specialists are being overruled by Board doctors. SK This is a very big problem is Saskatchewan. YT Sometimes. They seem to work in conjunction with one another. BC The practice of family doctors, a multitude of other treating medical professionals, including treating specialists with the highest degree of respect and experience in their field being overruled by not only WCB „medical advisors‟ but also WCB „nurse advisors‟ is so serious in BC that many medical professionals will refuse to treat injured workers because of their disrespect and often distain for WCB practices related to medical decisions and treatments. ARE INJURED WORKERS BEING SENT FOR VARIOUS MEDICAL/PHYSIO TREATMENT PROGRAMS AND BEING INJURED? PLEASE EXPLAIN ... YES YES YES YES NF Workers are being pushed beyond their physical limitations. The various medical/physio treatment programs are determined to persuade the worker he/she can continue the program. If the injured worker says he/she is finding the injury has flared up and they are worse, then the provider states ”well that is to be expected” and the worker continues to worsen the injury, because most will listen to the professional caregivers opinion. If the worker complains of a problem area not related to the original injury, the WHSCC Dr. will not compensate as a new injury because no new incident was reported. Also, they are being told by the WHSCC managers that they are not co-operating or have refused to participate, and benefits are suspended. NS Some people are sent for work hardening and are pushed into strenuous programs. ON This does occur. Workers are being injured in physiotherapy, and work hardening programs. When a worker is being sent for Labour Market Re-entry training, often the training facility/workstation is so ergonomically poor/incorrect that workers are developing injuries throughout their re-training. SK IW are forced to do more than they are capable of. Then it is reported that the IW is not cooperating. YT YES. We have a number of injured workers further injured at their respective treating facilities. Mostly due to over exertion of the claimants injured areas. Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS BC 4. YES 5. YES 6. NO 7. YES PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC Injured workers in BC are often prematurely forced into various treatment programs including work „conditioning‟ and work „hardening‟ programs and not only suffering aggravation of the primary injury but too often resulting in new more serious injuries. IF THE WCB SENDS INJURED WORKERS TO A PHYSIOTHERAPY CLINIC OR ASSESSMENT, DOES THE WCB SEND INFORMATION AHEAD OF TIME TO CHALLENGE THE CREDIBILITY OF THE INJURED WORKER YES YES NS Not sure, but this would not surprise anyone as they are capable of anything. ON Background information is often sent in advance, or consultation may be done prior to the worker's assessment. SK All the time. Some very slandering statements are made about the IW and even their spouse. BC The WCB will often attempt to direct the outcome of outside assessments by providing selective information prior to the process as well as making their expected outcome well known and have even been known to being suggestive with respect to WCB favorable outcomes having an impact on client volume. DOES THE WCB HAVE A SCHEDULE OF NORMAL HEALING TIMES FOR SPECIFIC INJURIES? WHAT HAPPENS IF THE INJURED WORKER DOESN’T HEAL IN THE “NORMAL TIME”? YES YES YES YES YES NS As a rule, they are cut off their benefits and then they have to prove that they are not ready for return to work or they return and are re-injured as they returned too early. ON The worker's benefits may be reduced or suspended for failing to comply or co-operate in healthcare measures, or for not following prescribed treatment. NF Benefits suspended, programs stopped. SK Their benefits are usually terminated and then the appeal process begins. BC The WCB follows a number of practices that result in decisions being made solely on the basis of „normally‟ expected recovery times. Most often the WCB imposes poorly planned, poorly implemented and medically dangerous rehabilitation and /or return to work plans often resulting in re-injury and/or new injury. DO EMPLOYERS SUPPORT AND FOLLOW THE PHYSICAL RESTRICTIONS PRESCRIBED FOR THE INJURED WORKER? (WORKPLACE MODIFICATION) NO NS Some do and some do not. ON Under the Workplace Safety & Insurance Act, the employer has a duty to accommodate the worker. The only way they can get out of it is to prove undue financial hardship. The employer is supposed to support and assist the worker in returning to the workplace, however many workers find that the support is totally lacking. SK Some employees do. YT In some instances. BC Some employers do, both recognizing and respecting the benefits to both the employer and the worker but this is still the exception rather than the rule. Unfortunately, programs and legislation which has helped to facilitate better access and reintegration of injured and disabled workers back into the workforce are now threatened. DOES THE WCB PUT INJURED WORKERS INTO RETURN TO WORK PROGRAMS TOO SOON AND SOME INJURED WORKERS GET RE-INJURED ? YES YES YES YES YES NS More often, than not. ON Recurrences are alarmingly high considering in Ontario the process is supposed to be Early and SAFE Return to Work. BC As described above YT Some workers experience a lot of pain, frustration and discomfort with the RTW programs. 8. YES DO YOU HAVE MEDICAL REVIEW PANELS? NO YES NO YES ON The claims adjudicator has the ultimate power in deciding a claim. The claim is normally sent to the Sector Medical Consultant to provide a medical opinion on the claim. The SMC reviews the information on file and renders his/her opinion. The SMC's themselves are normally former or current MD's who are not specialized with occupational related medical training. The SMC's are so overloaded with claims it is not surprising their opinions appear to be so brief and uninformed. BC There is still the MRP as an avenue of appeal based on a doctors certificate of bona fide medical dispute, however this is an avenue of resolution slated for the chopping block by the Liberal Government a) WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE? (THREE PERSON REPRESENTING IW, EMPLOYER?) HOW ARE THEY WORKING? Page 8 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS NF SK BC PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC The Medical review consists of a WHSCC employed doctor reviewing the file &/or, sending the file to a Dr. contracted by WHSCC to review. They never see the injured worker. They are usually General Practitioners doing the job of the WHSCC to reduce and eliminate the Commissions financial liability. In our experience, the GP‟s are overriding the Specialists i.e. Surgeons, orthopedic and other caregivers, no specialty background. They seem to work against the worker. Their job is to render an opinion in favour of WHSCC, which is who is paying them. 2 doctors picked by IW, and 1 Chairman picked by WCB. Three person panel, including a chair and with the injured worker and employer choosing one member each from a provided list of specialists. There is mixed opinion as to the quality of decisions handed down through the MRP process. 9. YES ARE PERMANENT FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT ASSESSMENTS DONE BY WCB STAFF DOCTORS? YES NO YES YES YES NF As well as Doctors on contract to do PFI Assessments for WHSCC. ON When a worker is sent for the permanent impairment assessment, (in Ontario the PI assessment is known as a Noneconomic loss assessment = NEL), the WSIB sends out a roster list of MD's and the worker is given the opportunity to select one from the list. They must select a doctor that the worker or anyone in their family has never seen. This list contains many physicians, some of whom are "injured worker friendly", and some who are very anti-injured worker. It is important that workers do as much research as possible when selecting the doctor. BC All PFI‟s are done by the WCB and in some regions this is combined with a computer assisted program relying on electronic measuring devises, although still susceptible to human error (or manipulation), called ARCON, which also generates a computer print out of the percentage of impairment. 10. NO IS AN INJURED WORKER ALLOWED TO HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE AT THEIR ASSESSMENT? NO YES YES Unsure NS They are not even allowed to have their spouse sit in. NF But we advise the worker to insist. ON Although many injured workers are not aware of this. SK A lot of cases the IW doesn‟t know his or her rights, and without a rep WCB gets to snowball the IW. BC The official WCB line is „yes‟ however assessments have been cancelled when workers have asked to have a representative present or the accompanying person has been refused access to the exam room etc. 11. YES DOES YOUR GROUP HAVE A POSITION ON THE ROLE OF WCB STAFF DOCTORS? WHAT IS IT? YES YES NO NS Incompetent. For your assessment, in their office they are equipped with a little hammer, a piece of cotton batten, a measuring tape, and a stick pin. In 10-15 minutes, your assessment is done. The reports from your two or three specialists, and your family doctor are not even considered. It‟s a one man show. If you don‟t like it, you have the right to appeal. Isn‟t this a great system? NF They are biased, not independent because of WHSCC being their Employer. ON The position of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups is that the Board should acknowledge and consider the recommendations of the injured workers treating physicians (family doctor, specialists etc.), and not rule solely based upon the opinion of the Board doctor. BC The general consensus in BC is that medical staff at the WCB for the most part is biased, unprofessional, often arrogant, and displays an alarming level of incompetence and /or negligence in the decisions they render. Therefore given the clear documented history of the irresponsible, incompetent, negligent and biased conduct of WCB medical staff in BC and the obvious inability of administration to appropriately manage a credible, competent and professional medical division, the WCB should be prohibited from direct involvement in the medical treatment and / or decision making process and be required to rely on the clearly more qualified, professional, and credible medical community outside their corporately motivated control. YT Only to complain and point out the incorrectness of his findings to the External Appeal Commission. Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Injured Workers Day – June 1, 2001 - RALLY Queen’s Park – Toronto, ON Hundreds of injured workers and supporters from the province of Ontario, gathered for the rally, filling the streets in front of Queen‟s Park in Toronto. They were expressing opposition to the government‟s proposed mega-tribunal for appeals. The government has now withdrawn the proposal! LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editors, Writers and Readers of this Publication: Picture this, if you may, please: You are an average person, a typical Canadian, with reasonable dreams that you work hard for, knowing that you have to – not having been born rich. You‟ve worked most of your adult life – proud to be neither a bum nor a parasite. You are a productive member of society. You are happy that your country is a progressive, welldeveloped country that takes care of its citizens through structures and systems that protect democracy and human rights. You enjoy peace of mind, believing that come what may, you have institutions to turn to should misfortunes arise. Little by little you watch your dream taking shape, becoming reality. Then, one fine day, you meet an accident. Immediately, you get help, as you knew you would. After medical tests, treatments, surgery, and more medical tests, however, your doctors tell you that you can‟t get back to your job, your injury is irreversible Page 10 and permanent. You‟re afraid, worried about your family, stressed by both your pain and insecurity about the future. You think you‟ve hit bottom, but find out that you‟re wrong – for this is just the beginning of the decline. Amazed and baffled, you watch how medical results are brushed aside, your pension is cut, you watch your savings dwindle, and you starve. Just when you need help the most, help is withdrawn. You can‟t figure it out – all you‟re asking for is delivery of a promise, i.e. that there could be positive life after an injury for a Canadian citizen. You‟re willing to be re-trained for a more suitable job, but apparently you‟re useless for anything or anyone else, useless and helpless. You feel like a dead horse being beaten. You look around you, in real time and in the net. You find so many others – hundreds, thousands of people suffering like you are – permanently injured workers left out in the cold by the institution that was supposedly established for the insurance of workers. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Or, was it after all, established for business and government to protect each other – at the expense of injured workers? of the permanently disabled workers they‟re supposed to protect. I assure you that mine is not an isolated case, nor is this the plight of just a few people. Stress after painful stress, you watch not just your future slipping away, but your present. How has your life suddenly become like a nightmare? How can you suddenly have nothing, as though you had been idle all your life? My mistake, even your past has been erased! Please help me get back my life, and my faith in our country and institutions. Help others like me. Meanwhile, pray hard that this doesn‟t happen to you. I dare anyone to do some objective investigative journalism about the WCB‟s abuse and mistreatment Reinier J. Kanis, My personal story can be viewed at www.bcwcb.com Truly yours, Dear Editor Hi. I injured my back in Nov/99. Since that time I have had nothing but problem after problem with WSIB. Last week I drew the line. I had been having a lot of problems with the medication that I was on. My doctor sent me to a shrink to see what medication may be causing the problem. The psychiatrist‟s diagnosis was that my depression was caused by all the pain I am in, and that the combination go hand in hand. In May this year, I started school at Algonquin, in Smiths Falls. I was at a point where I was feeling good, and very relaxed. After about 3 days of school the seating was very poor and my pain elevated twofold. I called my worker at NRCS, and informed her that I needed a proper chair. She informed me that WSIB only approved an Obus Form and that I should try that. I told the administrator at school, and she said don‟t bother. We don‟t have a chair here that the Obus Form will fit into, and the only answer would be a proper chair. When I told my worker at NRCS, she said that she would have to take it up with my WSIB Adjudicator. It took about a month, but the chair was finally approved. During the course of that month, my back worsened to the point that I was doing my school work at home. This is where my problem with medication began. Last week my doctor switched my Zoloft medication with something else. I asked to use the doctor‟s phone to call WSIB for their approval of the new medication. I spoke to the NCM, and she was her usual happy self (if you know what I mean). She was asking questions when she started to say something, and stopped. She continued asking questions, and also talked to the doctor. When she was done, she asked that I call her after my appointment. I wanted to know why, and asked what was on her mind. She blurted out “It looks like we‟re funding a depression problem not a lower back pain problem.” I was shocked at what I heard. She let me go, but still asked that I call her back. I hung up the phone and burst into tears, and told the doctor what she said. He couldn‟t believe it, and immediately said that this was going into his report and tried to calm me down. I left his office and headed to my girlfriend‟s to call her back, I was still crying and in disbelief. I called the NCM back, and she again came right out with repeating her same statement, without beating an eyelash. I let her know my displeasure and told her that her comment was very unprofessional. I then called the doctor back, and I let him know what she again said, and he was adding it to his report. I also informed my Pain Management Doctor, and the head doctor on my case. They all couldn‟t believe it. I also called a Supervisor at WSIB. I informed her of the adjudicator‟s comment and had a good talk. I felt relieved that something would be done on Monday. When I spoke with her again on September 27, she seemed to be siding with the NCM. When I brought up the need of a proper chair at school, and that I wouldn‟t have the backpeddle in my back pain, she came right out and said “Get over it.” I have had it, I am calling a lawyer on Friday, and it‟s time I looked out for me. The sad thing is, I still have the same pain I‟ve had since November 1999, and if someone had done their job right, or timelier, I would not have all these problems. Sincerely, Doug Ouimet Editor’s Note: We get letters like this almost every day. We need to all work together to end this unnecessary suffering! Page 11 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about  To work towards a just SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.   PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.  INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.   system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available         The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE COMING TOGETHER VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 10098 Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6T6 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Web Site: www.ciwa.ca Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 12 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Fall 2001 Description An account of the resource Articles about medical issues- changes to the Workers' Compensation System; "Rehabilitation: Physiotherapy verses Primary Caregiver/Specialist"; "Provincial Comparisons on 'Medical Issues'"; Injured Workers Day, June 1, 2001 Rally [photo]. Update on the Youth Project; Letters to the Editor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/953ce398784f876d2942c89bbdef71c7.pdf 462d911b85a72d8b2ff0384c3d2c6d87 PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Focus on Provincial Organizations..... This issue looks at the state of organizing in the injured workers movement. This is never a constant thing. In fact, if there is consistency, its that things are always changing in injured workers groups. Some people have described it as a roller coaster ride … all the ups and downs. It seems it comes with the territory. Most of the local groups are volunteer run, with limited or no funds; and lots of stress. There are an unlimited number of injured workers looking for information and assistance. The big picture is that the number of local injured worker groups across the country has doubled in the last 10 years. New groups are forming every year. Local groups are coming together to form provincial organizations. They are gaining more credibility and a stronger voice. They are building stronger links with labour and other social justice groups. Check out what people from across the country have to say in our Provincial Comparisons. Don't miss the news and happenings sections and updates on our projects and activities. And most importantly, share your experiences with us! We would love to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts & experiences for the next newsletter. Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ...................... 2 Projects (Fr/Eng) .............................. 3 - 4 News & Happenings(Fr/Eng) .............. 5 - 9 Coming Together Project(Eng/Fr) .... 10 - 11 Provincial Comparison Charts (Fr/Eng) 12 - 16 Letters to Editor ................................. 17 CIWA/ACVAMT Info ........................... 18 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Organization: ________________________________ Date: ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: ________________________________ Highlights is published 4 times per year ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Postal Code ________________________________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Phone ________________________________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Fax ________________________________ Donations $ __________ E-Mail ________________________________ Total $ __________ Web Site ________________________________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! Address: Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver COMPONET SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society. MB… Vincent Boyce, Winnipeg Injured Workers Association of Manitoba ON... Joan Crevar, Hamilton Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l’ATTAQ NF... Patricia Dodd, St. John's NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County YT… Robbie King, Whitehorse Yukon Injured Workers Alliance ADVISORS… Andy King, U.S.W.A. Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants NATIONAL COORDINATOR … Steve Mantis, Canadian Injured Workers Alliance STAFF … Melanie MacEachern, Executive Assistant Monika Wiitala, Bookkeeper, Desktop Publisher L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE STREET ADDRESS P.O. Box 10098 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6T6 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6R2 Phone: 807-345-3429 email: ciwa@norlink.net Fax: 807-344-8683 Web-site: www.ciwa.ca Page 2 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 CIWA/ACVAMT Projects Be a key player!!! W A N T E D : People interested in educating young people about the hazards at work. As a result of the request by injured workers, by injured workers’ groups and by ONIWG, the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance has developed a model workshop that is aimed towards educating young people about health and safety in the workplace, about workers’ compensation and about their rights as workers. For Phase II, we plan to train 21 teams from Ontario, consisting of one injured worker and one young person. The training session will focus on how to deliver the workshop and on helping people to develop their public speaking skills. For folks outside Ontario, your chance to participate will come, as Phase III of our project will involve training teams across Canada! Let us know if you are interested! The session will be interactive, so we ask that participants be prepared to participate! Where: We plan to host the training session at three sites across Ontario: Northwestern Ontario, Southern Ontario and Eastern Ontario. How long: From Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon. Cost: The cost for travel, food and lodging will be covered by the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance. Registration Fee: $0.00 Materials: All materials will be provided at the session. Your involvement in this project is important to stop the suffering many of us have experienced. Let’s protect our children and grandchildren! If you are interested, please call Melanie on the toll free number at 1-877-787-7010. Please, spread the word! Some Youth specific Web Sites to Check Out Page 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance www.yworker.com (Young Worker Awareness Program) http://jobs.gc.ca www.bcfed.com/youth/knowrights.html www.iapa.on.ca/ywap/index.html Page 4 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Scholarships Available!!! 1) Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited (formerly Imasco) Scholarship Fund for Disabled Students; a $2,500 value, and 2) Mattinson Endowment Fund Scholarship Program; a $2,500 value. Due Date: June 1st, 2001 Further information and/or application forms are available from AUCC’s website at www.aucc.ca or directly from the Canadian Awards Program by e-mail at awards@aucc.ca As well, a limited number of applications are available from the CIWA/ACVAMT office. Please call on our toll free number at 1-877-787-7010. Good luck! Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. Special thanks also goes to all those who have subscribed and show interest in this, our newsletter. We sure do appreciate your help !!! Web Sites to Check Out:  www.workingwounded.com  www.entrepreneurdisability.org/  www.safetyonline.com  www.ComeToTheGarden.Homestead.com  www.workink.com  www.ohrc.on.ca/english/publications/disabilitypolicy.shtml     www.awcbc.org/  www.ccohs.ca  www.iwh.on.ca Duty to Accommodate in Ontario: Policy and Guidelines  www.ergoweb.com/index.cfm http://members.home.net/ciwrc/  www.oshforeveryone.org/wsib/  www.iapa.on.ca/ Canadian Injured Workers' Consultants www.chronicpaincanada.org North American Chronic Pain Association of Canada Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Institute for Work and Health ErgoWeb OSH for Everyone The Industrial Accident Prevention Association www.canoshweb.org Canada's National Occupational Health and Safety Web Site Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance News & Happenings The Ontario Network of tribunal has the legal authority Injured Workers' Groups to refuse to apply a policy or ONIWG Intervention in Supreme Court plans to apply for intervenor regulation that violates an of Canada, Appeal of Nova Scotia status in a Supreme Court injured worker's Charter rights. Chronic Pain cases of Canada case involving We also support the argument the compensability of that arbitrary limits on benefits chronic pain disability resulting from a workplace for injured workers with chronic pain are injury. discriminatory and violate those rights. We recently made this point to the Ontario W.S.I.B. and they As you know, Nova Scotia introduced regulations abandoned plans to copy the Nova Scotia regulation. setting arbitrary time limits on workers' compensation benefits for chronic pain disabilities. Basically, injured ONIWG appreciates that it is beyond the mandate of workers get four weeks of treatment and then they CIWA to participate in this kind of legal challenge. For are deemed to be cured, regardless of their actual that reason, we hope that CIWA will help inform the disability. The Nova Scotia Workers' Compensation provincial injured worker groups and encourage them Appeals Tribunal found that the regulation was to support the injured worker intervenors. Provincial unconstitutional because it violated the equality rights injured worker groups could join ONIWG in an of injured workers with chronic pain and refused to intervenor coalition. We would welcome the apply it. However, the N.S. W.C.B. appealed. The opportunity to discuss the process for giving support Court of Appeal decided that the WCAT did not have with any provincial group that might be interested and the legal authority to refuse to apply the regulation, we ask that CIWA facilitate our efforts in the best way even if there was a Charter of Rights violation. that it can. However, the court went on to say that the regulation Preserving equal rights to compensation for injured did not violate the Charter. workers with chronic pain conditions is an important The injured workers are appealing to the Supreme issue. We hope that CIWA can help to encourage Court of Canada. They have the Nova Scotia Office of other provincial injured worker groups to help with this the Worker Adviser representing them. If the court struggle. Even if a province may not want to agrees to hear their appeal, ONIWG will ask for participate in the court challenge, it could help injured intervenor status at the appeal. We support the workers through political lobbying or possible letters of argument that a workers' compensation appeals support. Thanks for looking into this issue. Sincerely, Karl Crevar, President ONIWG Widows in Nova Scotia Lose Appeal Nova Scotian widows fighting for retroactive workers' compensation survivor benefits lost a battle Thursday, in the province's Appeal Court. But the women whose husbands died on the job, are determined to win the war and have promised to take their discrimination case against the province to the Supreme Court of Canada. A three-judge Appeal Court panel unanimously agreed that the trial judge erred on several constitutional grounds and was wrong to grant Page 6 each woman - who lost the monthly pension when they remarried - roughly $115,000. "The government is in for another fight," said Ms. Bauman, whose husband died in a mining accident in 1960. Editor's Note: It looks like the widows in Nova Scotia just won't give up. Right on!!! We're with you. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance L’Ontario Network of Injured refuser d’appliquer une Workers' Groups (ONIWG) politique ou une Objet : Intervention d’ONIWG (réseau ontarien des groupes réglementation qui transgresse devant la Cour suprême du Canada de victimes d’accidents et de les droits d’une victime du maladies du travail) se travail en vertu de la Charte. Appel des cas de douleurs chroniques propose de demander le Nous soutenons de plus en Nouvelle-Écosse statut d’intervenant dans un l’argument que les limites cas devant la Cour suprême arbitraires sur les prestations du Canada impliquant l’indemnisation de l’invalidité pour les victimes du travail souffrant de douleurs attribuable aux douleurs chroniques résultant d’un chroniques sont discriminatoires et qu’elles violent ces accident du travail. droits. Nous avons récemment fait valoir cet argument auprès de la Commission de la sécurité et de l'assurance Comme vous savez, la Nouvelle-Écosse a adopté une des travailleurs de l’Ontario et cet organisme a réglementation définissant des limites de temps abandonné ses plans de copier la réglementation de la arbitraires sur les indemnités aux travailleurs et Nouvelle-Écosse. travailleuses pour des invalidités résultant de douleurs chroniques. Fondamentalement, les victimes du travail ONIWG sait que c’est au-delà du mandat de l’ACVAMT de reçoivent quatre semaines de traitement puis sont jugés participer à ce genre de contestation judiciaire. Pour cette guéris, peu importe leur invalidité réelle. Le tribunal raison, nous espérons que l’ACVAMT aidera à informer les d’appel de l’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses groupes provinciaux de victimes d’accidents et de de la Nouvelle-Écosse a déterminé que la réglementation maladies du travail et les encouragera à appuyer les était inconstitutionnelle parce qu’elle transgressait les intervenants auprès des victimes du travail. Les groupes droits à l’égalité des victimes du travail souffrant de provinciaux de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du douleurs chroniques et il a refusé de l’appliquer. Par travail pourraient se joindre à ONIWG dans une coalition contre, la WCB de la Nouvelle-Écosse a interjeté appel. La d’intervenants. Nous sommes favorables à la possibilité cour d’appel a décidé que le tribunal d’appel de de discuter du processus d’accorder du soutien avec l’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses de la n’importe quel groupe provincial qui pourrait être Nouvelle-Écosse n’avait pas l’autorisation légale de intéressé, et nous demandons à l’ACVAMT de faciliter nos refuser d’appliquer la réglementation, même s’il y avait efforts de la meilleure manière possible. violation de la Charte canadienne des droits. Cependant, Protéger l’égalité des droits à l’indemnisation des victimes la cour a ajouté que la réglementation ne transgressait du travail souffrant de douleurs chroniques est une pas la Charte. question importante. Nous espérons que l’ACVAMT pourra Les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail encourager d’autres groupes provinciaux de victimes interjettent appel à la Cour suprême du Canada. Elles d’accidents et de maladies du travail à participer à cette sont représentées par le bureau des conseillers des lutte. Même si une province peut ne pas vouloir prendre travailleurs et travailleuses de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Si la part à la contestation judiciaire, elle pourrait appuyer les cour consent à entendre leur appel, ONIWG va demander victimes du travail au moyen de pressions politiques ou le statut d’intervenant à l’appel. Nous appuyons de lettres de soutien. Merci de prendre en considération l’argument qu’un tribunal d’appel de l’indemnisation des cette question. travailleurs et travailleuses a l’autorisation légale de Sincèrement, Karl Crevar, Président Les veuves de la Nouvelle-Écosse perdent leur appel Les veuves de la Nouvelle-Écosse qui luttent pour des prestations rétroactives pour les survivantes d’une victime du travail ont perdu une bataille jeudi à la cour d’appel de cette province. commis des erreurs sur plusieurs points constitutionnels et qu’il a eu tort d’accorder environ 115 000 $ à chaque femme qui avait perdu la pension mensuelle en se remariant. Mais les femmes, dont les maris sont décédés au travail, sont déterminées à gagner la guerre et ont promis de porter leur cas de discrimination contre la province devant la Cour suprême du Canada. « Le gouvernement va devoir se battre encore une fois, » a déclaré Mme Bauman qui a perdu son mari dans un accident de mine en 1960. Un comité de trois juges de la cour d’appel a été unanime à décider que le juge de première instance a Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Note du rédacteur en chef : Il semble que les Ne lâchez pas! Vous avez notre appui. veuves de la Nouvelle-Écosse ne veuillent pas céder. POOR BASHING……..The Politics of Exclusion Maltraiter les pauvres ……. Les politiques d'exclusion Jean Swanson shows how people with power and money attack the poor. They do it through poor-bashing. One of their favourite tools is "poornography". Poor-bashing means ignoring facts and repeating stereotypes about people who are poor. Poor-bashing means having your reality and perceptions denied by people with more money than you have. Poor-bashing means living in terror that someone will take your children. I am sure that anyone who has experienced living in poverty, will find themselves saying, "Yes sister, tell it like it is." - Jacquie Ackerly, President, National Anti-poverty Organization. Editor's Note: It looks like some of the same techniques are used in Injured Worker Bashing. Jean Swanson démontre comment les gens détenant pouvoir et argent s’acharnent sur les pauvres. Ils font cela en maltraitant systématiquement les pauvres. Un de leurs instruments préférés est la poornography (poor = pauvre en anglais). Maltraiter les pauvres, c’est ignorer les faits et répéter des stéréotypes au sujet des personnes démunies. Maltraiter les pauvres signifie que les gens mieux nantis que vous rejettent votre réalité et vos perceptions. Maltraiter les pauvres veut dire vivre dans la terreur que quelqu’un vous enlèvera vos enfants. Je suis sûr que quiconque a vécu dans la pauvreté dira « Oui, ma sœur, dis-le comme c’est. » -Jacquie Ackerly, présidente, National Anti-Poverty Organization. Note du rédacteur en chef : Il semble que certaines de ces techniques soient utilisées pour maltraiter les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. OSHA FAILS TO PROTECT U.S. WORKERS…….. United States labor laws are poorly enforced and fail to meet the basic human rights of U.S. workers. Each year, about 6,000 workers die on the job from accidents and another 50,000 to 70,000 workers die annually from "occupationally acquired diseases." The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is not capable of effectively overseeing U.S. workplaces. The entire federal and state worker health and safety apparatus involves just 2,300 inspectors, who must cover America's 102 million workers in 6.7 million workplaces. That comes to one inspector for every 44,348 workers. Theoretically, it would take OSHA 110 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction - just once … Hot off the Press! Coming Together Manual The Coming Together Project was completed in March 2001. Please, look to page 10 for a summary report. NOW AVAILABLE to everyone is the Coming Together Project manual. The manual is based on the experiences of 42 injured worker activists from across the country. It is full of inspiring and supportive quotes from the activists on the development of groups, the obstacles experienced, the lessons learned and much more! Page 8 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance The main focus of the manual is on forming, on maintaining and on strengthening injured workers’ groups and provincial organizations. For more information on the manual and cost, please contact the CIWA/ACVAMT office on our toll free number at 1-877-787-7010. Get your copy today!!! Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance STEELWORKERS MEET WITH MINISTER OF LABOUR 12 APRIL 2001 STEELWORKERS DEMAND ACTION IN NORTHERN ONTARIO'S OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE EPIDEMIC TORONTO - After driving 14 hours from Northern Ontario to meet the Minister of Labour Chris Stockwell for 30 minutes, members of the United Steelworkers are cautiously optimistic the Minister will act to reduce the occupational disease epidemic affecting miners. Available statistics confirm that over the last 10 years there has been a resurgence of silicosis in Ontario. As of January 2001, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) reported 111 allowed silicosis claims, with another 19 claims pending. Twelve claims have been established from miners working at Hemlo Mines (Golden Giant Mine, David Bell Mine and Williams Mine) in Northern Ontario, with many cases yet to be diagnosed. "In our meeting with the Minister of Labour, we demanded immediate improvements from government," said Steelworkers' Ontario/Atlantic Health and Safety Coordinator Nancy Hutchison. "Simply reinstating past procedures may vastly improve the current situation. We have asked for the restoration of the mining master file, which is a tracking system that allows miners to establish occupational work histories and exposures. We need enforcement of work orders issued by Ministry of Labour inspectors. There must be safeguards and work accommodations available, with no loss of earnings, for miners diagnosed with silicosis. GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA LAW REFORM REPORTS November 20, 2000 - Edmonton, Alberta Two separate reports recommend changes to Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) The reports of the MLA/WCB Service Review Committee, chaired by Red Deer South MLA Victor Doerksen, and the Review Committee of the Workers' Compensation Board Appeal Systems, chaired by retired judge Mr. Samuel Friedman Q.C., recommend significant policy, legislative and regulatory changes to improve WCB service delivery and accountability. The MLA/WCB Service Review Committee was established in December 1999 to gather information from Albertans regarding WCB service delivery. The final report includes 27 recommendations covering communication with injured workers, case management, accountability, conflicting medical opinion, appeals process, long standing unresolved claims and response time and other issues. "Injured workers told us they are frustrated by a system that seems unfair and unaccountable," said MLA Victor Doerksen. "Our recommendations stem from the belief that work is an integral part of who we are and that the services provided by the Workers' Compensation Board must be focused on helping and assisting injured workers during a difficult time in their lives." The Review Committee of the Workers' Compensation Board Appeal Systems was established in February 2000. The committee's final report includes 32 recommendations that seek to improve the Page 10 accountability of the appeals process by making the Appeals Commission independent of the WCB. "We believe that separating the appeal systems from the WCB will bring needed accountability, fairness and independence to the appeals process," said Mr. Friedman. Copies of the reports are available from Alberta Human Resources and Employment at 780-427-5585. They are also posted on the web at http://www.gov.ab.ca/hre/whats_new.htm Editor's Note: Here is one interesting recommendation: Conflicting Medical Opinion The WCB should establish a policy that a Medical Advisor, when used, must reach agreement with the attending physician on matters of diagnosis, treatment plans, and on whether the injury prevents a return to work or modified duties. Where consensus or agreement cannot be reached, an independent three member medical panel must assess the injured worker, in person, and their opinion will be final. The College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Alberta Medical Association should be included in the process of setting up approved lists of physicians and specialists. An injured worker's benefits must not be cut off until conflict in medical opinion is resolved. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NEWS FROM SOUTH OF THE BORDER Injured Workers Protest in Florida Hundreds of injured workers gathered along Yamato Road in Boca Raton Monday to protest proposed state legislation that would make it more difficult for them to hire an attorney in cases of disputed workmen's compensation claims. The workers, many of whom have been trying in vain for years to get their insurance carriers to pay for medications, doctor visits and procedures, were joined by family members, workman's compensation lawyers and supporters. The legislation would limit the amount an attorney could be paid in workman's compensation cases, thereby making it more difficult for injured workers to find a lawyer willing to take the case. "It would cap the attorney's fees at the amount of the benefit or $5,000, whichever is less. Lawyers wouldn't be able to take the case because they'd be paid at such a ridiculously low price, they'd go out of business at that rate", a local lawyer is reported to have said. In many cases, an injured worker can't get benefits without the aid of a lawyer. "What's going to happen, is that the legislature is going to make it so it will be almost impossible to hire a lawyer" he said. "And where does that leave the injured worker?" Editor's Note: So you think we have it bad in Canada? In Florida, you may have to pay all your benefits to the lawyer that represents you. NOUVELLES DES ÉTATS-UNIS Protestation des victimes du travail en Floride Des centaines de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail se sont rassemblés à Boca Raton lundi pour protester contre un projet de loi de l’État de la Floride qui ferait qu’il leur serait plus difficile de retenir les services d’un avocat dans des litiges de réclamation d’indemnisation des salariés. Les travailleurs et travailleuses, dont plusieurs tentent en vain depuis plusieurs années de faire payer leurs médicaments, consultations médicales et interventions chirurgicales par leur assureur, ont reçu l’appui de leur famille, d’avocats spécialisés dans l’indemnisation des salariés ainsi que de sympathisants. Le projet de loi limiterait les sommes qu’un avocat ou une avocate toucherait dans les causes d’indemnisation des salariés, ce qui ferait que ce serait plus difficile pour les victimes du travail de se trouver un avocat ou une avocate qui accepterait leur cause. « Ceci plafonnerait les honoraires de l’avocat ou de l’avocate au montant de l’indemnité ou de 5000 $, selon le moindre. Les avocats ne pourraient pas accepter les causes parce qu’ils seraient rémunérés à un prix tellement ridicule qu’ils ne pourraient pas rester en affaires, » a déclaré un avocat local. Dans nombre de cas, une victime du travail ne peut pas obtenir d’indemnisation sans l’aide d’un avocat. « Ce qui va se produire, c’est que la loi va faire en sorte qu’il sera presque impossible d’avoir recours à un avocat, » a-t-il expliqué. « Et qu’arrivera-t-il alors à la victime du travail? » Note du rédacteur en chef : Vous pensez que la situation est mauvaise au Canada? En Floride, on devra peut-être verser toute l’indemnité à l’avocat qui représente une victime du travail. Page 11 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance COMING TOGETHER PROJECT A SUCCESS The Coming Together Project was a research and development project designed to facilitate the development of provincial injured workers organizations in some of the five targeted provinces. It was completed March 31, 2001. During the research phase we interviewed 42 injured worker activists about their experiences organizing, both locally and provincially. From these interviews, we developed the guide entitled “Coming Together”. It is 100 pages in length and covers the range of activities and experiences of those interviewed. It has numerous quotations from the interviews that bring real life experiences to each chapter. A copy of this guide was distributed to local injured workers' groups in April of 2001. Something we didn’t anticipate was the effect on the interviewees. Many expressed that they had gained new insights on their own practice from the interview process. They felt that it was a rare thing to spend a couple of hours reflecting on past activities and achievements. This experience helped them evaluate themselves and the role they play as members of their respective organizations. During the development phase of the project we hosted meetings in three provinces as part of our outreach; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. We spent at least two weeks in each of these three provinces hosting local meetings and training sessions. We received significant assistance from both local and provincial groups; whether it was letters of support from the Canadian Labour Congress, local disability groups spreading the word of our meetings to their members, the BC Workers Advisory Services offering follow-up information and training to local groups or Page 12 local disability activists helping to strengthen local injured workers' groups. Some of the highlights were: 1) In British Columbia, we met with the President of the BC Federation of Labour(BCFL), people at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Director of the BC Workers Advisory Service. In these meetings we were seeking their support for more training and development for the local injured and disabled workers groups. David Rice, Regional Director of the CLC is offering it's support. 2) Linda Gallant, Regional Director, CLC, for Atlantic Canada, wrote a letter to local labour councils encouraging them to include injured worker representatives in the local training workshops. 3) The Executive Director of the Independent Living Resource Centre in Duncan, BC hosted a meeting at it's Centre in March 2001 for injured workers wanting to start a support group. Our provincial representative facilitated the discussion and a support group was formed that will meet at the Centre monthly. 4) The New Brunswick Federation of Labour hosted a three-day conference on Injured Workers to help increase awareness and build links between labour and injured workers. The project concluded with a three day training conference in March with injured worker representatives from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Alberta in attendance. Each of these provincial groupings decided to take specific steps towards forming provincial organizations on their return home. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance LE PROJET COMING TOGETHER : UN SUCCÈS Le projet Coming Together était un projet de recherche et développement qui visait à faciliter la formation d’organisations provinciales de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail dans certaines des cinq provinces cibles. Il a pris fin le 31 mars 2001. locaux de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. Voici quelques moments marquants de ce projet : 1) En Colombie-Britannique, nous avons rencontré le président de la BC Federation of Labour (BCFL), des intervenants et intervenantes du Congrès du Travail du Canada (CTC) ainsi que le directeur de BC Workers' Advisory Service. Lors de ces rencontres, nous avons demandé leur appui pour plus de formation et de développement en faveur des groupes locaux de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. David Rice, directeur régional du CTC, nous offre son soutien. 2) Linda Gallant, directrice régionale du CTC pour le Canada atlantique, a écrit une lettre aux conseils du travail locaux pour les encourager à inclure des représentants et représentantes des victimes du travail dans les ateliers locaux de formation. 3) Le directeur du Independent Living Resource Centre, de Duncan (C.-B.), a tenu une rencontre à son centre en mars 2001 pour les victimes du travail désireuses de fonder un groupe de soutien. Notre représentant provincial a facilité la discussion et un groupe de soutien a été formé, lequel se rencontrera au Centre chaque mois. Lors de la phase de développement du projet, nous avons tenu des rencontres dans trois provinces dans le cadre de notre programme d’information : NouveauBrunswick, Nouvelle-Écosse et Colombie-Britannique. Nous avons passé au moins deux semaines dans chacune de ces trois provinces pour organiser des rencontres locales et des sessions de formation. 4) La Fédération du travail du Nouveau-Brunswick a organisé un colloque de trois jours sur les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail afin de les faire connaître davantage et de nouer des liens entre le monde du travail et les victimes du travail. Nous avons reçu une aide considérable de la part de groupes locaux et provinciaux : des lettres d’encouragement du Congrès du Travail du Canada, des groupes locaux d’invalides qui annonçaient nos rencontres à leurs membres, BC Workers' Advisory Service qui offrait de l’information supplémentaire et de la formation aux groupes locaux, et des militantes et militants locaux qui aidaient à renforcer les groupes Le projet s’est terminé par un colloque de formation de trois jours en mars avec la participation de représentants et représentantes des victimes du travail de la Nouvelle-Écosse, du Nouveau-Brunswick, de l’Îledu-Prince-Édouard et de l’Alberta. Chacune de ces formations provinciales a décidé d’entreprendre des démarches précises pour fonder des associations provinciales une fois de retour chez elles. Pendant la phase de recherche, nous avons interviewé 42 militants et militantes en faveur de victimes du travail sur leur expérience à s’organiser, tant sur le plan provincial que local. C’est à partir de ces entrevues que nous avons mis au point le guide intitulé Coming Together. Il compte 100 pages et couvre la gamme d’activités et expériences des personnes interviewées. Il comporte dans chaque chapitre de nombreuses citations à partir des entrevues qui communiquent de véritables expériences vécues. Un exemplaire de ce guide a été distribué aux groupes locaux de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail en avril 2001. Une chose qui n’avait pas été anticipée a été l’effet sur les personnes interviewées. Plusieurs ont déclaré avoir acquis une nouvelle compréhension de leur propre vécu grâce au processus de l’interview. Ces personnes ont ressenti que c’était une expérience singulière que celle de passer une couple d’heures à réfléchir sur les activités et réalisations passées. Cette expérience les a aidées à s’évaluer elles-mêmes ainsi qu’à évaluer le rôle qu’elles jouent comme membres de leurs organisations respectives. Page 13 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PROVINCIAL COMPARISONS ON "UNDER COMPENSATION" NF NS PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT 1. IS THERE A PROVINCIAL / TERRITORIAL INJURED WORKERS' ORGANIZATION IN YOUR PROVINCE? IF SO, WHAT IS IT CALLED? YES NO NO NO YES YES NO YES NO YES ON Ontario Network of Injured Worker Groups (ONIWG) NF Newfoundland & Labrador Injured Workers Association (NLIWA), Formed in 1993. YT Yukon Injured Workers Alliance (YIWA), NB Sparked interest to form a provincial group has resulted directly out of the "Coming Together" project (CIWA). SK Western Injured Workers Society - SASK. (WIWS-SK) QC ATTAQ - founded in 1981 (20 years) 2. TOTAL NUMBER OF LOCAL INJURED WORKER GROUPS: 14 5 2 5 8 A) HOW MANY OF THESE GROUPS ARE VERY ACTIVE? 0 B) HOW MANY OF THESE GROUPS ARE ACTIVE? 7 7-8 C) HOW MANY OF THESE GROUPS ARE NOT ACTIVE? 7 3. 22 2 2 6 1 BC NO 12 8 1 1 8 1` 1 6 10 IN WHAT KIND OF PROJECT IS THE GROUP CURRENTLY INVOVLED? ON NF BC YT NB SK QC NS Page 14 Peer Support, very good results; Chronic Pain, very good results; Cost of Living Campaign, in progress Unfunded Liability Task force; CPP Clawback; Worker Advisor - but still a huge demand for representation; CPP Class Action Suit to stop WCB from reducing benefits by CPP; Trying to find a location for a provincial camp that would function as an education center/retreat for injured workers. Coming Together Project - looking forward to touring roughly 5 cities. We have a seat on the WCB Advisory Panel. The Panel is presently finalizing it's views on a policy determining how a worker hurt on the job is to have his benefits determined. Ongoing for three years and seems to be the cause of many injured workers' problems.; A future project might send out an anonymous questionnaire to Yukon doctors requesting simple info regarding their involvement with the treatment of injured workers, as well as their views on WCB, and the Medical Profession within the Yukon. Participated in WHSCC Stakeholder meeting (Moncton, Nov. 8). NB Federation of Labour asked us to help them make a presentation which was colourful and enthusiastic. Dorcie Investigation - instrumental in the government launching an internal review of the WCB. Anxiously waiting the release of the results. This is SK's best opportunity at justice on behalf of injured workers.; Western Injured Worker's Conference, "Opening Doors of Communication" - Government / M.O.L. successful; College & Physicians - successful - have good working relationship and open communication; Worker's Advocate - successful; WCB - successful we accept and respect each other. In the last year, ATTAQ has worked with injured workers to revamp its platform of demands adopted in 1981. The new platform of demands was adopted last fall at a special 2-day meeting with over 50 people present. Chronic Pain Policy; Widows Benefits; Review of the WCB and the Act; Trying to form a provincial injured workers' organization, to have a more effective voice �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS AB PEI MB PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC Review of the WCB Service Delivery and Appeals Process; Working to form a provincial injured workers' organization to do research, supply information to local groups and do presentations. Working to build a provincial injured workers organization. Peer Advocacy 4. DOES THE GROUP RECEIVE FUNDING? IF SO, FROM WHERE? NO SOME NO YES YES YES NO NO ON Office of the Workers' Advisor, Ministry of Labour, NF Have had some project funding in the past. Seeking funding from HRDC BC Working on obtaining some. YT Are not now, and never have been. We undertook a government-sponsored highway litter pick-up project one year - which raised enough for an injured worker get-together BBQ! SK CUPE - $1,000 a year. QC Ministry of Education, Secretary of Autonomous Community Action. NS We receive some local funding through organized labour and local fundraising. MB Some funding is received from the WCB, and some limited local fundraising is done. 5. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES OF YOUR GROUP? ON NF BC YT NB SK QC NS AB PEI Strengths: Some support, some advocacy, information sharing. Weaknesses: Too much worry about funding, Some do not motivate/involve their members enough Strengths: Dedication of a large core of people that stay involved; Local media - get good coverage on the Radio, TV and newspapers.; Getting assistance for office resources and from opposition parties and unions; Co-operation from WCB for referrals to the group; Good relations with Office of the Worker Advisor. Weaknesses: Not going well in seeking financial assistance from unions; Need more representatives; Need more involvement from healthy, non-injured workers and keep injured workers involved, after their own issues are resolved; Need a lobbyist in the house to lobby on behalf of injured workers. Weaknesses: No productive communication - tend to get caught up in never-ending "b……" sessions. Strengths: Good press and radio coverage when needed.; Greatest achievement - establishing the Yukon Worker Advocate Office. Weaknesses: General burn-out and lack of interest/energy takes its toll. Strengths: Willingness of Federation of Labour; Assistance from the Labour Councils; Good media support. Weaknesses: Provincial CIWA rep. too busy; Insecurity; Lack of knowledge/skills/confidence; No provincial network. Strengths: Close, honest, trusting relationship within our Board of Directors that filters down to the membership Weaknesses: The core Board does all the work. There are not enough members willing to take on work. Strengths: The way member groups work with injured workers; Clear idea of work; Practices they share and reflect upon. Weaknesses: Difficulties with funding; Difficulty making sure that the services they offer encourage people to become active in collective action and not simply consumers of services. Strengths: Dedicated volunteers; Some strong local groups Weaknesses: Distances between groups; Lack of Funding Strengths: Dedicated individuals Weaknesses: Burnout, Lack of Resources. Strengths: Support from PEI Federation of Labour, Support from CIWA/ACVAMT, Committed Volunteers Weaknesses: Internal problems Page 15 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance COMPARAISONS PROVINCIALES SUR LA « SOUS-INDEMNISATION » T.-N. N.-É. Î.-P.-É. N.-B. QC ONT. MAN. SASK. ALB. YUKON C.-B. 1. Y A-T-IL UNE ASSOCIATION PROVINCIALE OU TERRITORIALE DE VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL DANS VOTRE PROVINCE OU TERRITOIRE? SI OUI, QUEL EST SON NOM? OUI NON NON NON OUI OUI NON OUI NON OUI NON ONT. Ontario Network of Injured Worker Groups (ONIWG) T.-N. Newfoundland & Labrador Injured Workers Association (NLIWA), fondée en 1993 YUKON Yukon Injured Workers Alliance (YIWA) N.-B. Un intérêt a été manifesté pour former une association provinciale comme conséquence directe du projet Coming Together (ACVAMT). SASK. Western Injured Workers Society - SASK. (WIWS-SK) QC ATTAQ – fondée en 1981 (20 ans) 2. NOMBRE TOTAL DE GROUPES DE VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL : 14 5 2 5 8 22 2 A) COMBIEN DE CES GROUPES SONT TRÈS ACTIFS? 0 8 B) COMBIEN DE CES GROUPES SONT ACTIFS? 7 7-8 8 C) COMBIEN DE CES GROUPES SONT INACTIFS? 7 6 3. 2 6 1 12 1 1 1 1 10 QUEL PROJET POURSUIT L’ASSOCIATION EN CE MOMENT? ONT. Entraide : excellents résultats; douleur chronique : excellents résultats; campagne sur le coût de la vie : en cours. T.-N. Groupe de travail sur le passif non capitalisé; disposition de récupération du RPC; conseiller ou conseillère des travailleurs et travailleuses : toujours une grande demande de représentation; recours collectif contre le RPC pour empêcher la WCB de réduire les prestations par le RPC; recherche d’un lieu pour établir un centre éducatif et de retraite pour les victimes du travail. C.-B. Projet Coming Together : nous prévoyons visiter environ cinq villes. YUKON Nous détenons un siège sur le comité consultatif de la WCB. Le comité est à mettre au point son opinion sur une politique qui déterminera ce que touchera une victime du travail. Ce projet est en marche depuis trois ans et semble être à l’origine de beaucoup de problèmes pour les victimes du travail. Un projet à venir prévoit qu’on fera parvenir un questionnaire anonyme aux médecins du Yukon afin d’obtenir des renseignements sur leur participation au traitement de victimes du travail ainsi que leurs opinions sur la WCB et la profession médicale au Yukon. N.-B. Nous avons participé à une réunion de la CSSIAT tenue à Moncton le 8 novembre dernier. La Fédération du travail du Nouveau-Brunswick nous a demandé de l’aider dans une présentation qui s’est avérée haute en couleur et enthousiaste. SASK. Enquête Dorcie : elle a permis au gouvernement de commander un examen interne de la WCB. Nous attendons avec impatience les résultats. Il s’agit de la meilleure possibilité de justice en Saskatchewan pour les victimes du travail. Colloque Opening Doors of Communication des victimes du travail de l’Ouest – gouvernement/ministère du travail : un succès. Collège et médecins : un succès; nous avons de bonnes relations de travail et une communication ouverte. Workers’ Advocate : un succès. WCB : un succès; nous nous acceptons et respectons mutuellement. QC Au cours de la dernière année, ATTAQ a collaboré avec les victimes du travail pour restructurer sa plate-forme de requêtes adoptée en 1981. La nouvelle plateforme a été adoptée samedi dernier lors d’une réunion spéciale de deux jours rassemblant plus de 50 personnes. N.-É. Politique sur les douleurs chroniques. Prestations aux veuves. Réexamen de la WCB et de la loi. Nous essayons de former une association provinciale de victimes du travail afin d’avoir une voix plus efficace. ALB. Réexamen de la prestation des services de la WCB et du processus d’appel. Nous travaillons sur la formation d’une association provinciale de victimes du travail afin de faire de la recherche, de fournir des renseignements aux groupes locaux et de faire des présentations. Page 16 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance T.-N. N.-É. Î.-P.-É. N.-B. QC ONT. MAN. SASK. ALB. YUKON C.-B. Î.-P.-É. Nous travaillons sur la formation d’une association provinciale. MAN. Intervention par les pairs. 4. L’ASSOCIATION EST-ELLE FINANCÉE? SI OUI, PAR QUI? NON EN PARTIE NON OUI OUI OUI NON NON ONT. Bureau du conseiller des travailleurs et travailleuses, ministère du Travail. T.-N. Nous avons déjà eu du financement. Nous recherchons du financement de la part de DRHC. C.-B. Nous essayons d’en obtenir. YUKON Pas présentement ni dans le passé. Nous avons déjà entrepris un projet de nettoyage des routes financé par le gouvernement, ce qui nous a permis de récolter assez d’argent pour organiser une rencontre de victimes du travail autour d’un barbecue! SASK.SCFP : 1000 $ PAR ANNÉE. QC Ministère de l’Éducation, secrétaire de l’Action communautaire autonome. N.-É. Nous recevons du financement local grâce au mouvement syndical et à des activités de financement locales. MAN. Un peu de financement de la part de la CAT et un peu provenant de nos activités de financement locales. 5. QUELLES SONT CERTAINES DES FORCES ET FAIBLESSES DE VOTRE ASSOCIATION? ONT. Forces : un peu de soutien, un peu d’intervention, partage d’information. Faiblesses : trop de préoccupations au sujet du financement; certains groupes ne motivent pas assez leurs membres. T.-N. Forces : engagement d’un grand nombre de personnes qui maintiennent leur participation; médias locaux : nous obtenons une bonne couverture à la radio, à la télévision et dans les journaux; obtenir de l’aide pour des ressources de bureau et de la part des partis d’opposition et des syndicats; collaboration de la part de la WCB en matière de personnes dirigées à l’association; bonnes relations avec le bureau du conseiller des travailleurs et travailleuses. Faiblesses : ça ne marche pas bien pour obtenir de l’aide financière de la part des syndicats; nous avons besoin de plus de représentants et représentantes; nous avons besoin de plus d’implication de la part des travailleuses et travailleurs non accidentés et nous devons maintenir l’implication des victimes du travail une fois que leurs problèmes ont été résolus; nous avons besoin d’un agent ou d’une agente politique pour plaider en faveur des victimes du travail. C.-B. Faiblesses : pas de communication productive; nous avons tendance à nous embourber dans des sessions interminables de rouspétage. YUKON Forces : nous recevons une bonne couverture des médias quand nous en avons besoin; notre plus grande réalisation : l’établissement du bureau du défenseur des travailleurs et travailleuses. Faiblesses : l’épuisement professionnel généralisé et le manque d’intérêt et d’énergie laissent leurs traces. N.-B. Forces : la volonté de la Fédération du travail; l’aide des conseils du travail; le bon appui des médias. Faiblesses : le représentant provincial de l’ACVAMT est trop occupé; l’insécurité; le manque de connaissances, d’habiletés et de confiance; pas de réseau provincial. SASK. Forces : Une relation étroite, honnête et confiante avec notre conseil d’administration, laquelle se répercute jusqu’aux membres. Faiblesses : le c.a. fait tout le boulot; pas assez de membres qui veulent assumer des tâches. QC Forces : la façon dont les groupes membres fonctionnent avec les victimes du travail; une idée claire du travail à faire; des pratiques qui sont partagées et sur lesquelles on réfléchit. Faiblesses : difficultés de financement; difficulté à faire en sorte que les services offerts encouragent les gens à devenir actifs collectivement et pas simplement des consommateurs et consommatrices de services. N.-É. Forces : bénévoles engagé(e)s; certains groupes locaux forts. Faiblesses : la distance entre les groupes; le manque de financement. ALB. Forces : des individus engagés. Faiblesses : épuisement professionnel, manque de ressources. Î.-P.-É. Forces : appui de la fédération du travail de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard; appui de l’ACVAMT; des bénévoles engagé(e)s. Faiblesses : des problèmes internes. Page 17 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance The Worker’s Request Seven Golden Rules for More Effective Speaking Unfurl our country’s greatest symbol Of sanctuary and calm And let the flag be lifted By strong and callused palm. Let her mourn us The workers Whose labours brought them death For the wind brings our visit And we rise to salute her yet. Send forth your heart’s greatest tributes. For us Who have crossed that final gate Then recollect that the smiles Which overcame the impossible task Were smiles made of faith Forever remember too That the workers sing the nations purest song And when you gather to honour them Unfurl our country’s greatest symbol Of sanctuary and calm Author: Albert Dumont Member of the Ottawa and District Injured Workers’ Group [Dedicated to workers who die because of jobrelated accidents] BY PETER URS BENDER We all have to speak in front of others at times. Here are some tips to be more powerful, memorable and successful. 1. Don't read your speech. Write key points down on note cards. Speak spontaneously and use the cards as reminders. 2. Have your hands visible to the audience. Keep them out of your pockets, and use them to communicate. 3. Wait 3 to 5 seconds before you begin, then speak more slowly than normal. This will feel uncomfortable, but it helps you focus and makes you look/sound more powerful. 4. Smile, Smile, Smile. An audience always reflects the speaker! 5. Watch your listeners for their feedback. If their body language says "Boring" do something different. 6. At a personal moment in your talk, wink at your audience. (left eye to people on your left, right eye to those on the right. It makes people feel like you're speaking to them. 7. Make your speech live. Put your heart and soul into it. If it doesn't live, you die as a speaker. A Fishing Story - Or Not? After a day fishing in the ocean, a fisherman is walking from the pier carrying two lobsters in a bucket. A Game Warden approaches him and asks to see his fishing license. The fisherman replies to the warden, "I did not catch these lobsters, they are my pets. Everyday I come down to the water and whistle and these lobsters jump out and I take them for a walk only to return them at the end of the day." Not believing him, the warden reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The fisherman turns to the warden and says, "If you don't believe me, then watch", as he throws the lobsters back into the water. water." The warden says, "Now whistle to your lobsters and show me that they will come out of the Page 18 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance The fisherman turns to the warden and says, "What lobsters?" �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: Dear Editor: Apr. 7, 2001 - I just wanted to thank you and Andy for the great workshop you put on in New Brunswick. It's the only time our group had an opportunity to learn about organizing a provincial Injured Workers Association, and that is something Nova Scotia and many other provinces badly need. CIWA has opened the door for Nova Scotia. At the Coming Together Training Conference in Memramcook, NB, you gave us the an opportunity to meet for the first time with four groups from Nova Scotia, and that is something that has eluded us for some time. All representatives from all groups of Nova Scotia had decided on a meeting in New Glasgow in May so that we can see if we have common ground to form a provincial organization. I sure hope things work out for all groups. I especially like the way you teamed up delegates from across the country to act out different problems in situation. What I have learned from other leaders on their approach will certainly help my leadership skills. CIWA has shown great knowledge and leadership to many groups throughout Canada and that is something we've been lacking for years. Your organization has helped to fill the gaps, build bridges, and shown us how to open doors. Your tiredless efforts should be appluaded. You and I are not the big winners here, it is all injured workers in Canada. I will use what i've learned from your conferene to help any and all injured workers in Nova Scotia. Steve, you and Andy please keep up the good work. I look forward to our next conference. Many Thanks, Gary Penny, Cape Breton Injured Workers Association I received my copy of HIGHLIGHTS on Thursday, March 01. Great stuff and right on the mark! It is encouraging to see that unnecessary monies are not being wasted on extra colours in the newsletter. Overall this publication is really doing what it says it will; this newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. Sincerely, Rose Naomi Pickell DEAR ANDY Dear Andy, Our group members need training to help the group be more effective. We could use training in leadership skills, WCB, counseling and public speaking. I know CIWA/ACVAMT does some training but we need more. What can we do? Signed, Perplexed in PEI. Dear Perplexed, I've got some good news for you. Within the last 6 months, we have received a number of invitations to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Schools. The CLC sponsors training for its members in partnership with some Federations of Labour and Local Labour Councils. The training programs cover a range of topics. We have a partial list at the CIWA office. Give us a call. For more detailed information, contact the CLC representative in your region. Dates to Remember: APRIL 28, Day of Mourning JUNE 1, Injured Workers' Day Page 20 Good Luck, Andy. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about  To work towards a just SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers. PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.    INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.   system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available         The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE COMING TOGETHER VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 10098 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6T6 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 17 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Spring 2001 Description An account of the resource Articles about the injured workers movement: "ONIWG Intervention in Supreme Court"; Nova Scotia Appeal; US Workers. Also, "Poor Bashing........The Politics of Exclusion"; "Coming Together Manual" by injured worker activists from across the country; "Steelworkers Meet with Minister of Labour"; "Government of Alberta Law Reform Reports"; The Coming Together Project and Provincial Comparisons. Updates for CIWA/ACVAMT Youth Project participation and training; available scholarships; websites to check out; Letters to the Editor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/54c620627de9fb5ee6d66e7f88a9b06f.pdf 9cde571219372c6ad00c7aff1b137b7a PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Focus on Experience Rating As you probably know, we have adopted the practice of focusing each issue of this newsletter, "Highlights", on one specific issue or area of the Workers' Compensation System in Canada. This allows us to explore one area in more depth and analysis as well comparing provincial similarities and differences. This issue focuses on Experience Rating. We are seeing most provinces expanding their Experience Rating Programs in the name of incentives for Health & Safety. Does Experience Rating actually promote Health & Safety? There is no conclusive proof that it does. But there is proof that some employers are receiving multi-million dollar rebates through these programs. Could that be the real reason these programs are expanding? You be the judge. Check out what people from across the country have to say in our Provincial Comparisons. Don't miss the news and happenings sections and updates on our projects and activities. And most important, share your experiences with us. Our next issue of Highlights will focus on the Openness or secrets of the Workers' Compensation System. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts & experiences for the next newsletter. Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ...................... 2 News & Happenings ............................ 3 Projects ............................................... 3 Interesting Articles ................................ 4 Do We Care? (Fr/Eng) ...................... 5 - 8 Provincial Comparison Charts (Fr/Eng)9 - 15 CIWA/ACVAMT Info ............................ 16 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Organization: ________________________________ Date: ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: ________________________________ Highlights is published 4 times per year ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Postal Code ________________________________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Phone ________________________________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Fax ________________________________ Donations $ __________ E-Mail ________________________________ Total $ __________ Web Site ________________________________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! Address: Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver COMPONET SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society. MB… Vincent Boyce, Winnipeg Injured Workers Association of Manitoba ON... Joan Crevar, Hamilton Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l’ATTAQ NF... Patricia Dodd, Mount Pearl NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County Pictou County Injured Workers Association YT… Robert A. King, Whitehorse Yukon Injured Workers Alliance ADVISORS… Andy King, Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants NATIONAL COORDINATOR … Steve Mantis, Canadian Injured Workers Alliance L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE STREET ADDRESS P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6E3 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6R2 Phone: 807-345-3429 email: ciwa@norlink.net Fax: 807-344-8683 Web-site: www.ciwa.ca Page 2 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 News & Happenings Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. STAFF CHANGES We sure appreciate your help !!! We have had a change of staff over the summer. Corinne Yantha, the Executive Assistant, has moved to Timmins, Ontario and is now teaching secondary school there. Upcoming Events We want to thank Corinne for her hard work and dedication to justice for injured workers. We wish her the best in Timmins. We will miss her. November 17 - 20, 2000. "Unions Mobilizing for Disability Rights" hosted by the CLC The Queen Elizabeth Hotel Montreal, Quebec We also want to welcome Melanie MacEachern as our newest staff member. Melanie started work with us on Labour Day and will be assuming many of Corinne's previous responsibilities including maintaining our web site. So the cheerful voice you may hear when calling our office belongs to Melanie. CIWA/ACVAMT Projects Youth Project Report UPDATE: The Youth Project is coming together very well. Following is a summary of what has been happening at the various test sites. Background Our Youth Project aims to educate young people on workplace accident prevention and post-accident issues. Throughout the project, we will develop a model workshop, resource package and peer support model to reach out to young workers. Thunder Bay Has it's first four presentation test dates set for October and November, 2000. Cornwall In Cornwall, Ms. Beate Wildraut is presently recruiting more youth to present. She has contacted the high schools in her area for possible presentation sites. OSHAWA In Oshawa, Mr. Rick Williams has test sites lined up and will be booking the sites in the near future. Ontario is very excited about this project and believes that we will be able to reach many more young people than do the existing programs. NEWSFLASH: Mr. Don Hall from the Ministry of Labour who has responsibility for the Young Workers Health and Safety Advisory Council in Note that Ross Singleton is the ONIWG representative on that council. We need you! For the second phase of this project, we are planning on training 42 members from injured workers groups across Ontario . The training will occur in the winter of 2001. In the third phase, we plan to take the training across the country in the spring of 2001. These members will be trained: i) to recruit young people as volunteers ii) to arrange presentations in schools iii) to deliver the presentations Page 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance For more information or to sign up for the training sessions, phone Melanie at the CIWA/ACVAMT office at 1-877-787-7010. Page 4 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance W.C.B. STILL ROLLING IN DOUGH! Read all about it! Ontario WCB 1999 Annual Report now out! http://www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wsibsite.nsf/Public/AnnualReports In spite of reducing employers' premiums by 6.6% (p.14) to an average rate lower than it has been since 1985, our corporate workers' compensation board (the Ontario WSIB) collected a 4.4% increase in total premiums and a 6.8% increase in investment income (p.17). Even after generous increases in the salaries of its executives (e.g. salaries of Chair / Pres.>$1,000,000 per year), and an unfortunate 3.6% increase in the number of allowed lost time injury claims (p.23), the Board still had an excess of revenue over expenses in the amount of $904 Million (p.26). In a private insurance system, that would be profit, which explains the interest in privatization from some quarters. Compared to inflation, as measured by a 2.4% increase in the Consumer Price Index, that's still a healthy increase. Unfortunately, that was due in part to the losses suffered by most permanently disabled injured workers who only received a 0.2% increase in their compensation this year, much less than the increase in their cost of living. It seems about time to give some consideration to the financial well being of injured workers, the people this is all about. This is just a brief review - take a look for yourself. A lot of information is available online. It will be interesting to see other people's analysis. Injured Workers' Consultants/John McKinnon U.S. WORKERS LACK BASIC FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION RIGHTS In a report released today, Human Rights Watch (HRW) finds that U.S. workers lack the basic rights to organize, bargain and strike required by universal human rights norms. The result of a yearlong study, the report concludes that U.S. labor laws allow employers to fire, harass, and intimidate with impunity, workers trying to form unions; to refuse to bargain with them seriously when they do form unions; and to nullify their right to strike by permanently replacing them. What is more, tens of millions of workers lack even the inadequate coverage U.S. labor laws provide, including most farm workers, various types of contingent workers, and public workers in many states. You can get a copy of the HRW report on the web. Just go to www.hrw.org and click on "'Deck is Stacked' Against U.S. Workers," one of the lead items under "Breaking News." LETTER TO THE EDITOR "Lost at Sea" I am writing to let you know about a memorial project for a little known occupational tragedy that occurred off Lockeport, Nova Scotia in March, 1961. Seventeen fishermen, in three boats, were lost in a late winter storm, leaving 65 children fatherless in a town of 1,000. I have a special link to this tragedy because our family lived in Lockeport in the early 1950's, when my father was the United Church minister there. He and my mother knew the fishermen and their families well. Laurie Swim, a prominent Canadian quilter and fabric artist who grew up in Lockeport, has sparked the memorial project. She is working with community members there, on a quilt which will contain images of fishing and of the lost fishermen. Some of the fishermen's survivors are involved. Many of you may know of Laure's recent, very moving, fabric mural commemorating the deaths of five Italian-Canadian workers in the 1960 Hogg's Hollow disaster in Toronto. This mural was unveiled at Toronto city Hall on the Worker's Day of Mourning, April 28, 2000 and has been on display recently in the lobby at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (formerly WCB). So many of us, even activists in health and safety, probably go to the market to buy fish without thinking Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance about the incredible dangers and suffering that have marked that industry though the years. Alec Farquhar, Director, Ontario O.W.A. DO WE CARE HOW COMPENSATION BOARDS ARE FUNDED? YES WE DO ! All across the country, provincial Worker Compensation Boards are quietly transforming the financing of their system from one based on collective employer liability to one based on individual employer liability. The implications, for those who rely on the WCB for benefits and services after a workplace injury or illness, are profound. The effect of this transformation is nothing short of financial and emotional disaster for many, many injured workers. The transformation is occurring primarily under the guise of what is generally known as experience rating. In the mid-80's and through the 90's this system was introduced and expanded for the stated purpose of improving workplace health and safety. Simply put, the idea is that where an individual company has fewer and less serious injuries, than expected for that kind of industry, it will receive a rebate. Where the record shows a poorer than expected health and safety record, the company will pay a surcharge. The measure for the rebate or surcharge is the number of accidents reported to the WCB and the duration of the injured workers time on benefits. While this method of measuring may promote improved working conditions, there is no clear evidence that it does so. What workers know is that it certainly promotes employer claims management behaviour. Claims management includes the following negative elements:  Employer failure to report accidents.  Pressure on workers not to report accidents (often with an offer to maintain the worker on regular wages).  Creation of worker peer pressure not to report accidents (through rewards to accident-free units of workers).  Conversion of lost-time claims to non-lost-time (or shortened lost-time) through:  direct salary payment;  offers of inappropriate suitable or modified work;  direct contact with the injured workers treating doctor to influence quick return to work; and  regular challenges to injured workers entitlements regardless of the merit of the claim. Readers across the country will have stories of what has happened to them and to others under claims management practices. Through experience rating, the system is shifting, away from administrating a legislated right of injured workers, to an adversarial battleground where well-resourced companies engage private investigators, video cameras, lawyers, medical clinics and more, to fight the unlucky soul who was injured at work. Aided by Page 6 the dominance of corporate thinking (the current neo-liberal ideology), the aggressive activity of employers and their high powered consultants is increasingly pushing Compensation Boards to see employers as their clients. The Boards increasingly see themselves as administering an employer based insurance plan and they are adopting the practices of private insurance. Forgotten is the injured worker--except as an undesired expenditure. Forgotten is the �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance bargain that was struck in 1915. In 1915 injured workers gave up their Right to Sue in exchange for the Right to No-fault Compensation which was to be paid quickly, by an independent Board, for as long as the disability lasted. Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance LE FINANCEMENT DES ORGANISMES D’INDEMNISATION NOUS PRÉOCCUPE-IL? OUI! Partout au pays, les organismes provinciaux d’indemnisation des travailleuses et travailleurs accidentés sont en train de transformer en douce le financement de leur système basé sur la responsabilité collective des employeurs en un mécanisme basé sur la responsabilité individuelle des employeurs. Les implications pour les personnes qui dépendent de la CSST (ou de la CAT, de la CSAT, de la WCB, selon la province) pour des prestations et services à la suite d’un accident ou d’une maladie du travail sont d’une grande portée. L’effet de cette transformation n’est rien de moins qu’un désastre financier et émotionnel pour plusieurs victimes du travail. Cette transformation s’opère principalement sous le couvert de ce qui s’appelle couramment la « fixation de taux particuliers ». Au milieu des années 80 et à travers les années 90, on a introduit et étendu ce système dans le but avoué d’améliorer la santé et la sécurité au travail. En termes simples, quand une entreprise connaît moins d’accidents, ainsi que des accidents moins graves, que prévu pour cette catégorie d’industrie, elle reçoit un rabais. Quand les dossiers indiquent une fiche de santé-sécurité moins bonne que prévu, l’entreprise paie alors une surcharge. La mesure pour le rabais ou la surcharge est le nombre d’accidents signalés à la CSST (ou CAT, CSAT, WCB, selon la province) et la durée des prestations pour la victime du travail. Même si cette méthode de mesurer peut favoriser de meilleures conditions de travail, il n’y a pas de preuve claire que c’est en effet le cas. Ce que les travailleurs et travailleuses savent, c’est que ce système favorise sûrement un comportement de traitement des réclamations chez les employeurs. Le traitement des réclamations comprend les éléments négatifs suivants :  Le défaut de l’employeur de signaler les accidents.  Des pressions sur les travailleurs et travailleuses pour qu’ils et elles ne signalent pas les accidents (souvent avec l’offre de maintenir le salaire régulier de cette personne).  La création de pressions par les collègues pour ne pas signaler les accidents (au moyen de primes pour les unités de travail sans accident).  La conversion des réclamations pour temps perdu en temps non perdu (ou en moins de temps perdu) au moyen de :  versements directs du salaire;  offres inopportunes de « travail convenable ou modifié »;  contacts directs avec le médecin traitant de la victime du travail pour favoriser un retour rapide au travail; et  atteintes constantes aux droits de la victime d’un accident ou d’une maladie du travail sans égard au mérite de la réclamation. Les lecteurs et lectrices d’un bout à l’autre du pays peuvent raconter ce qui leur est arrivé ainsi qu’à d’autres personnes dans le cadre des pratiques de traitement des réclamations. Grâce à la fixation de taux particuliers, le système est en voie de se transformer d’administration d’un droit prévu par la loi en faveur des victimes du travail en un champ de bataille, où des entreprises bien nanties ont recours à des enquêteurs privés, des caméras vidéo, des avocats, des cliniques médicales et plus pour combattre la pauvre victime qui a subi une lésion au travail. Soutenue par la domination de la mentalité d’entreprise (l’actuelle idéologie néo-libérale), l’activité agressive des employeurs et de leurs puissants Page 8 consultants force de plus en plus les organismes d’indemnisation à percevoir les employeurs comme leurs « clients ». Ces organismes se voient de plus en plus comme des administrateurs d’un régime d’assurance établi par les employeurs et adoptent les pratiques de l’assurance privée. La victime du travail est oubliée  sauf comme dépense indésirable. Le marché conclu en 1915 est relégué aux oubliettes. En 1915, les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail ont cédé leur droit de poursuivre en justice pour le droit à l’indemnisation sans égard à la responsabilité, laquelle indemnité devait être versée rapidement par un organisme indépendant aussi longtemps que durerait l’invalidité. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Today, employers are paying lower and lower rates and are receiving rebates and they continue to be protected from being sued. Employers are enjoying excellent financial protection from the costs of injury to their employees. Injured workers, on the other hand, are increasingly confronted with an unhelpful Board and with financial distress, but still have no right to sue their employer. In the meantime improved Health and Safety at the workplace is all but forgotten. It is clear that as the system shifts increasingly to individual employer liability, workers can expect decreasing assistance from their WCB's. Under these circumstances the terrible fact is that increasing numbers of injured workers will chose themselves not to put in claims. Injured workers will unwittingly take part in the destruction of the compensation system. How can we stop this shift of the Workers Compensation System to an Employer Insurance System? CIWA is interested in hearing your views and stories about the effects of Experience Rating about the shift to individual employer liability. We are interested in hearing what is happening in the Provinces and Territories to eliminate experience rating and/or to prevent its negative impacts. A recent submission to the Ontario WCB on the matter made a few points which may be of interest : 1. Any rebates must be used for Health and Safety initiatives. 2. No rebate to the company unless workers can confidentially verify claims statistics used to determine the rebate. 3. All workers and injured workers associated with a particular company to be informed of a rebate to the company and be able to appeal it. 4. WCB monitor return-to-work situations to ensure genuine assistance and long-term security for injured workers. 5. Do not mix incentives for Health and Safety and Return-to-Work. 6. Provide subsidies, not incentives, to employers for Health and Safety Improvements and Return-to-Work workplace modifications. 7. Limited employer rights of appeal. (Since experience rating/individual liability promotes antagonism to a workers claim, employers must be limited to appealing accident recognition and some return-towork issues and even in these cases, the Board must ensure that there are merits to the appeal rather than simple cost-driven behaviour.) 8. There must be extensive public hearings on the use and expansion of experience rating. The expansion of experience rating system represents a shift away from one of the fundamental principles of the system: collective liability. The collective liability system protects employers (especially smaller employers) from unplanned costs and protects workers from adversarial involvement of their employer. The shift should not occur without public scrutiny and submissions. Whatever proposals labour and injured worker groups may have, it seems that the starting point should be to make it very clear to Compensation Boards that we do have an interest in this topic, a keen interest. Whether it is public hearings, paper consultations, focus groups or application to specific situations, injured workers and labour want to participate in any and all discussions about experience rating and funding of our compensation systems. Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Aujourd’hui, les employeurs paient des primes de plus en plus basses tout en recevant des rabais; ils continuent d’être protégés contre les poursuites. Les employeurs jouissent d’une excellente protection financière contre les coûts des lésions subies par leurs employés. D’autre part, les victimes du travail affrontent de plus en plus un organisme d’indemnisation peu obligeant ainsi que des difficultés financières  toujours sans le droit de poursuivre l’employeur en justice. Entre-temps, la santé et la sécurité améliorées au travail sont presque oubliées. Il est évident qu’à mesure que le système évolue de plus en plus vers la responsabilité individuelle des employeurs, les travailleurs et travailleuses peuvent s’attendre de recevoir une aide décroissante de la CSST (ou de la CAT, de la CSAT, de la WCB, selon la province). En pareilles circonstances, le fait atroce est que de plus en plus de victimes du travail décideront elles-mêmes de ne pas faire de réclamation. Les victimes du travail participeront involontairement à la destruction du système d’indemnisation. Comment pouvons-nous arrêter cette transformation du système d’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses en un système d’assurance par l’employeur? L’ACVAMT aimerait connaître votre opinion et vos anecdotes au sujet des effets des taux particuliers et du changement en faveur de la responsabilité individuelle des employeurs. Nous désirons savoir ce qui se fait dans les provinces et territoires pour éliminer les taux particuliers et/ou pour prévenir ses effets négatifs. Une proposition faite récemment à la CSAT d’Ontario sur cette question a soulevé certains points qui pourraient vous intéresser : 1. Tous rabais doivent servir aux initiatives de santé et sécurité. 2. Aucun rabais pour l’entreprise à moins que les travailleurs et travailleuses puissent vérifier confidentiellement les statistiques de réclamations utilisées pour déterminer ces rabais. 3. Tous les employés et victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail associés à une entreprise particulière doivent être informés d’un rabais consenti à l’entreprise et doivent pouvoir en appeler. 4. Que la CSAT suive les cas de retour au travail pour assurer une aide authentique et la sécurité à long terme pour les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. 5. Ne pas confondre les récompenses pour la santé-sécurité avec le retour au travail. 6. Fournir des subventions, et non des récompenses, aux employeurs pour améliorer la santé et la sécurité ainsi que pour modifier le lieu du travail lors d’un retour au travail. 7. Limiter le droit d’appel des employeurs. (Vu que la fixation de taux particuliers et la responsabilité individuelle favorisent l’opposition à la réclamation d’un employé ou d’une employée, les employeurs doivent être limités dans leur appel de la reconnaissance d’un accident et de certains cas de retour au travail; même dans ces cas, la CSAT doit Page 10 s’assurer que l’appel est justifié plutôt que d’être motivée simplement par les coûts.) 8. Il doit y avoir des audiences publiques poussées sur l’utilisation et l’expansion de la fixation de taux particuliers. L’expansion du système de taux particuliers représente un écartement d’un des principes fondamentaux du système : la responsabilité collective. Le système de responsabilité collective protège les employeurs (surtout les plus petits) contre les coûts imprévus, et protège les travailleurs et travailleuses contre l’implication contradictoire de leur employeur. Le changement ne doit pas se produire sans examen public ni propositions Qu’importent les propositions que puissent faire le monde ouvrier et les groupes de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail, il nous paraît que le point de départ devrait être de faire savoir très clairement aux organismes d’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses que nous avons un intérêt dans cette question  voire un vif intérêt. Qu’il s’agisse d’enquêtes publiques, de consultations sur papier, de groupes de discussion ou d’applications à des situations spécifiques, les victimes du travail et le monde ouvrier veulent prendre part à toute discussion touchant la fixation de taux particuliers et le financement de nos systèmes d’indemnisation. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PROVINCIAL COMPARISONS ON "EXPERIENCE RATING" NF NS PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC 1. IS THERE A SYSTEM OF REBATES; LOWERED RATES TO INDIVIDUAL OR EMPLOYERS; OR ANY OTHER DIRECT FINANCIAL INCENTIVE TO EMPLOYERS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER AND COST OF WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS? YES YES YES YES YES - to be in YES YES NO YES effect 2001 2. IF SO, WHAT IS THE SYSTEM CALLED? (E.G. IN ONTARIO IT IS CALLED "EXPERIENCE RATING") "1999 Experience Experience Rating Experience Premium reduction & PIR - "Partners in Rating." Rating rebates. Injury Reduction" QC - A mix of class based and personalized rating - most frequent retrospective rating for big industries. NF - As well "Worksafe Plan" - separate from Experience Rating. BC - Premium Modification System (PRM) & ER2000 3. HOW DOES THIS SYSTEM WORK? Based on Based on no lost claims costs. time accidents. NF - The concept is "reward & penalize" employers. It is compulsory to the firms who qualify; to qualify WHSCC uses a process based on history of the firm, i.e. claims cost, assessment premiums & payroll. Differences also exist in how cost allocations & debt recovery are included in rate calculations; also, variations in administrative costs can be a factor in assessment rate differences. AB - Employers who have put a priority on reducing injuries and managing claims receive higher rebates to reflect their contribution. YT - Attempts have been made, but so far, both employers' and employees' groups have managed to prevent implementation. BC - Calculating on employers claims cost performance relative to its rate group. A) IS IT BASED ON ACTUAL COSTS OF CLAIMS COMPARED TO PREMIUMS PAID? YES NO YES NO MB - It is based on a combination of direct claim cost & pooled system costs. B) ARE COSTS PRORATED OVER 3 YEARS? OR OTHER # OF YEARS? YES YES. NO YES YES - 5 years YES Not sure. YES Not sure. Don't know YES YES 3 years NF - It is prorated over three years, for example 2000 rates were set based on 1996,97,98, and 1999 is considered a lag year, so when setting 2001 rates it will be 1997,98,99 and 2000 will be the lag year. So yearly the rates can change lower or higher etc. YES C) IS THE ACCIDENT FREQUENCY CONSIDERED IN THE PROGRAM? NO NO NF - Employer would consider reflection in rates & surcharges. NO D) IS A HEALTH AND SAFETY AUDIT PART OF THE PROGRAM? No sure. NO Not sure. NF - NF has approx. 5000 employers - this would be an administrative nightmare. YES Not sure. YES NO Not sure. YES NO E) CAN EMPLOYERS BOTH RECEIVE REBATES AND BE CHARGED EXTRA THROUGH THE PROGRAM? Page 11 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC NO - Not both in YES NO Not sure. YES NO YES same year. NF - Employers wouldn't get rebates & penalties in the same year. It would be one or the other, it can change yearly with new history. Types of claims excluded from the rating are: industrial disease, third party, denied claims, overpayments and interest paid in delays in receiving payments. Also excluded are administrative costs, OH&S costs, known future liabilities and estimated liabilities. BC - Employers can earn up to a 50% discount off of their base premium rate or a 100% surcharge. YES 4. YES 5. YES 6. NO 7. F) ARE INJURED WORKERS PRESSURED TO RETURN TO WORK TOO SOON? DETAILS? YES YES YES YES YES YES YES MB - Possibly. The rating system does not include those claims that are under two weeks. Therefore it would go without saying that an employer would try to get workers back to work as quickly as possible. ON - I.W. is deemed uncooperative if not accept placement offer from employer. SK - Shoved into rehab real quick and back to work real quick in a program that's not monitored. Then the I.W. is laid off. AB - Most IW's in Alberta are pressured to return to work before they are physically able. BC - This is one of the most prominent complaints. IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH UNDER OR NON-REPORTING OF ACCIDENTS IN YOUR PROVINCE? YES YES YES YES YES YES NO YES DO EMPLOYERS BENEFIT IF THEY DON'T REPORT AN ACCIDENT? NO YES YES YES YES YES NO YES IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, DOES THIS FINANCIAL INCENTIVE TO EMPLOYERS HAVE POSITIVE RESULTS FOR INJURED WORKERS? NO NO NO NO NO NO ?? PLEASE GIVE SOME DETAILS: NS - Companies have I.W.'s sitting around doing nothing so they can maintain their accident free days. Westray got a safety award one month before 26 men got killed. MB - Review of rate setting model shows areas of exiting concern and may present future problems, once experience rating comes into effect in 2001. ON - The frequency of injured workers unemployed is rising. BC - The better employers put more effort into safety and rehab. 8. DOES IT HAVE NEGATIVE RESULTS FOR INJURED WORKERS? YES YES YES YES Possible YES YES 9. PLEASE GIVE SOME DETAILS: NF - A lot of pressure from the employer to an injured person to return to work earlier, resulting in pressure from the WHSCC claims management. The person injured or killed is seen as the problem! NS - Either starve I.W.'s out, or force them into inappropriate work. QC - Employers will do all they can to avoid that claims be presented and will contest those that are . ON - It encourages the hiding of claims, which we are already seeing all over the province. SK - Serious accidents are reported as no lost time. I.W. applies for WCB but WCB denies the claim as it's not serious as there was no lost time. AB - IW threatened & coerced into not filing claims. Some employers have denied a work related injury, resulting in denial of claim benefits for IW. BC - It gives employers a financial reason for not reporting claims. 10. HAS THERE BEEN PUBLIC CONSULTATION OR HEARINGS ON EXPERIENCE RATING RECENTLY? NO - Survey done NO NO YES YES NO Page 12 YES YES �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS PEI NB QC ON MB SK AB YT BC in 1996. 11. WHAT WAS THE RESULT? MB - Suggestions that the new rating system will not stop claim suppression and may entice employers to pressure IW to RTW before they are ready. These concerns are being looked at by WCB. Future studies of the system may result in WCB imposing factors into their rate assessment formula to counteract some of these issues. AB - PIR program has been operating since 1993. In 1998, due to policy consultations consensus on a new design was reached. Under the new model, all employers in Alberta with a WCB account can participate in the program regardless of their company's size or industry. The previous program was geared towards either large employers or small employers belonging to an industry or safety association. YT - Both the stakeholders & B.O.D. directed Administration not to implement. ON - Consultations are not completed. BC - Initially, the Board's proposal was to eliminate ERA for all but the largest employers; but employer group responses changed its mind 12. DOES YOUR GROUP HAVE A POSITION ON EXPERIENCE RATING IN WORKERS COMPENSATION? YES Not a position YES Not directly - but YES YES YES - We will not but principles of Eliminate through the MFL. accept Experience analysis. completely. Rating. NF - On behalf of the NLIWA, incentives should not have to be provided to employers to provide safe workplaces & practices. They should not have to be given an incentive to become more proactive in their approach to safety & claims management. There should be more consideration of lost wages, lost families, loss of lifestyle financial incentives for workers who live with the repercussions of being injured or become a fatality at the work site. Employers have to be held accountable where it hurts, the bottom line, rather than whining over increases in premiums when a worker has no right to sue. It is the employers responsibility when a workplace injury occurs & and they should have the mind set that they are accountable...totally. Sensitivity and the human recognition has to be the goal, not making it easier on the employers...Sir William Meredith said it best; in part, "Justice: do what is right; & Do not mix up compensation with employer concerns." SK - If a company has good OH&S practices, they deserve a rebate. But when companies abuse the system and abuse the IW, they don't deserve any rebates. AB - It should be abolished. It gives employers even more incentive to have workers fail to complete injury reports. BC - Generally, the feeling among the worker community is it should be eliminated. 13. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: It doesn't help injured workers. MB - This program does not come into effect until 2001. It is in itself the economic resource to maintain the WCB system. The effectiveness of the system will depend in part on its delivery and the amount of support services put in place to ensure that I.W.'s are the primary concern such as health and safety. Programs require policies and staff that protect the I.W. by having the ability and will to enforce the policies. If this is not done, then companies are protected on the backs of injured workers. ON - Experience rating is a disincentive to re-employ I.W.'s and the bottom line is I.W. loose again. SK - Rebates should go to the OH&S committee for job modifications. WCB brags about the amount of money they give back to employers. AB - Interesting to note that some of the worst companies for workplace accidents are among those receiving rebates. One employers sends workers to hospital on a regular basis. YT - We have seen how bad experience rating is in other jurisdictions and will fight it each time the administration tries to bring it forward. Page 13 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance COMPARAISONS PROVINCIALES SUR LA FIXATION DE TAUX PARTICULIERS TERRE-NEUVE NOUV.-ÉCOSSE Î.-P.É N.-B. QUÉBEC ONTARIO MANITOBA SASKATCHEWAN ALBERTA TERR. DU YUKON C.B. 1. Y A-T-IL UN SYSTÈME DE RABAIS, DE TARIFS RÉDUITS POUR LES INDIVIDUS OU LES EMPLOYEURS, OU ENCORE UNE AUTRE FORME DE MOTIVATION PÉCUNIAIRE DIRECTE POUR LES EMPLOYEURS EN VUE DE RÉDUIRE LE NOMBRE ET LE COÛT DES ACCIDENTS DU TRAVAIL? OUI OUI OUI OUI OUI. Entrera en OUI OUI NON OUI vigueur en 2001. 2. SI OUI, COMMENT S’APPELLE LE SYSTÈME? Tarification Tarification Réduction de primes particulière. particulière. et rabais. AB - « Partners in Injury Reduction » (PIR) (partenaires pour la réduction des lésions). TN - « 1999 Experience Rating » (tarifica-tion particulière de 1999). Aussi : « Worksafe Plan » (régime de travail sécuritaire), distinct de la tarification particulière. PQ - Un mélange de tarification particulière selon des catégories; le plus souvent, tarification rétrospective pour les grosses industries. CB - Premium Modification System (PRM) & ER2000 3. COMMENT FONCTIONNE CE SYSTÈME? Selon le coût des réclamations. Selon les accidents sans perte de temps. TN- Le principe est de « récompenser et de pénaliser » les employeurs. Il est obligatoire pour les entreprises qui sont admissibles; pour être admissible, la WHSCC (commission de la santé, de la sécurité et de l'indemnisation des accidents au travail) utilise une méthode basée sur l’historique de l’entreprise (coût des réclamations, primes d’évaluation et liste de paye). Il y a des différences aussi dans la façon dont la répartition des coûts et le recouvrement des dettes sont inclus dans les calculs de taux; de plus, les variations dans les coûts administratifs peuvent être un facteur dans les différences de taux d’évaluation. AB - Les employeurs ayant mis l’accent sur la réduction des lésions et le traite-ment des réclama-tions reçoivent de plus gros rabais reflétant leur contribution. TY - Des tentatives ont été faites mais jusqu’à maintenant, employeurs et employés ont réussi à empêcher l’instauration. CB - Calculations sur les demandes de revient des employeurs relatif(ve) au prix de groupe. OUI OUI OUI. A) EST-IL BASÉ SUR LE COÛT RÉEL DES RÉCLAMATIONS COMPARATIVEMENT AUX PRIMES PAYÉES? OUI NON OUI Incertain. MB - NON. Il est basé sur une combi-naison de coût de réclamation direct et de coûts du système mis en commun. OUI OUI B) LES COÛTS SONT-ILS RÉPARTIS SUR 3 ANS? OU SELON UN AUTRE NOMBRE D’ANNÉES? Incertain. NON OUI OUI. 5 ans. Incertain. Ne sait pas. OUI. 3 ans TN - Ils sont répartis sur trois ans; par exemple, les taux de l’an 2000 ont été établis d’après 1996, 1997 et 1998, 1999 étant considéré comme une année d’antériorité. C) LE PROGRAMME TIENT-IL COMPTE DE LA FRÉQUENCE DES ACCIDENTS? NON NON NON OUI TN - L’employeur considérerait une répercussion sur les taux et sur les surcharges. D) UN AUDIT SANTÉ-SÉCURITÉ FAIT-IL PARTIE DU PROGRAMME? NON. Incertain. NON NON Page 14 Incertain. Incertain. OUI NON Incertain. OUI NON �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance TERRE-NEUVE NOUV.-ÉCOSSE Î.-P.É N.-B. QUÉBEC ONTARIO MANITOBA SASKATCHEWAN ALBERTA TERR. DU YUKON C.B. TN - Terre-Neuve compte environ 5 000 employeurs; ce serait un cauchemar administratif. E) LES EMPLOYEURS PEUVENT-ILS RECEVOIR DES RABAIS TOUT EN DEVANT DÉBOURSER DAVANTAGE EN VERTU DU PROGRAMME? NON. OUI NON OUI Incertain. OUI NON OUI TN - Pas les deux dans la même année. Les employeurs ne recevraient pas de rabais et des penalties la même année. Ce serait l’un ou l’autre. Les types de réclamations exclus de la tarification sont : maladies industrielles, tierces parties, réclamations rejetées, trop-perçus et intérêts versés pour les retards à recevoir les paiements. Sont également exclus : frais administratifs, frais de santé et sécurité au travail, charges futures connues et provisions. CB - Les employeurs peuvent gagner jusqu'à 50% de rabais sur leur prime de base ou 100% de surcharge. OUI F) LES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL SONT-ELLE INCITÉES À RETOURNER AU TRAVAIL TROP TÔT? AVEZ-VOUS DES DÉTAILS? OUI OUI OUI. OUI OUI OUI MB - C’est possible. Le système de tarification ne comprend pas les réclamations en deçà de deux semaines. Il va sans dire qu’un employeur va essayer de faire rentrer un travailleur ou une travailleuse le plus tôt possible. ON - La victime du travail passe pour peu coopérative si elle n’accepte pas l’offre de l’employeur. SK - OUI. La victime du travail va très vite en réadaptation puis retourne au travail très tôt dans un programme non suivi; puis c’est la mise à pied. AB - La plupart des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail en Alberta sont incitées à retourner au travail avant d’en être physiquement capable. Si l’employeur participe au programme PIR, il y a encore plus de motivation à faire rentrer la victime du travail : une récompense pécuniaire pour l’employeur. CB - Ceci est une des plaintes les plus proéminentes. 4. LE FAIT DE NE PAS DÉCLARER LES ACCIDENTS, OU PAS ASSEZ SOUVENT, POSE-T-IL UN PROBLÈME DANS VOTRE PROVINCE? OUI OUI OUI OUI OUI OUI OUI NON 5. LES EMPLOYEURS GAGNENT-ILS À NE PAS DÉCLARER LES ACCIDENTS? OUI NON OUI OUI OUI OUI OUI NON 6. SELON VOTRE EXPÉRIENCE, CETTE MOTIVATION PÉCUNIAIRE POUR LES EMPLOYEURS COMPORTE-T-ELLE DES RÉSULTATS POSITIFS POUR LES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL? NON NON NON NON NON NON NON 7. VEUILLEZ FOURNIR DES DÉTAILS. OUI OUI ?? TN - Les lésions augmentent, de sorte que les pratiques et lieux de travail sont encore dangereux. Les employeurs ne perçoivent pas le retour au travail d’une victime du travail comme étant à leur avantage, parce que ces employeurs ont encore tendance à dire « pas de relâchement » ou encore « pas d’autre travail disponible ». Il y a la menace constante qu’on doive réduire les services aux victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail pour soutenir le passif non capitalisé. NE - Des entreprises ont des victimes du travail qui ne font rien afin qu’elles puissent conserver leurs journées sans accident. Westray a reçu un prix pour la sécurité un mois avant que 26 hommes se fassent tuer. ON - La fréquence de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail sans emploi augmente. MB - L’examen du modèle de tarification révèle des inquiétudes et peut poser des problèmes futurs une fois que les taux particuliers entreront en vigueur en 2001. CB - Les meilleurs employeurs investent le plus d'effort dans la protection et la réabilitation. 8. CETTE MOTIVATION PÉCUNIAIRE COMPORTE-T-ELLE DES RÉSULTATS NÉGATIFS POUR LES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL? OUI OUI OUI OUI Peut-être. OUI OUI 9. VEUILLEZ FOURNIR DES DÉTAILS. Page 15 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance TERRE-NEUVE NOUV.-ÉCOSSE Î.-P.É N.-B. QUÉBEC ONTARIO MANITOBA SASKATCHEWAN ALBERTA TERR. DU YUKON C.B. TN - Beaucoup de pression de la part de l’employeur sur une victime du travail pour qu’elle retourne au travail plus tôt, ce qui entraîne des pressions lors du traitement des réclamations par la commission de la santé, de la sécurité et de l'indemnisation des accidents au travail. La personne accidentée ou tuée est perçue comme le problème! NE - Soit forcer les victimes du travail à quitter par la faim, soit les forcer à accepter du travail contre-indiqué. PQ - Les employeurs font tout leur possible pour ne pas présenter des réclamations et contestent celles qui le sont. ON - Cela favorise la dissimulation des réclamations, ce qui se produit déjà partout en province. SK - Les accidents graves sont déclarés comme étant sans perte de temps. La victime du travail demande d’être indemnisée mais la WCB rejette la réclama-tion parce que la lésion n’est pas grave (il n’y a pas eu perte de temps). AB - On menace et contraint la victime du travail à ne pas déposer de réclamation. Certains employeurs ont refusé une lésion liée au travail, ce qui a privé la victime du travail de prestations. CB - Ceci donne aux employeurs une raison financière pour ne pas rendre compte les plaintes. 10. Y A-T-IL EU RÉCEMMENT CONSULTATION PUBLIQUE OU AUDIENCES SUR LA TARIFICATION PARTICULIÈRE? On a réalisé un NON NON OUI OUI NON OUI OUI OUI sondage en 1996. 11. QUEL EN A ÉTÉ LE RÉSULTAT? S.O. S.O. ON - Les consultations ne sont pas terminées. MB- Des suggestions à l’effet que le nouveau système de tarification ne freinera pas la suppression des réclamations et pourrait inciter les employeurs à forcer les victimes du travail à retourner au travail avant qu’elles ne soient prêtes. La Commission des accidents du travail se penche présentement sur ces inquiétudes. Des études à venir sur le système pourraient faire en sorte que la CAT impose des facteurs dans sa formule d’évaluation des taux pour contrebalancer certaines des questions. AB - Le programme PIR est en place depuis 1993. En 1998, il y a eu consensus sur un nouveau concept par suite des consultations sur la politique. En vertu du nouveau modèle, tout employeur en Alberta ayant un compte avec la WCB peut participer au programme sans égard à l’envergure ou à la nature de l’entreprise. L’ancien programme visait soit les gros employeurs, soit les petits employeurs qui appartenaient à une industrie ou à une association de sécurité. YT - Les parties intéressées et le conseil d’adminis-tration ont signifié à l’Administration de ne pas l’instaurer. CB - Au début, la proposition du Bureau était d'éliminer ERA pour tous sauf les plus grands employeurs; mais les groupes d'employeurs ont changé d'idées. 12. VOTRE GROUPE A-T-IL ADOPTÉ UNE POSITION AU SUJET DE LA TARIFICATION PARTICULIÈRE POUR L’INDEMNISATION DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL? OUI Non, plutôt des OUI. OUI. OUI. principes Éliminer au Nous n’acceptons d’analyse. complet. pas la tarification particulière. Page 16 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance TERRE-NEUVE NOUV.-ÉCOSSE Î.-P.É N.-B. QUÉBEC ONTARIO MANITOBA SASKATCHEWAN ALBERTA TERR. DU YUKON C.B. TN - Au nom de l’association des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail de Terre-Neuve, on ne devrait pas avoir à offrir de motivation aux employeurs pour les inciter à fournir des lieux de travail et des pratiques sans danger. Ce ne devrait pas être nécessaire de leur offrir des motivations pour devenir plus proactif dans leur approche de la sécurité et du traitement des réclamations. Il devrait y avoir plus de considération pour les salaires perdus, les familles perdues, les styles de vie perdus, ainsi que des encouragements pécuniaires pour les travailleurs et travailleuses qui doivent vivre avec les conséquences d’une lésion au travail ou d’une mortalité. Les employeurs doivent répondre de leurs actes là où ça fait mal, en termes d’argent, plutôt que de se plaindre au sujet des augmentations de primes, alors que l’employé n’a même pas le droit de poursuivre en justice. MB SK AB CB - C’est la responsabilité de l’employeur quand il se produit un accident ou une maladie du travail. L’employeur doit savoir qu’il en est entièrement responsable. L’objectif doit être la sensibilité et la reconnaissance humaine  et non rendre la vie plus facile pour l’employeur. Sir William Meredith l’a bien exprimé : « Justice : fais ce qui est juste et ne confonds pas l’indemnisation avec les préoccupations de l’employeur. » Pas directement, plutôt par l’intermédiaire de la fédération du travail du Manitoba (MFL). Si l’entreprise a de bonnes pratiques de santé-sécurité au travail, elle mérite un rabais. Mais quand une entreprise abuse du système et de la victime du travail, elle ne mérite aucun rabais. Elle doit être abolie. Elle incite davantage les employeurs à encourager les travailleurs et travailleuses à ne pas remplir les rapports d’accident. Généralement, la communauté de travailleur/euse désire que ce soit élininer. 13. REMARQUES SUPPLÉMENTAIRES. NE - Cela n’aide pas les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. ON - La tarification particulière a un effet dissuasif sur le réembaucha-ge de victimes du travail; le résultat net est que les victimes du travail perdent encore une fois. MB - Ce programme n’entre pas en vigueur avant 2001. C’est en soi la ressource économique pour maintenir le système d’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses. L’efficacité du système dépendra en partie de son fonctionnement et des services de soutien mis en place pour s’assurer que les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail soient la première préoccupation, comme la santé et la sécurité. Les programmes ont besoin de politiques et de personnel qui protègent la victime du travail en ayant la capacité et la volonté de faire respecter ces politiques. Sinon, ce sont les entreprises qui sont protégées sur le dos des victimes du travail. SK - Les rabais devraient aller au comité OS&S pour des modifica-tions au travail. La WCB se targue de la somme d’argent qu’elle retourne aux employeurs. AB - Il est intéressant de constater que certaines entreprises ayant le plus d’accidents du travail comptent parmi celles qui reçoivent des rabais. Un de ces employeurs envoie régulièrement des employés à l’hôpital. TY - Nous avons vu ce que la mauvaise tarification particu-lière fait dans d’autres juridictions et nous allons la combattre chaque fois que l’Adminis-tration tentera de nous l’imposer. Page 17 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about  To work towards a just SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.   PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.  INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.   system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available        The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6E3 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 18 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Fall 2000 Description An account of the resource Articles about experience rating- compensation board funding; provincial comparisons on "experience rating"; Ontario WCB Report; Human Rights Watch Report for U.S. Workers. Letter to the Editor- "Lost at Sea" Memorial Project; Youth Project Report. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/223eb807af86142051f9bed3c25804ff.pdf 6b17bc031513f22d6d2e12d9b3300e32 PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Focus on Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) This is a special issue of "Highlights" featuring articles on RSI with a focus on Women's Work. RSI is becoming a very big issue. We need to concentrate more of our time and energy on RSI. In Newfoundland, claims for RSI have increased by 84% since 1994. In Quebec, from 1987 - 1990, the number of claims rose by more than 300%. In the United States, the number of claims for RSI was almost 10 times higher in 1991 than it was in 1981. Many experts say that soon, half of all claims for work injuries will be related to RSI. Workers are telling us it is becoming more difficult to gain entitlement for a repetitive strain injury. WCB's are bringing in "normal healing times". If you're not better in 6 weeks, you must be non-cooperative and are cut off benefits. We need to educate ourselves and the public about this epidemic. This issue of "Highlights" is a start. As well, we have news and happenings from across the country and around the world. Please read on. Our next issue of Highlights will focus on Experience Rating. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts & experiences for the next newsletter. Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ...................... News & Happenings ............................ Projects ............................................... Female Workers/Machines (Fr/Eng)... 5 - 2 3 4 6 Women, RSI and Compensation(Fr/Eng) .......7 - 12 News & Happenings ..................... 13 - 15 CIWA Info .......................................... 16 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Organization: ________________________________ Address: Date: ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: ________________________________ ________________________________ Postal Code ________________________________ Phone ________________________________ Fax ________________________________ E-Mail ________________________________ Web Site ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Donations $ __________ Total $ __________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT! Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver COMPONET SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society. ON... Joan Crevar, Hamilton Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l’ATTAQ NF... Patricia Dodd, Mount Pearl NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County ADVISORS… Andy King, Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE STREET ADDRESS P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6E3 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6R2 Phone: 807-345-3429 email: ciwa@norlink.net Fax: 807-344-8683 Web-site: www.ciwa.ca Toll Free 1-877-787-7010 Page 2 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance News & Happenings Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. We sure appreciate your help !!! LABOUR AND INJURED WORKERS ORGANIZING IN OREGON Activists for Injured Workers CONFERENCE Saturday July 22, 2000 Chemeketa Community College Salem, OR 97309 Upcoming Events TOPICS * What to do when you are injured on the job * Injured worker organizing * Political considerations * Dealing with denials * The role of the Ombudsman * Appeals July 22, 2000. For more registration forms or questions, contact Bonnie Jeglin or Bob Rossi at (800) 452-2146. "Activists for Injured Workers" Conference hosted by the OPEU/CPIW Salem, Oregon, USA September 29 - October 1, 2000. "The Millenium and Beyond" ONIWG Conference hosted by the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups The C.A.W. Education Centre Port Elgin, Ontario November 17 - 19, 2000. "Disability & Human Rights" Conference hosted by the CLC The Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Quebec CORRECTION - CPP CHARTS - Spring Issue: NFLD - Ceiling on WCB Benefits showed $39,300 Should be $45,500 COMMITTEE TO PROTECT INJURED WORKERS OREGON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNION, SEIU LOCAL 503 News from BC The queue in disability awards at the WCB in British Columbia is now up to two years and people waiting for rehabilitation is also backed up. What happened to the $14 million surplus again this year? Injured and disabled workers are having to wait for their pensions even longer even though interest is accumulating. FINANCIAL PROGRAMS DIRECTORY Neads has just launched the on-line version of the National Directory of Financial Assistance Programs for Post-Secondary Students With Disabilities. This directory is a comprehensive guide to funding for college and university studies and describes programs that are available across Canada. To explore the financial aid directory, visit the web site - www.neads.ca and select the NEADS Online Resource Centre (NORC) from the home page. 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Projects People Helping People The result of our Peer Support Pilot Project, People Helping People (71 pages) lists the steps to starting up and maintaining support groups for injured workers, family members, widows and widowers. By working in small groups, we can share experiences, concerns and fears. We can support each other in learning to adjust to life with a disability. The triumphs and trials of four injured workers’ support groups were collected and included in this resource. In this way, others can learn from their experiences, and apply them to starting new groups and committees or strengthening existing ones. We have already received some very positive feedback on People Helping People. Don't delay…… Order your copy today! Corporations & Institutions: Full price: $25 Unions & Non-Profits: 25% off: $18.75 Injured & Unemployed Workers 50% off: $12.50 Page 4 Youth Project For a number of years, injured workers have been saying that we need to go into high schools and educate young people about the hazards in the workplace and the rights they have available to protect themselves as well as their co-workers. Many have also said that they would never want to see their children become injured workers and suffer through the same experiences as they have. Their concerns are justified. The injury rate for workers aged 15 to 24 is thirty-five per cent (35%) higher than for any other age group. In Ontario, fifteen (15) workers between the ages of 15 and 24 died in 1998, and fifty (50) young workers are hurt every day on the job. Seventy-five per cent (75%) of injured workers with a permanent injury are unemployed. The Canadian Injured Workers Alliance is concerned about these statistics, and proposed a Youth Project as a result. Our Youth Project aims to educate young people on workplace accident prevention and post-accident issues. Throughout the project, we will develop a model workshop, resource package and peer support model to reach out to young workers. The models will be tested at high schools and Youth Employment Centres in at least three communities across Ontario. We then hope to host a number of training sessions across Ontario and across Canada for representatives from local injured workers groups on how to deliver the workshop to their local high schools and youth groups. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance The Youth Project officially kicked off during A SPECIAL THANKS TO THE USWA, CAW, & THE WORKERS' HEALTH AND SAFETY CENTRE FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS WHICH HELPED ENABLE US TO START THE YOUTH PROJECT. June, 2000. We continue to welcome financial When the Female Worker Becomes a Machine… How many female workers today still have the impression of turning into machines as soon as they set foot into the plant? Surely hundreds and hundreds of thousands. How could it be otherwise when they are required to fulfil their tasks at insane performance levels, to meet paces that you can hardly watch without getting dizzy? contributions to this initiative and urge interested parties to contact our office for more information. We also welcome injured workers—especially young injured workers—to contact our office and get involved: 877-787-7010 (toll-free). is not obvious that a work tempo is imposed on them, however, such is the case. The number of items scanned is timed and their productivity is rated by their employers using these same scanning devices. We have also noticed, with the introduction of scanners in the supermarkets, a Work Paces in Manufacturing Plants The inhuman work pace is, in manufacturing plants, the daily reality of many women. One only needs to think about sewing machine operators, assemblers, packagers and all those who work on assembly lines operating at a rate over which they have no control, to realize that women’s work conditions are still determined by the quest for profits. Employers remain insensitive to the hazards that can be brought on by the work conditions they impose on women. Work Paces in Other Areas Many claimed that the new technologies would reduce the constraints linked to certain kinds of tasks. If it’s true that work has put on new faces with the development of new technologies, it is also true that these technologiesthat some boast as having enhanced work conditionsunfortunately have had, in some instances, the effect of worsening them. The cashier job is a good example of this reality. These workers who formerly had to manually enter the price of each item into the cash register now use optical scanners. At first glance, one could think that their work conditions have improved since they have been relieved of punching in prices. Maybe we need to look closer at this change before drawing a positive conclusion. When you observe these cashiers, it Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Quand la travailleuse devient machine… Combien de travailleuses ont encore aujourd’hui l’impression de se transformer en machine dès leur arrivée à l’usine? Sans doute des centaines et des centaines de milliers. Comment pourrait-til en être autrement quand on leur demande d’exécuter leurs tâches à un rythme démentiel, de rencontrer des cadences qu’on a du mal à regarder sans être étourdi-e? Les cadences dans les milieux manufacturiers La cadence de travail inhumaine est, dans les milieux manufacturiers, la réalité quotidienne de nombreuses femmes. On a qu’à penser aux opératrices de machine à coudre, aux assembleuses, aux emballeuses et à toutes celles qui travaillent sur des chaînes de montage qui fonctionnent à une vitesse sur laquelle elles n’ont aucun contrôle, pour réaliser que les conditions de travail des femmes sont encore conditionnées par l’appétit de profit de leurs employeurs, qui demeurent insensibles aux dangers que peuvent a cutback in personnel, hence an increase in the workload of each cashier. Such is the case also with telephone operators who are timed for the number of seconds they take to answer a request. It then appears that the development of new technologies has allowed, in many cases, greater control for employers over the female workers rather than greater control of these workers over their jobs. Work Paces are Hazardous Work paces present obvious hazards to health. They increase the risk of work-related injury and disease by forcing female workers to overuse their limbs and by having them repeat the same motions at a frantic pace, week after week, year after year. These workers see their health deteriorate. In fact, the faster the assembly line is, the faster their health will deteriorate. Who Should Go Faster? Female workers should slow down. Employers are the ones who should go faster! They should indeed speed up the process of improving work conditions and by making them safer. Not only do performance levels need to slow down, but Page 6 présenter les conditions de travail qu’ils imposent aux travailleuses. Les cadences dans les autres milieux Plusieurs prétendaient que les nouvelles technologies allaient réduire les contraintes reliées à certains types de tâches. S’il est vrai que le travail a revêti de nouveaux visages avec le développement de nouvelles technologies, il est également vrai que ces technologies, que certains nous présentent comme ayant amélioré les conditions de travail, ont malheureusement, en certaines occasions, eu pour effet de les empirer. L’emploi de caissière constitue une bonne illustration de cette réalité. Ces travailleuses qui devaient auparavant poinçonner le prix de chacun des items sur la caisse enregistreuse, ont dorénavant à leur disposition des lecteurs optiques. À première vue, on pourrait penser que leurs conditions de travail se sont améliorées puisqu’on les a libérées de la tâche du poinçonnage. Peut-être faut-il jeter un regard un peu plus attentif sur cette modification avant d’en faire un bilan trop positif? Bien que quand on les regarde il ne soit évident qu’on jobs need to be modified in order to respect the human body’s limitations. It is urgent to change the situation so that female workers stop getting sick from work. Workers are not machines! Liane Flibotte �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance impose une cadence de travail à ces femmes, c’est pourtant le cas. Elles voient maintenant le nombre d’items passés à la caisse chronométré et leur productivité évaluée par leurs employeurs à l’aide des lecteurs optiques. On a aussi remarqué, avec l’entrée des lecteurs optiques dans les super marchés, une diminution du personnel et donc une augmentation de la tâche de chaque caissière. C’est également le cas des téléphonistes qui voient, elles aussi, le nombre de secondes qu’elles prennent pour répondre à une demande d’un-e abonné-e, chronométré. Il semble donc que le développement de nouvelles technologies ait permis, dans plusieurs cas, un plus grand contrôle des employeurs sur les travailleuses plutôt qu’un plus grand contrôle des travailleuses sur leur travail. Les cadences sont dangereuses Les cadences présentent des dangers certains pour la santé. Elles augmentent les risques d’accidents et de maladies du travail en forçant les travailleuses à sur-utiliser leurs membres et en leur faisant répéter, à un rythme effréné, semaine après semaine, année après année, les mêmes mouvements. Les travailleuses voient donc leur santé se dégrader au même rythme que celui de la chaîne de montage. Qui devrait aller plus vite? Les travailleuses devraient ralentir. C’est aux employeurs d’aller plus vite! Ils doivent en effet, accélérer le processus d’amélioration et d’assainissement des conditions de travail. Il faut non seulement que les cadences ralentissent, il faut de plus, que les tâches soient modifiées de manière à ce qu’elles respectent les limites du corps humain. Il est urgent que la situation change de façon à ce que les travailleuses n’aient plus à se rendre malades au travail. On n’est pas des machines! Liane Flibotte Special payments for remarried spouses - ALBERTA Remarried widows and widowers whose spouses died du to PRE-1982 work injured, and whose pensions stopped because of remarriage, are eligible for a special one-time payment. Effective March 23, 2000, each eligible surviving spouse who applies for this benefit will receive a lump sum payment of $80,000 Canadian. For more information, contact 1-877-454-4443 or (780) 498-3850 within Edmonton. 85 PER CENT WANT FINES AND JAIL TERMS FOR EXECUTIVES WHO IGNORE JOB SAFETY A large majority of Canadians want a law that would set fines and jail terms for corporate executives who are found responsible for workplace accidents that could have been avoided. A public opinion poll released this week shows that 85 per cent of Canadians would advise their Members of Parliament to vote for such a law. The idea of holding corporate executives and directors criminally responsible for action or lack of action on job safety is gaining broad support. Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Women, RSI and Compensation Excerpt from One-eyed Science: Occupational Health and Women Workers, by Karen Messing (1999) Philadelphia: Temple University Press I have chosen to examine work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) as my first case study of sexism in occupational health research for two reasons. First, MSDs are an important problem for women, the most common women’s health problem, so it is important to prevent this suffering. Second, MSDs are the majority of cases of occupational disease, so they have been well studied by scientists. And since they occur among women and men, it is interesting to see how gender is handled in research and compensation of work-related MSDs. We can see that scientists have not always been fair to women. As a result, although both women and men encounter obstacles when trying to use scientific studies to support their compensation claims, women encounter difficulties not usually seen by men. Musculoskeletal disorders include inflammations of muscles and tendons such as tendinitis and bursitis, some cases of osteoarthritis, various types of back problems, and tendon sheath inflammations such as carpal tunnel syndrome. They may be associated with a single, well-defined event but they usually build up over many years from repeated injury to the same tendon, muscle or nerve. In the scientific and Page 8 popular press, subcategories of these disorders are called repetitive strain injury (RSI), cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) or soft tissue disorders. Workers describe great difficulty in getting their employers, physicians, co-workers and even families to believe them when they have MSDs. Coworkers told us about a woman who worked for twenty years in the cookie factory before making a claim. She was proud that she had never been late or absent. However, when the repetitive motions she made while wrapping small cakes finally caused shoulder pain which made her unable to work, the company contested her compensation case with scientific testimony that she was not ill. Her friends described her distress: How could the company for whom she had done honest work for so long call her a liar? Identifying the causes Is it harder to define MSDs when the injured worker is a woman? It is certainly easier to identify an injury when it occurs as a result of a well-defined event. If a worker lifts a heavy weight and wrenches his back, resulting in acute pain and possible torn ligaments, the case is clearer than when a worker feels more and more chronic pain until it becomes unbearable. Given the different tasks of men and women, the first situation is more likely to occur with men’s jobs and the second with women’s. In this sense, it is easy to see why one-third of women’s compensated injuries (but only about 6% of women workers) are in the health care sector: apart from the fact that health care workers are unionized and sensitive to health issues, it is primarily in that sector that women lift heavy weights all at once. Therefore, compensation may be more accessible for those workers. Unlike infectious diseases, where a single causal agent (germ) can sometimes be isolated, movements and postures are not easy to analyze. Physical risk factors considered in relation to musculoskeletal disorders have usually included a number of repetitions, time between repetitions (cycle length), position of limbs during repetition, forces involved, rest periods, and years of exposure. It was found that the combination of high force and high repetition was especially apt to produce the wrist disorder known as carpal tunnel syndrome. Repetition was more important than force. The role of repetition is hard to isolate and repetitive movements are hard to �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance define. As a union representative assigned to defending occupational health claims said: “What is a repetitive movement? I ... ask everyone and even the doctors can’t tell us. I say to people in my union, 'You’ll see, you’ll ask your doctor, he doesn’t want you to do repetitive movements.' How many times are you allowed to do that movement? The doctor doesn’t want to answer that one.” Difficulties in making cause-effect associations with a work cycle of less than ten seconds, they did not exert a large force each time. It would seem logical that, if work is related to MSDs, part-time workers should have fewer MSDs than their full-time colleagues. But part-timers may not do the same tasks as full-timers with the same job title. For example, our study of bank tellers found high levels of back and leg and foot pain which we had reason to associate with prolonged standing, as well as neck and shoulder pain associated with reaching. We found no difference in pain reporting between full-time and part-time tellers. We understood this because during our observations we had noticed that full-time workers spent proportionately less time at direct customer service than part-time workers. In fact, part-timers were brought in to cover peak hours when there were more factories whose data they analyze, and interpretation of data can be a problem for them. These complexities mean that epidemiologists may have difficulty relating current movements to current illnesses. They often result in great difficulty for the worker who wants a change in her work station or is claiming compensation. Four of these complexities are found more often in women’s jobs. Women are more likely to be found in broad, catch-all job definitions, to work part time and to have work stations poorly adapted to their size. They are less likely to be promoted out of repetitive work, and therefore more likely to have to develop strategies to work while feeling pain. The rather fuzzy definitions of diseases and of possible causes are very different from what is found among accidents that are easily recognized. Waters are muddied by personal contributory factors and the Politics and science “logical” associations are not Controversy has grown always found. For example, around the relationship repeated wrist movements between are not repetitive work always When a construction worker falls off a scaffolding and breaks his and injuries. associated leg, there is not much doubt that there is an injury, nor that injury The fact that with wrist is related to something that happened on the job. Links are harder tendinitis and disorders, to make between repetitive movements and MSDs. other MSDs part-time can be workers do customers. Also, part-timers multicausal has caused some not always have fewer were less involved in the bank scientists to insist on personal problems than full-time, risk of procedures, so they were not factors like diabetes and a disorder does not always assigned to some tasks which pregnancy to the exclusion of increase with number of years were done sitting down, such occupation. Some scientists of exposure. Quite often, as entering transactions in the maintain that there is no such doctors have testified that an bank’s account or controlling thing as repetitive strain injury injury could not be related to currency reserves. We would and that it is a “neurosis.” A working conditions. Several not have been able to review of over 750 female post-office workers interpret this contradiction had repetitive-injury claims in were refused compensation in we not spent hours observing California found that insurers Québec because, although the tellers at work. We know were more likely to delay or they manipulated thousands epidemiologists who have deny claims for repetitive of pounds of mail each day never been inside the Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance strain injuries than for any other injury or illness. Women who do repetitive, boring tasks are more likely to have MSDs than other workers. How can we tell whether the MSDs are due to the repetition (physical) or the boredom (psychological) or a combination of both? The question may appear trivial, since the pain is caused by the job in any case, but it has practical implications: it is infinitely harder to gain compensation for boredom-induced injury than for physical injury. Personal factors and MSDs The fact that aging women tend to have more musculoskeletal problems has not escaped the notice of those who look at menopausal women with suspicion. At the 1994 meeting of the International Ergonomics Association, a doctor harangued a plenary session for several minutes, asserting that it had been scientifically proven that all (sic) carpal tunnel symptoms among older women were due to menopause. At a meeting of union health and safety representatives, one described personal conditions which could be spoken of as causes of MSD and used to block compensation: arthroses (actually sometimes due to work), age and menopause. “A woman developed a tenosynovitis and we lost at the appeal board. [They said] she hadn’t done enough repetitive movements, that wasn’t the cause and the company doctor came to tell us that it was because she was close to menopause and it was due to that. She packs 25,000 boxes a day” (a cycle time of less than 2 seconds). However, the problems of younger women can also be attributed to hormones. “If you’re a young woman and you were pregnant during the year or the year before and you have problems with carpal tunnel they will often say it’s because you have had pregnancies. And they will often bring in a doctor who will say that a woman who has had a child this year or the year before, it’s common, it’s normal that that would be the cause of her carpal tunnel.” According to workers, menopause and pregnancy are often brought up in compensation hearings as the “true” cause of injuries. Since most older women are menopausal and very many younger women have had recent pregnancies, it seems to be rather easy to attribute women’s MSDs to personal rather than occupational factors. Conclusions Examining the research on musculoskeletal problems is a good way to understand some of the reason for delay in identifying and compensating women’s occupational health problems. Of course, it is not easy for men to be compensated for MSDs and those intervening in compensation cases often interpret scientific evidence any which way in order to make their points. But women still have a disadvantage in the research and in the judicial system. Some of the disadvantage comes from outright sexism, such as we can see in relation to menopause. Much more of it comes from the nature of jobs usually assigned to women, in which dramatic, easily identified dangers are rare. In a context of employer-worker opposition where each side will jump on weaknesses in the case made by the other, women and women’s jobs make an easier target. Les troubles musculo-squelettiques Messing, K.2000. La santé des travailleuses: La science est-elle aveugle? Éditions du remue-ménage (Montréal) avec Octarès (Toulouse). Il y a deux raisons pour lesquelles mon premier exemple du sexisme à l'œuvre dans la recherche en Page 10 santé au travail portera ici sur les troubles musculosquelettiques. Premièrement, les troubles musculo- squelettiques constituent un problème important chez les femmes — le problème numéro un — et il faut le �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance prévenir. Deuxièmement, les troubles musculosquelettiques constituent la majorité des cas de maladie professionnelle, ce qui signifie qu'ils ont fait l'objet de nombreuses études. Comme ils touchent autant les hommes que les femmes, ils représentent le cas idéal pour vérifier si l'on tient compte des disparités sexuelles dans la recherche et l'indemnisation. Nous avons vu que les scientifiques ne sont pas toujours équitables à l'endroit des femmes. Par conséquent, bien que tous les travailleurs doivent surmonter des obstacles lorsqu'ils essaient d'appuyer leur demande d'indemnisation sur des études scientifiques, les femmes éprouvent à cet égard des difficultés particulières. Les troubles musculosquelettiques (TMS) comprennent l'inflammation des muscles et des tendons, telles les tendinites et les bursites, certains cas d'arthrose, divers types de maux de dos et le syndrome du canal carpien. Ces troubles peuvent être associés à un traumatisme, mais la plupart du temps ils sont causés par des lésions répétées au fil des ans aux mêmes tendons, muscles ou nerfs. Dans les revues scientifiques et les médias, on fait référence aux lésions attribuables au travail répétitif (LATR) et aux troubles des tissus mous. Dans ce chapitre, je me concentrerai sur les LATR puisqu'il s'agit d'un problème fréquent chez les travailleuses. Les travailleurs ont parfois beaucoup de mal à convaincre leur employeur, les médecins, leurs collègues et leur famille que leur maladie est bien réelle. Ses collègues nous ont parlé d'une femme qui travaillait depuis vingt ans dans une fabrique de gâteaux lorsqu'elle a fait une demande d'indemnisation. Elle était fière de n'avoir jamais été en retard ni absente. Cependant, les mouvements répétitifs qu'elle effectuait en emballant de petits gâteaux ont fini par lui causer des douleurs à l'épaule qui l'empêchaient de travailler. Son employeur a contesté sa demande d'indemnisation en s'appuyant sur des preuves scientifiques. Ses collègues comprenaient sa détresse : comment l'entreprise pour laquelle elle avait travaillé honnêtement pendant tant d'années pouvait-elle la traiter de menteuse ? Identifier les causes Est-il plus difficile de définir les TMS chez les travailleuses? Il est certainement plus facile de déceler une lésion lorsqu'elle résulte d'un événement bien délimité. Si un travailleur ou une travailleuse soulève une lourde charge, se blesse le dos, ressent de vives douleurs et a vraisemblablement des ligaments déchirés, la situation est plus claire que s'ils éprouvent des douleurs chroniques qui augmentent graduellement jusqu'à devenir intolérables. Compte tenu des différences entre les tâches assignées aux hommes et aux femmes, il est fort probable que le premier scénario se réalise chez les travailleurs et le deuxième, chez les travailleuses. Dans cette perspective, on comprend facilement pourquoi le tiers des lésions indemnisées chez les travailleuses se produit dans le secteur de la santé (où se retrouvent 6 % des travailleuses) : mis à part le fait que les travailleuses dans ce domaine sont syndiquées et sensibilisées aux questions de santé, c'est surtout dans ce secteur que les femmes soulèvent des poids lourds. Par conséquent, il est sans doute plus facile pour ces travailleuses d'être indemnisées. Contrairement à ce qui se passe dans le cas des maladies infectieuses, où un seul agent (un microbe) peut parfois être isolé, les mouvements et les postures à l'origine des TMS ne sont pas simples à analyser. Généralement, les facteurs de risque ayant un lien avec les LATR sont le nombre de répétitions, la durée du cycle de travail, la posture, la force déployée, les périodes de repos et les années d'exposition Ils ont constaté qu'une grande force combinée à une répétition intense est particulièrement susceptible de produire le problème au poignet connu sous le nom de syndrome du canal carpien. Dans ce cas, la répétition était un facteur beaucoup plus important que la force. On a cependant refusé d'indemniser plusieurs employées des bureaux de Page 11 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance poste du Québec qui manipulaient des milliers de kilos de courrier par jour suivant un cycle de moins de dix secondes, sous prétexte que chaque mouvement ne nécessitait pas une très grande force. Il est difficile d'isoler le rôle de la répétition, et les mouvements répétitifs sont difficiles à définir. Comme le mentionnait une représentante syndicale responsable des demandes des travailleurs qui réclament des indemnités: “ C'est quoi un geste répétitif ? Je demande à tout le monde, et même les médecins ne peuvent pas répondre. Je dis aux gens chez moi : “Vous allez voir, demandez à votre médecin, il ne voudra pas que vous fassiez des gestes répétitifs. Mais combien de fois on peut faire ce gestelà ?” Le médecin ne veut même pas répondre. Je suis dépassée par ça. ” Établir des liens de cause à effet Comparons les définitions plutôt floues de ces maladies et leurs causes probables avec des accidents reconnus sans problème. Lorsqu'un travailleur de la construction tombe du haut d'un échafaudage et se fracture la jambe, il est assez convaincu qu'il s'est blessé et que sa blessure a trait à son travail. Il est plus difficile de relier les TMS aux mouvements répétitifs : des facteurs personnels peuvent entrer en ligne de compte et les relations “ logiques ” entre les Page 12 causes et les effets ne sont pas toujours confirmées. Ainsi, les mouvements répétitifs du poignet ne sont pas toujours associés à des problèmes au poignet, les travailleurs à temps partiel n'ont pas toujours moins de problèmes que les travailleurs à temps plein, le risque de développer une lésion n'augmente pas toujours avec les années d'exposition. Il arrive souvent que des médecins affirment au tribunal qu'une lésion donnée ne peut être reliée aux conditions de travail qui sont décrites. Il semblerait logique que les personnes travaillant à temps partiel développent moins de TMS que celles qui travaillent à temps plein. Or il se peut fort bien que, tout en ayant le même titre de poste, les travailleurs à temps partiel n'effectuent pas les mêmes tâches que les travailleurs à temps plein. Par exemple, nous avons constaté que les caissières de banque éprouvent de nombreuses douleurs au dos, aux jambes et aux pieds — douleurs qu'il avait lieu d'associer au fait de rester debout pendant de longues périodes —, ainsi que des malaises au cou et à l'épaule associés à des mouvements d'extension. De plus, les employées à temps partiel signalaient le même niveau de douleur que les employées à temps plein. Nos observations nous ont permis de comprendre pourquoi : toutes proportions gardées, les caissières travaillant à temps plein passaient moins de temps au service à la clientèle. Les caissières à temps partiel étaient embauchées pour travailler pendant les périodes de pointe où il y a plus de clients. De plus, elles effectuaient moins d'opérations bancaires — l'entrée des opérations dans le compte de la banque ou le contrôle des réserves de devises par exemple — un travail qui leur aurait permis de s'asseoir. Nous n'aurions pas su comment interpréter cette apparente contradiction si nous n'avions pas observé le travail de ces femmes pendant plusieurs heures. Nous savons qu'il y a des chercheurs qui ne sont jamais entrés dans les usines qu'ils analysent et qui éprouvent des difficultés à interpréter leurs résultats. Ces facteurs complexes réunis font qu'il peut être délicat pour les épidémiologistes d'établir une relation entre les mouvements présents et les maladies présentes. Résultat: la travailleuse ou le travailleur risque de ne pas réussir à faire modifier son poste de travail ou à être indemnisé. Parmi ces facteurs, quatre sont plus typiques des emplois féminins : les femmes sont davantage susceptibles d'occuper des emplois dont la définition est générale et fourre-tout, de travailler à temps partiel et dans des postes mal adaptés à leur taille. Elles sont moins susceptibles d'obtenir des promotions qui leur permettront d'échapper au travail répétitif et, par conséquent, elles sont plus susceptibles de développer des stratégies pour continuer de travailler en prévenant la douleur. Courville et ses �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance collaborateurs ont fait un description émouvante des travailleuses de l'industrie de la volaille qui continuent de travailler malgré la douleur — ce qui est le lot de plusieurs travailleuses. Politique et science Le lien entre le travail répétitif et les lésions professionnelles est l'objet d'une controverse grandissante. Le fait que les tendinites et autres TMS puissent avoir des causes multiples a amené des chercheurs à affirmer que des facteurs personnels comme le diabète et la grossesse justifiaient l'exclusion de certains emplois. Selon certains scientifiques, les LATR n'existent pas, il s'agit d'une “ névrose ”. L'examen de plus de 750 demandes d'indemnisation pour cause de LATR en Californie révèle que les assureurs ont plus tendance à reporter ou à refuser les demandes pour ce genre de problème que pour toute autre lésion ou maladie. Les femmes qui effectuent des tâches répétitives et ennuyeuses sont plus susceptibles de souffrir de TMS que les autres travailleuses. Comment déterminer alors si les TMS sont dus à la répétition (physique), à l'ennui (psychologique) ou à une combinaison des deux facteurs ? La question peut sembler sans intérêt, puisque dans tous les cas la douleur est due au travail, mais elle a des implications au niveau pratique : il est infiniment plus difficile d'être indemnisé pour une lésion causée par l'ennui que pour une lésion ayant une cause physique. Hormones et TMS Le fait que les femmes plus âgées soient davantage susceptibles de développer des TMS n'a pas échappé à l'attention de ceux qui considèrent que la ménopause prédispose à la maladie. Lors d'une plénière au congrès de 1994 de l'Association internationale d'ergonomie, un médecin a harangué l'auditoire, affirmant qu'il avait été scientifiquement prouvé que tous les symptômes du syndrome du canal carpien chez les femmes plus âgées étaient dus à la ménopause. Durant une réunion de représentants syndicaux sur la santé et sécurité au travail, un de ceux-ci a énuméré les facteurs personnels parfois considérés comme la cause des TMS et pouvant être invoqués pour refuser d'indemniser les travailleurs et les travailleuses : l'arthrose (maladie des articulations, parfois due au travail), l'âge et la ménopause. “ Chez nous c'est l'empaquetage des boîtes électriques. Dans un cas que j'ai traité, une fille avait développé une tenosynovite [inflammation de la gaine du tendon]. On a perdu au Bureau de révision : elle n'aurait pas fait assez de mouvements répétitifs, ça ne dépendait pas de ça. Le médecin de la compagnie est venu dire qu'elle approche de la ménopause et que c'est dû à ça. Elle empaquette 25 000 boîtes par jour [un cycle de moins de deux secondes], mais il n'y a pas de mouvements répétitifs." Selon les travailleuses, la ménopause et la grossesse sont souvent invoquées comme étant les “ vraies ” causes des lésions lors des audiences sur les demandes d'indemnisation. Puisque les plus âgées sont à la ménopause et que les plus jeunes viennent souvent d'accoucher, il semble plus commode d'attribuer les TMS des femmes à des facteurs personnels plutôt qu'à des facteurs professionnels. Conclusion Lorsqu'on examine les travaux scientifiques portant sur les TMS, on comprend mieux pourquoi les autorités ont tardé à reconnaître les problèmes de santé des travailleuses et à les indemniser. Bien entendu, il n'est pas particulièrement facile pour les hommes d'être indemnisés pour des TMS et, dans les causes d'indemnisation, les témoins interprètent souvent les données scientifiques à leur avantage. Les femmes sont cependant désavantagées par la recherche et le système juridique. Cette situation est en partie attribuable à des attitudes sexistes (telles celles qui se révèlent dans les études impliquant la ménopause). Mais elle s'explique surtout par la nature des emplois traditionnellement féminins, où les dangers spectaculaires et facilement identifiables sont rares. Dans un contexte qui oppose employeur et employé, où chacun profite de la moindre faiblesse dans l'argumentation de l'autre, les Page 13 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance femmes et les emplois féminins Page 14 sont des cibles plus faciles. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Alberta Government Contradicted by New Work Absence Statistics. (Absences Due to Illness and Disability Highest in 10 Years.) New figures acquired by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) show that in 1998, work absence due to illness, injury and disability was at its highest level in a decade. This contradicts the Alberta government and WCB claim that Alberta workplaces are safer than ever. The statistics released by the AFL suggest that many Alberta workers are getting injured at work but not receiving the WCB benefits they deserve. "Workers are getting hurt more now than at any time during the past ten years. More workers are getting hurt and they are missing more days," says AFL President Audrey Cormack. "What this tells us is that WCB’s boast about record low time-loss claims needs to be viewed with suspicion," adds Cormack. "They have a credibility gap." The real reason for the discrepancy, suggests Cormack, is that government and WCB policy hasn’t improved safety in workplaces, but has instead discouraged the reporting of accidents to the WCB. "Employers now have a built in motivation to hide WCB claims. And with self-regulation, there is no one in the field making sure employers obey the law," notes Cormack. Le gouvernement de l’Alberta est contredit par les récentes statistiques sur l’absentéisme au travail. Les absences attribuables aux maladies et incapacités sont les plus élevées en dix ans. De nouvelles données acquises par l’Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) (fédération du travail de l’Alberta) indiquent qu’en 1998, l’absentéisme au travail attribuable aux maladies, accidents et incapacités était à son niveau le plus élevé depuis une décennie. Ceci vient en contradiction des dires du gouvernement albertain et de la WCB à l’effet que les lieux de travail de l’Alberta sont plus sûrs que jamais. Les statistiques émises laissent entendre que plusieurs travailleuses et travailleurs albertains sont accidentés au travail mais ne touchent pas les prestations d’indemnisation auxquelles ces personnes ont droit. « Plus de travailleuses et de travailleurs se blessent maintenant qu’auparavant depuis les dix dernières années. Plus de travailleuses et de travailleurs se blessent et sont absents plus souvent », dit Audrey Cormack, présidente de l’AFL. « Ce que ceci nous indique, c’est que les déclarations de la WCB au sujet de faibles réclamations record pour perte de temps doivent être évaluées avec suspicion, » d’ajouter Cormack. Ces gens manquent de crédibilité. La vraie raison de cet écart, a dit Cormack, c’est que la politique du gouvernement et de la WCB n’a pas amélioré la sécurité au travail, mais a plutôt découragé le signalement des accidents à la WCB. « Les employeurs sont maintenant motivés à dissimuler les réclamations auprès de la WCB. Grâce à l’autoréglementation, il n’y a personne sur le terrain pour veiller à ce que les employeurs obéissent à la loi, » déclare Cormack. Editor’s note: Good show to Audrey Cormack and the AFL!! We need to expose the media spin that the governments and WCB's are putting on accident stats these days. Note du rédacteur : Bravo à Audrey Cormack et à l’AFL!! Nous devons exposer aux médias les manèges auxquels se livrent de nos jours les gouvernements et les organismes d’indemnisation au sujet des statistiques sur les accidents. Page 15 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance WORKING WOMEN FACE UNIQUE ON-THE-JOB STRESS Women now make up almost half of America's work force, and like men, they often suffer from job-related stress. But some of the sources of a woman's stress are unique to their gender, as are some of the work-related health hazards, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Women's Association. "With women constituting nearly half (46%) of today's work force, researchers are starting to identify occupational stress and health risks that are unique to women," according to Dr. Wendy Chavkin, editor-in-chief of the journal. "Many female-dominated occupations, such as healthcare, cleaning and teaching, are fraught with hazards that are often overlooked," she said in a statement issued by the journal. Occupation stress can come from working conditions themselves, such as overload, poor interpersonal relations and physical working conditions, as well as from job-related factors like discrimination, lack of opportunity for advancement, and boredom, Swanson stated. Both men and women face many of these stressors, but working women also face unique difficulties that can cause additional stress. Women can also face unique physical stressors at work. For example, Dr. Jeanne Mager Stellman of Columbia University in New York reports that "many women experience repetitive strain injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, at a rate that far exceeds that of men." She notes that this is often due to operating assembly-line machinery, and that women in industrial jobs may face physical injury because they work with machinery or tools designed for men, who are larger. "The most effective way of reducing occupational stress is to eliminate the stressors through organizational and job redesign interventions," writes Swanson. These can include allowing workers to participate more in decision making, clarifying job responsibilities, expanding opportunities for promotion, and providing more family support programs that help both men and women cope with work-life issues, such as child care. Editor’s note: This is an except from an article that appeared Friday, May 12, 2000 on the web site of: http://dailynews.yahoo.com BOSSES TO FACE THE LAW OVER KILLER ACCIDENTS IN BRITAIN By Andrea Babbington - May 23, 2000 Bosses of businesses responsible for fatal accidents will be made easier to prosecute under new plans to be unveiled today. Home Secretary Jack Straw is to announce to the House of Commons new laws aimed at bringing more killers to account. The proposals come amid growing unease about executives from large corporations escaping charges over major accidents. Victims and relatives of those killed in the Paddington rail Page 16 crash were furious when it was revealed earlier this month that no charges would be brought. Thirty one people died when two trains collided outside the London station last October. But the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring cases to court. Under present law, prosecutions for corporate manslaughter are very unlikely to succeed unless made against one man or very small companies. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance This is because the law requires proof that a director or other executive had "controlling" responsibility and was grossly negligent. But changes making them individually responsible for public safety and liable to prosecution if their conduct fell below what could be reasonably expected may be included in the package of measures being unveiled by Mr. Straw. Union leaders yesterday called for the introduction of a law of corporate killing to crack down on "callous or ignorant" employers in charge of dangerous workplaces. Although deaths at work have plunged by 90 per cent since 1974, an average of five people are killed every week at work, the TUC reported. Editor’s note: It’s good to see that the British Labour Party is moving to hold employers more accountable. CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR EMPLOYERS RESPONSABILITÉ CRIMINELLE Alexa McDonough has introduced a private member's bill, Bill C-259, to amend the criminal code to provide for criminal liability of corporations, directors and officers where the corporation "permits or fails to take all reasonable steps to provide safe working conditions for its employees". Alexa McDonough a présenté un projet de loi d’initiative parlementaire, le projet de loi C259, afin d’amender le code criminel et de prévoir la responsabilité criminelle pour les entreprises, les dirigeants et les cadres qui « négligent de prendre toutes les dispositions raisonnables pour assurer des conditions de travail sécuritaires à leurs employés ». This private member's bill is in line with the recommendations of the Inquiry into the Westray Disaster. This is an important initiative. Every one is encouraged to contact their elected government official and express their views. POUR LES EMPLOYEURS Ce projet de loi d’initiative parlementaire concorde avec les recommandations de l'enquête sur la tragédie de la mine Westray. Il s'agit d'une initiative importante. Chacun est encouragé à communiquer avec son député pour exprimer son point de vue. Injuries Australia We have been in touch recently with Bill Weston, President of Injuries Australia, a national organization in Australia. They were formed when three organizations representing injured workers, people injured in auto accidents and survivors, came together. It was begun two years ago with the help of the Australian Plaintiffs Assoc. on the edge. There are many people suffering from poor treatment by the system in Australia and too many are committing suicide. Injuries Australia are interested in connecting with other groups. You can get in touch by sending an e-mail to Bill at mail@injuriesaustralia.com.au Among other things, they operate an injuries help line and have done a lot of counseling with people Page 17 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about  To work towards a just SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.   PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.  INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.   system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available        The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000 - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE"  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6E3 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 / Imprimé par le SCFP 87 Page 18 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Summer 2000 Description An account of the resource Articles about Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI); "When the Female Worker Becomes a Machine..."; "Women, RSI and Compensation"; "Working Women Face Unique On-the-Job Stress"; work absence report in Alberta; "Criminal Liability for Employers". Updates for Peer Support Pilot Project "People Helping People"; Youth Project. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/13a0e106a3edd44cadaf3e4a51aa8900.pdf 5e3e8f6f6c9c32b2f3086670ac23d6ae PDF Text Text CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL SALES AGREEMENT #1685422 Focus on Canada Pension Plan We are pleased to bring you our Spring 2000 Newsletter. There has been a lot happening across the country (and around the world) and we hope to give you the Highlights. The special focus of this issue is on Canada Pension Plan - Disability (CPP-D) benefits and how they fit with WCB benefits. A number of the provincial and local injured workers organizations have CPP-D as a priority issue and are working with their partner organizations to address this issue. As well, we have facts on disability, tips on running a good meeting and letters to the editor. Last but not least is a wonderful poem by an injured worker describing his feelings at one of our past conferences. We hope the information in this newsletter proves useful to you. Please read on. Our next issue of Highlights will feature Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) with a focus on women's working conditions. We love to hear from you. Please send us your experiences with RSI for the next newsletter. Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts ....................... 2 News & Happenings ............................ 3 Funding Internet Access ....................... 4 Projects & Activities .......................... 5, 6 Integration of CPP-D and WCB .............. 7 Provincial Comparisons .................... 8, 9 Provinciaux Comparaisons (Fr) ...... 10, 11 Conference in Nfld.............................. 12 Letter to the Editor ............................ 13 Tips on Running a Good Meeting ......... 14 Poem................................................. 15 CIWA Info........................................... 16 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Organization: ________________________________ Address: Date: ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: ________________________________ ________________________________ Postal Code ________________________________ Phone ________________________________ Fax ________________________________ E-Mail ________________________________ Web Site ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Donations $ __________ Total $ __________ THANKS for Your SUPPORT` Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. PROVINCIAL REPS TO THE STEERING COMMITTEE BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver COMPONET AB ... James Burke, Calgary Alberta Network of Injured Workers SK ... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society. ON... Joan Crevar, Hamilton Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l’ATTAQ NF... Patricia Dodd, Mount Pearl NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County ADVISORS… Andy King, Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL MAILING ADDRESS: CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE STREET ADDRESS P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6E3 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6R2 Phone: 807-345-3429 email: ciwa@norlink.net Fax: 807-344-8683 Web-site: www.ciwa.ca Page 2 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance 1-877-787-7010 News & Happenings Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. We sure appreciate your help !!! Upcoming Events APRIL 28, 2000. NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING Check with your local Injured Worker Group and join in the events. May 19 - 21, 2000 International Injured Workers Conference, Niagara Falls, NY Contact: IwonyMary@aol.com November 17 - 19, 2000. "Disability & Human Rights" Conference hosted by the CLC The Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Quebec WORKERS WIN ONE Florida Supreme Court puts dent in workers' comp shield employers have had since 1987. Excerpt from the Miami Daily Business Review March 17, 2000 Almost 15 years ago, the late Florida Supreme Court Justice James C. Adkins warned the states workers' compensation laws were being applied so unfairly that employers enjoyed "a license to maim and kill." This month, a new Supreme Court moved to revoke that license by allowing the widow of a Gainesville area chemical worker to take his tort lawsuit to a jury. The March 2 opinion reversed a 1st District Court of Appeal decision and receded from decades of previous ruling by Florida judges. "It is a very important decision," Miami lawyer Ramon Malca said. "It opens up the opportunity for plaintiffs to go forward in similar cases in greater numbers." Editor’s note: We are seeing more and more injured workers and family members pursuing a remedy in the courts. It may be time our legislators take note and restore some Justice to Injured Workers. NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA Workers' Compensation VIC: The Labour Government has proposed a new crime of Industrial Manslaughter, with fines for corporations of up to $5 million as well as jail terms for Directors and Senior Executives of up to 5 years. Courts will also be able to order Corporations undertake community service projects as part of the sentencing disposition. 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance INDUSTRY MINISTER INVITES URBAN LE MINISTRE DE L'INDUSTRIE INVITE LES COMMUNITIES TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS FOR PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS SITE FUNDING COLLECTIVITÉS URBAINES À PRÉSENTER DE DEMANDES DE FINANCEMENT DE CENTRES PUBLICS D'ACCÈSS À INTERNET John Manley, Minister of Industry, invites urban and rural communities across Canada interested in establishing public Internet access sites to submit proposals to the Community Access Program (CAP) on or before Wednesday, May 31, 2000. Canadian organizations - such as educational institutions, public libraries, community organizations, and municipal and territorial governments - are encouraged to submit proposals. CAP offers matching funds of up to $17,000 per site to successful applicants. The community funds can include cash as estimates of the value of ""in kind" contributions such as facilities, equipment and staffing of their public access sites. For more information, please contact: Community Access Program Industry Canada 1-800-268-6608 E-mail: comaccess@ic.gc.ca Web Site: http://cap.ic.gc.ca M. John Manley, ministre de l'Industrie du Canada, a invité aujourd'hui les collectivités urbaines et rurales du Canada souhaitant établir des centres public d'accès à Internet à présenter des demandes en ce sens au Programme d'accès communautaire (PAC) d'ici le mercredi 31, Mai 2000. Les organismes canadiens, tels que les établissements d'enseignement, les organismes communautaires, les bibliothèques publiques, les administrations municipales et territoriales, sont encouragés à présenter de propositions. Le PAC versera des fonds de contrepartie maximums de 17 000 $ par centre aux groupes dont les demandes seront retenues. La part de la collectivité peut comprendre de l'argent comptant ou des contributions no financières telles que des installations, du matériel et du personnel. Renseignements: Programme d'accès communautaire Industrie Canada 1 800 268 6608 Courriel: comacces@ic.gc.ca Site Web: http://pac.ic.gc.ca CORRECTION In our last issue, an error was discovered in the PROVINCIAL WORKERS' COMPENSATION BENEFITS - PRESENT COMPARISONS (Chart) / PRESTATIONS D'INDEMNISATION DES TRAVAILEUSE ET DES TRAVAILLEURS PROVINCIAUX - COMPARIAISONS ACTUELLES THE BASE RATE / TAUX DE BASE FOR QUEBEC SHOULD READ 90% AND NOT 95%. PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR THIS ERROR. Page 4 The "How To" Guide for setting up Peer Support Groups is now here! "People Helping People" Order yours today. Call Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Projects INJURED WORKERS COMING TOGETHER IN NEW BRUNSWICK LES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL S’UNISSENT AU NOUVEAUBRUNSWICK The New Brunswick Federation of Labour gave injured workers in the province of New Brunswick a much-needed boost in March. On March 19, injured workers and family members from the Fredericton area, met to discuss the problems they are having with workers' compensation. After the meeting, they formed a Steering Committee to plan their future. There is a distinct possibility that they will start a new injured workers' group because of this meeting. La Fédération du travail du Nouveau-Brunswick a donné en mars un bon coup de pouce aux victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail de la province. Le 19 mars, des victimes du travail et des membres de leurs familles de la région de Fredericton se sont rencontrés pour discuter de leurs problèmes touchant l’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses. À la suite de cette rencontre, ces personnes ont mis sur pied un comité d’organisation pour planifier leur avenir. Il est possible que ces gens fondent un nouveau groupe de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail à la suite de cette rencontre. For the following two days, March 20 and 21, the Federation of Labour held a seminar on injured worker's issues. Union leaders from around the province gathered to hear presentations on the "Plight of the Injured Worker", "Deeming" and "Where do we go from here?" The seminar is a direct result of the Resolutions passed at the CLC convention held in Toronto last year. It is safe to say that organized labour in the province has a better picture of what it is like to be on compensation. It is not as easy as some workers think! Wednesday, March 22, the Union Centre in Moncton graciously allowed us to use a meeting room. We had a meeting that evening similar to the one we had in Fredericton. This time, twenty-three people were present. Again, they formed a Steering Committee with plans to have a follow-up meeting. The CBC Radio, the local radio stations and newspapers were all interested in our story. We did receive good press coverage. Injured workers are on the move in New Brunswick! We are Coming Together! Editor’s note: Our visit to N.B. was part of our current project, "Coming Together". One project goal is to help start more provincial injured workers organizations. Au cours des deux jours suivants, soit les 20 et 21 mars, la Fédération du travail a tenu un colloque sur les problèmes touchant les victimes du travail. Des dirigeantes et dirigeants syndicaux de toute la province se sont réunis pour entendre des présentations sur le sort des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail, sur leur système d’évaluation et sur leur avenir. Ce colloque découle directement des résolutions adoptées au congrès du CTC tenu à Toronto l’année dernière. On peut dire que le mouvement syndical de cette province a une meilleure idée de ce que c’est que d’être prestataire de la CAT. Ce n’est pas aussi facile que certains travailleurs et travailleuses croient. Le mercredi 22 mars, le Union Centre à Moncton nous a autorisés à utiliser gracieusement une salle de réunions. Nous avons organisé ce soir-là une rencontre semblable à celle que nous avions tenue à Fredericton. À cette occasion, 23 personnes y ont participé. Là encore, elles ont mis sur pied un comité d’organisation pour donner suite à cette rencontre. Radio-Canada, les stations de radio locales et les journaux se sont tous montrés intéressés par notre situation. Nous avons reçu une bonne couverture médiatique. Les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail passent à l’action au Nouveau-Brunswick. Nous nous unissons! Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance REPORT FROM THE CLC WINTER SCHOOL On behalf of Ken Kawchuk and myself we thank CIWA for the sponsorship to attend the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Winter School Training Classes. The weeklong course was held in Port Elgin, Ontario, from February 13 to 18, 2000. We both were enrolled in the Leadership Training Course. It is not often enough that Injured Workers get sponsorship for anything. We must take advantage of these opportunities. It was great to see my brother Ken once again. We met a couple of years ago at a CIWA Speaker’s Bureau Workshop in Orillia. We didn’t room together this time but we spent a lot of time together outside the classroom. If you are ever in Port Elgin stop by and visit Ralphies - Live Bait Shop, it was a favorite of Ken’s. Ken sure likes that live bait. Anyway, the CLC instructors were great. I always enjoy listening to the instructor’s insight on the issues and topics of the courses. The course content is always good but the instructors sure can add to the classroom setting. There is something about Port Elgin that is conducive to learning. Sure they feed you well, but there is something else. Actually, there are a number of things that inspire you to seek knowledge and share conservation with everyone while you are there. I am much more confident in myself as I gain knowledge and I am better able to pass it on others. I was also very impressed with Ken. Ken is very active with the Thunder Bay Injured Workers Group, in particular with the peer-helping project. We talked a lot about the project and the progress being made in reaching out and assisting our injured brothers and sisters. Ken Kawchuk is an inspiration to all and an example that Injured Workers have a great deal to offer if given a chance. Great work my brother, and keep your head held high and who knows maybe a Ralphies will open up in Thunder Bay. Again thanks to CIWA. Mike Lawson, Windsor Injured Workers Editor’s note: The CLC provided us with scholarships so four injured worker activists could attend a weeklong course at the CLC Winter Schools. Our thanks go out to the CLC and Hassan Yussuff, Exec. Vice-President, for their support. FACTS ABOUT DISABILITY IN CANADA       In 1997, direct payroll costs for disability in Canada - including workers' compensation and short and long-term disability - were $11 billion. In B.C. alone, direct and indirect costs of workers with disabilities being displaced from the workplace total $3.6 billion a year. This translates to about nine cents of every dollar earned, representing an annual cost of about $2,500 per working person in B.C. If left unchecked, it's estimated that direct and indirect costs of disability in Canada could rise to $30.5 billion by the year 2006. Studies reveal that employers pay 35 percent of the total direct and indirect costs of disability, while workers and their families shoulder 27 percent of the total. The financial loss to workers is profound. For example, for a worker who is disabled at age 35, previously earning $50,000 per year and forced to go on social assistance, the loss-of-earnings to Page 6      retirement age is estimated at $799,000. Last year, persons with disabilities represented a 2.3 percent participation rate in Canada's labour force, a further decline from an already low 2.7 percent the year before. In a 1999 study of one of the nation's primary industries, the direct cost of disability to employers in the pulp and paper industry was more than $2,000 per employee. That figure translates directly to the bottom line adding between $4.50 to $7.25 per tonne in disability-related costs to pulp and paper products. Studies show that without intervention, there is only a 50 percent chance of a person with a disability returning to the job after a six-month absence, declining to 20 percent after a year and to just 10 percent after a two-year absence. At any given time, depending on the occupation involved, 8 - 12 percent of the work force in Canada is off the job due to injury and is receiving either worker's compensation, long-term disability or weekly indemnity. Billions of dollars are lost �each year in benefit payments and lost Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance productivity. INTEGRATION OF CANADA PENSION PLAN AND WORKERS COMPENSATION BENEFITS There has been both confusion and controversy about the overlap of the two main disability programs for injured and disabled workers in much of Canada. Both the Workers Compensation Boards (WCB) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) provide benefits to workers who become disabled. There are similarities in both programs but there are many differences as well. Many workers have struggled to understand how these two systems work in conjunction with each other. province has responded to these pressures in different ways. The Alberta WCB has declared that they are the first payor and do not deduct CPP from a worker’s WCB benefits. B.C. and the Yukon likewise don’t deduct CPP (with some exceptions.) As we move across the country, we see that some provinces like Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia subtract 50% of CPP benefits while Newfoundland deducts 75% of net CPP benefits. It becomes even more complex as we look at the CPP child benefit. process were the worker is deemed to be able to do a certain job and that deemed wage is subtracted from the disabled workers pension. She/he also qualifies for CPPDisability benefits and is determined to be unable to work. The WCB then reduces the workers pension further by the amount received from CPP. She/he is deemed to both be able to work – benefits reduced – and deemed to be unable to work – benefits reduced a second time. Is this the opposite of double dipping? As the pro business/global As governments continue to trade agenda has swept shift the costs of workplace North America, both injury and disease from In the big picture, WCB premiums have systems have come under employers and the Workers been going down while CPP premiums attack as ―expensive social Compensation systems to are going up and fewer injured workers programs.‖ This has other social programs and are receiving long term benefits from resulted in pressure to to the individual disabled WCB. reduce costs to business workers, we wonder about and the shifting of these the founding principles of costs on to others. There has been a Some provinces see that this has Workers Compensation. It seems significant shift of costs from the nothing to do with WCB and allow the ―Historic Compromise‖ is being WCB to CPP and to the disabled the family to keep these benefits. broken. This is leading more worker and their family. Others like Ontario and Manitoba workers to pursue legal action in the want to extract every dollar possible courts. Is this the type of system In the big picture, WCB premiums from any source and deduct dollar Canadians want? We think not. have been going down while CPP for dollar from the WCB benefits What ever happened to Justice premiums are going up and fewer paid. Speedily Delivered? injured workers are receiving long term benefits from WCB. In Ontario it has reached the level of ridiculous. Permanently injured Workers Compensation is a workers who are unemployed are provincial program and each subject to ―deeming.‖ This is the The charts on the following pages deal with CPP-D and how they are integrated with WCB benefits. The information in the charts was gathered as part of an interactive workshop that CIWA/ACVAMT hosted in St. John's, Newfoundland on March 6, 2000. Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PROVINCIAL CPP - PRESENT COMPARISONS NF NS PEI NB 1. Is WCB offset by CPP (RRQ in Québec) Yes, by 75% of Yes, by Yes Yes {WCA net 50% Sec.38.10(1)}, 1 2. Exceptions Yes, children’s portion not clawed back; prior to 1984, no clawbacks No None that we know of Yes: a). CPP child benefit; b). CPP benefits received for a personal medical condition NOT related to the work injury. 3. WCB’s source of authority (re: CPP/RRQ) Prov. Gov. IW’s A policy was Legislation and legislation. give the enacted policy {WCA WCB and right to called 38.10(1) and employers the collateral Policy #21-230} lobbied to WCB benefits; 2 reduce employer’s premiums. 4. Does WCB compensate for decrease in CPP (RRQ)? Only if the Yes Not sure Yes {WCA 38.21injured worker Guaranteed can prove loss Supplement)} 3 of pension at 65 years old QC ON SK AB BC No, it’s the RRQ that won’t give benefits if full comp by WCB Yes Yes, by 50 % No No Yes, when reduced comp is received from (WCB)— CSST—IW can receive RRQ Yes, before 1990. Not dollar for dollar. Yes, child benefits are not N/A Yes, part reduction for widows N/A The Act and Board Policy Legislat ion Themselves (WCB) Workers’ Comp No Yes, 10% of WCB benefits placed into annuity for age 65 No No Yes Yes Yes N/A No Yes Yes N/A Yes, Yes-- Yes, Yes, No 5. Does WCB insist that injured workers apply for CPP (RRQ) benefits? 4 No, but they No Yes No continue to send letters to recommend it 6. If lump sum from CPP (RRQ) is received, must IW pay back WCB? 5 Yes Yes Yes. However, IW No, but the only pays back opposite will proportion related be done to workplace directly by the injury.6 WCB 7. Ceiling on WCB benefits? If so, what? Yes, $39,300 Yes Yes, Yes, in 1999 it was Yes, 50,500$ 1 2 3 NB PEI NB 4 NB NF 6 NB 5 Page 8 deducted legislation WHSCC will reduce benefits by same proportion that IW receives from CPP with respect to the workplace injury. Also an exchange of information policy was put into place giving both WCB and CPP and other government agencies the right to exchange this information. Whether this is legal depends on this policy being taken to court. IW’s receiving loss of earnings benefits who suffer a reduction in their CPP retirement benefits at age 65, because of time spent on compensation, are covered by a 5% Guaranteed supplement. An actual loss of CPP retirement benefits, because of time spent on compensation, must be demonstrated (Policy 21-240). No, but WHSCC insists you keep them informed of any changes in your income, including CPP benefits. Yes, in full, or over 3 years – if IW can prove hardship, WCB will consider a longer repayment If an overpayment situation is established, WHSCC will correct the situation by either withholding or reducing benefits. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS PEI $36,200 NB $44,600; in 2000 it is $45,100 8. Who pays tax on retro CPP (RRQ) benefits paid to WCB? Yes. Injured Worker, ProIf retro CPP However, IW but Revenue rated benefits are paid only pays Canada will back 2 back in lump sum back adjust the tax years to the WHSCC, proportion 7 return to reflect related to the retro period workplace QC in 1999 ON $59,200 SK $48,000 AB $48,500 BC $57,000 N/A Injured Worker Injured Worker Injured Worker N/A 12 13 14 19 20 21 injury. 9. What excuses are given to support integration of CPP (RRQ) and WCB benefits? 8 9 10 11 Legislation 10. What do you think of integrating CPP (RRQ) and WCB? 15 16 17 18 Not sure 7 NB 8 NF NB 10 QC 11 ON 12 SK 13 AB 14 BC 15 NF 9 16 NB 17 QC ON 18 19 SK AB 21 BC 20 WHSCC will reimburse the IW an amount which, in the opinion of the Commission, is equivalent to the income tax paid by the worker on the retro CPP benefits paid to the Commission (Policy 21-235). If paid back in installments, the IW must take responsibility for the income tax. Incentive to go back to work; employer funded as well so claw-back is justified. Injured Worker should not earn/receive more than what they were when they were working Arguments from RRQ: no double compensation, no stacking, over compensation Stacking, over-compensation is disincentive to return to work Stacking/earning an income Can’t take more money than you earned as a worker Injured Workers should not receive more $ from compensation than from wages CPP paid by employee & employer. Should be provided to the IW to compensate for loss of holiday pay, pension, raises, not being able to return to work only to list a few. Meredith’s ―Historic Compromise‖ stated employers pay seeing as they are protected from lawsuits. The burden was not to fall on the injured worker, their family or society overall. CPP and WCB should not be integrated! Two different systems; different contribution structure The fact they have already lost all their other benefits, pensions, and wages, etc. Plus, CPP is a separate plan. All costs of injuries should be paid by employers. It’s 2 different entities Should not be touched—separate entities. WCB: employer pays to insure employees. CPP: worker pays. Separate plans—injured worker supported (CPP) vs. employer funded (WCB). CPP evens out the incidental losses not covered by WCB. Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance RRQ/CPP PROVINCIAUX - COMPARAISONS ACTUELLES Terre-Neuve N.-É. Î.-P.-É. NouveauBrunswick Québec 1. WCB/CSST compensée par RPC (RRQ au Québec) 22 23 Oui, 75 % Oui, 50 % Oui du montant net 2. Exceptions 24 26 Non Aucune à Oui : notre a) connaisprestation sance RPC pour enfants; Ontario Saskatche wan Alberta Oui Oui, 50 % Non Non Non, avant 1990, lésions, non $ pour $ Oui, les prestations pour enfants ne sont pas déduites S.O. Oui, réduction partielle pour les veuves; %/année Intervenant-e-s (WCB) Loi sur l’indemnisa tion des travailleurs et travailleuses 25 3. Source d’autorité de WCB/CSST (a.s.d. RPC/RRQ) 27 28 Les Législation Législation victimes et politique du travail {LAT don-nent 38.10(1) et le droit à politique n° la WCB. 21-230} Législation et politique de la Commission C.-B. 4. La WCB/CSST compense-t-elle pour la réduction du RPC/RRQ? 29 30 31 Oui Incertain Non Non Non Non 5. La WCB/CSST insiste-t-elle pour qu’on demande les prestations du RPC/RRQ? 32 33 Non Oui Non Oui Oui Oui S.O. 6. Si la victimes du travail touche un montant forfaitaire du RPC/RRQ, doit-elle rembourser la WCB/CSST? 34 35 Oui Oui Non, mais Non Oui Oui S.O. le contraire sera fait directement par la 22 NB Oui {LAT, Art. 38.10(1)}, la CSSIAT réduira les prestations dans la même proportion que la victime du travail reçoit du RPC en ce qui concerne la lésion professionnelle 23 QC Non. Le RRQ ne donne pas de prestation s’il y a pleine indemnisation par la CSST. 24 TN Oui, la partie pour les enfants n’est pas récupérée; avant 1984, aucune récupération 25 NB b) Prestations RPC reçues pour condition médicale personnelle SANS LIEN avec la lésion professionnelle. 26 QC Oui, quand une indem-nisation réduite est fournie par la CSST, la victime peut recevoir le RRQ. 27 TN Législation provinciale; pression exercée sur la WCB et sur les employeurs pour réduire les cotisations des employeurs. 28 I.P.É Une politique a été promulguée : prestations accessoires; on a égale-ment promulgué une politique d’échange d’information, accordant à la WCB, au RPC et à d’autres organismes gouvernemen taux le droit d’échanger cette information. On saura si cette politique est légale si elle est contestée devant les tribunaux. 29 TN Seulement si la victime du travail peut démontrer la perte de la pension à 65 ans 30 TN Oui {LAT 38.21-Supplément garanti} Les victimes du travail qui touchent des prestations pour perte de revenu et qui subissent une réduction de leurs prestations du RPC à 65 ans à cause de l’indemnisation sont couvertes par un supplément garanti de 5 %; il faut démontrer la perte réelle de prestations du RPC par suite de l’indemnisation (politique n° 21240). 31 SK Oui, 10 % des prestations WCB déposés dans une rente jusqu’à l’âge de 65 ans 32 TN Non, mais on continue d’envoyer des lettres pour recommander cela. 33 NB Non, mais la CSSIAT insiste pour qu’on la renseigne sur tout changement dans votre revenu, y compris les prestations du RPC. 34 TN Oui, au complet ou sur 3 ans; si la victime peut démontrer des difficultés, la WCB prendra en considération un remboursement prolongé. 35 NB Oui, cependant la victime ne rembourse que la proportion reliée à la lésion professionnelle. Si on démontre qu’il y a eu versement en trop, la CSSIAT corrigera la situation en retenant ou en réduisant les prestations. Page 10 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Terre-Neuve N.-É. Î.-P.-É. NouveauBrunswick Québec Ontario Saskatche wan Alberta C.-B. CSST. 7. Y a-t-il un plafond pour les prestations WCB/CSST; si oui, de combien? Oui, Oui Oui, Oui ; en Oui, Oui, Oui, Oui, 39 300 $ 36 200 $ 1999 : 50 500 $ en 59 200 $ 48 000 $ 48 500 $ 44 600 $; 1999 en 2000 : 45 100 $ 8. Qui paie l’impôt sur les prestations rétroactives du RPC/RRQ versées à la WCB/CSST? 36 37 RéparLa victime S.O. Victime du Victime Victime du tition sur du travail travail du travail travail les 2 doit les années réclamer. précédentes 9. Quelles excuses donne-t-on pour justifier l’intégration des prestations du RPC/RRQ et de la WCB/ CSST? Motivation à Législation La victime Arguments Le cumul Cumul et On ne peut retourner au du travail du RRQ : des indemgagner un pas toucher travail; ne doit pas aucune nités est une revenu. plus l’employeur toucher indemnisa- démotid’argent est plus que ce tion double, vation pour que ce également qu’elle aucun retour-ner au qu’on a financé, de recevait cumul des travail. gagné au sorte que la quand elle indem-nités travail. récupétravaillait. ration est justifiée. 10. Que pensez-vous de l’intégration du RPC/RRQ et de la WCB/CSST? 38 39 40 Incertain Deux Il s’agit de 41 systèmes deux distincts; entités une distinctes. structure de cotisation distincte 36 Oui, 57 000 $ S.O. Les victimes du travail ne doivent pas toucher plus d’argent de l’indemnisation que du salaire. 42 La victime du travail, mais Revenu Canada ajuste la déclaration d’impôt pour tenir compte de la période de rétroactivité. Si les prestations rétroactives du RPC sont remboursées en montant forfaitaire à la CSSIAT, la CSSIAT rembourse la victime du travail une somme qui, selon la Commission, correspond à l’impôt payé par la personne sur les prestations du RPC versées à la Commission (politique n° 21-235). Si le remboursement se fait par versements, la victime du travail assume la responsabilité de l’impôt. 38 TN Le RPC est payé par les employés et par l’employeur. Il doit être versé à la victime du travail pour compenser la perte de congés payés, de la rente de retraite, des hausses de salaire et pour ne pas pouvoir retourner au travail, pour ne nommer que ces raisons. 39 NB Dans « Historic Compromise » de Meredith, il est dit que les employeurs paient puisqu’ils sont protégés contre les poursuites judiciaires. Le fardeau ne doit pas reposer ni sur la victime du travail ni sur sa famille ni sur la société dans son ensemble. Le RPC et la CAT ne doivent pas être intégrés! 40 ON Le fait que ces personnes ont déjà perdu toutes les autres prestations, rentes de retraite, salaires, etc. Le RPC est un régime distinct. Tous les frais reliés aux lésions doivent être payés par les employeurs. 41 AB Il ne faut pas toucher à cela.— Ce sont des entités distinctes. WCB : l’employeur paie pour assurer les employés. RPC : les employés paient. 42 C.B. Ce sont des régimes distincts : le RPC qui est financé par la victime du travail par rapport à la WCB qui est financée par les employeurs. Le RPC compense les pertes fortuites non couvertes par la WCB. 37 TN NB Page 11 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance FEDERATION OF LABOUR HOSTS CONFERENCE IN NEWFOUNDLAND LA FEDERATION OF LABOUR ORGANISE UN COLLOQUE A TERRE-NEUVE The Newfoundland & Labrador Federation of Labour hosted a conference in St. John's, NF on March 10-12. The agenda was prepared around Occupational Health & Safety and Workers' Compensation as a training session within the labour movement. The Newfoundland & Labrador Injured Workers Association (NLIWA) was incorporated in 1993 as a non-profit peer group to provide peer support and information to enable injured workers to help themselves. La Newfoundland & Labrador Federation of Labour a organisé un colloque à St. John's du 10 au 12 mars. Le programme prévoyait une session de formation à l’intérieur du mouvement ouvrier sur la santé-sécurité au travail et sur l’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses. La Newfoundland & Labrador Injured Workers Association (NLIWA) a été incorporée en 1993 en tant que groupe affinitaire sans but lucratif afin de fournir de l’entraide et de l’information permettant aux victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail de s’aider elles-mêmes. At that time, the impression was that Labour was not a necessary link that injured workers needed. Varied opinions steered the group that injured workers had to face it alone. Our group quite quickly recognized our mandate had to expand & include major lobbying of government. À cette époque, on avait l’impression que le mouvement syndical ne constituait pas un lien nécessaire pour les victimes du travail. Plusieurs étaient d’avis que les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail devaient se débrouiller par ellesmêmes. Notre groupe a vite compris que notre mandat devait s’élargir pour inclure des pressions politiques majeures sur le gouvernement. As of our last executive election in November, 1999, we decided it was time to refocus! At that time we approached Labour and we realized the goal was the same … ensure the rights of injured workers. Depuis notre dernière élection du conseil d’administration, en novembre 1999, nous avons décidé qu’il fallait repenser notre action. Nous avons alors abordé les syndicats pour constater que le but était le même, soit protéger les droits des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. The invitation to attend the conference on behalf of the NLIWA enabled us to see first hand the interest from the Labour in attendance. The welcome was overwhelming! L’invitation de participer au colloque au nom de la NLIWA nous a permis de constater directement l’intérêt des syndicats. L’accueil fut extraordinaire! During the conference, we realized there were many opportunities to provide ongoing information through our shared concerns and experiences. We had many hands & hearts extended to continue contact with the individuals there for needed changes. There were many expressions of interest to attend our monthly meetings, where injured workers come together, to support our efforts. This has been one of the most positive experiences of our groups' existence and the people we met and information shared brought new life to the importance of working with Labour. We are committed to the injured workers of Newfoundland & Labrador and will continue to build this bridge with Labour and it is an experience we now look forward to. Page 12 Au cours de ce colloque, nous avons compris qu’il y avait beaucoup d’occasions de fournir de l’information continue par le biais de nos préoccupations et expériences partagées. Il y avait beaucoup de bras et de cœurs ouverts prêts à maintenir le contact avec les personnes qui étaient là pour opérer les changements qui s’imposent. On a manifesté beaucoup d’intérêt pour participer à nos rencontres mensuelles où des victimes du travail se réunissent pour appuyer nos efforts. Cette expérience fut parmi les plus positives de toute l’existence de notre groupe; les gens que nous avons rencontrés et l’information qui a été partagée ont donné un nouveau sens à l’importance de collaborer avec les syndicats. Nous nous sommes engagés envers les victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador, et nous continuerons de bâtir ce pont avec les syndicats. C’est une expérience à laquelle nous aspirons. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Letters to the Editor (from our Web Site) WCB cuts 1999 employer premiums rates 20 percent. Winnipeg - For the "third" year in a row, Manitoba employers will pay less for their WCB coverage. CEO Pat Jacobsen said "For 1999, the premium cut will result in cost savings for Manitoba will be ($28) million. (WCB of Manitoba news release.) Dear Editor, I’m responding to the above press release. Don't need a PhD to figure out where all the savings come from? All these CEO's and people in senior positions at the WCB, the Review Board and Appeal Commission are mostly ex-company people, put in their positions to serve the best interests of the Corporations and Businesses who pay WCB premiums. The company that I worked for in Manitoba have been abusing and lying to the WCB of Manitoba for decades, they threatened and abused hundreds of Injured Workers not to report injuries that happened on the job or to claim WCB benefits. My wife is a Filipino and I spent almost three years living in the Philippines, not lying on sunny beaches but travelling around and watching. Canadian Mining Companies (Placer Dome) destroyed enormous areas of land and rivers with deadly chemical spills. It was documented in the Canadian press, then forgotten and covered up. It’s easy to bribe government officials in Third World countries. Many other Canadian and foreign companies operate in the Philippines, the clean, friendly image they like to project is all PR and pure rubbish. Big companies in Canada, especially in the mining industry, commit enormous environmental and safety abuses of their workers. These companies are so powerful and influential and have so many pals and cronies in the Government and Media that their acts of destruction and abuse go on year in year out without any real action being taken against them. Token fines are handed out to abusers to appease unions and media people, the WCB Act is abused and broken on a regular basis. WCB boards across the country are stacked like the senate with Corporation and Company cronies and lap dogs. Workers in general are intimidated and threatened not to report work place injuries or claim WCB benefits. Most workers are afraid to lose their jobs and will do as they are told. In the Global Casino, workers are used and abused and dumped when the profits don’t meet the expectations of the Corporate Elites. The federal government, as corrupt and rotten as the one before them, line their own pockets and reduce and scrap all systems and programs that made Canada the greatest country in the world. We now have a four year dictatorship, scraps are thrown to the people in the form of tax cuts at election time and the game goes on once more. Sorry to ramble on! It’s the nature of the beast! Yours Truly Raymond George Hughes Editor’s note: We received a series of correspondence from Raymond Hughes. His experience certainly gives one pause to reflect on the connections and struggles workers face at home and abroad. Page 13 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance HOW TO RUN A GOOD MEETING  Here are some tips on how to run a meeting:  Don't compete with group members. Give their ideas precedence over yours.  Listen to everyone. Paraphrase, but don't judge.  Don't put anyone on the defensive. Assume that everyone's ideas have value.  Control the dominant people without alienating them.  Realize that your interest and alertness are contagious.   Keep all participants informed about where they are and what's expected of them. Keep notes on flip charts or a board that everyone can see. Check with the person who owns the problem to find out if an idea is worth pursuing or if a proposed solution is satisfactory. Give others a turn at running the meeting. Those who learn to lead, learn how to participate. USE YOUR BRAIN TO CUT STRESS Relieve stress by understanding which brain hemisphere is stressed. or organizing. The emotional right brain will calm down. If you feel depressed or emotionally overwrought, your stress is in the right hemisphere - the creative, emotional, holistic side. If you feel time-stressed and overburdened, the left hemisphere is involved. Switch to your right brain by singing or playing a sport. What to do: Switch to your matter-of-fact left hemisphere by doing math, writing factual prose Page 14 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance A POEM WRITTEN BY FRANCISCO BRAVO, AN INJURED WORKER AT OUR CONFERENCE IN 1992 Different accents and injuries have met. In the hard nest of reality, In the struggle for recognition… Some with a funny way of walking. Others have been guided by the immaculate white of a metal cane. Because, in a work place their vision has died. In Silence Few are moaning, because their pain is alive. Many tears, women and men have let go Because of a dictatorial system not there to care. Yes, indifferent to "human legitimacy". And they were created to Help!!! Huge hotel rooms, "Our convention" Filled with love, understanding and care Not forgetting compassion. "Relations with Labour", "Politics and funding", "Immigrants", "First Generation Canadians", "The Voice of the Marginalized", "Rehabilitation" But in the place, Human beings limping their way to meetings … So many condemned for life, to the silence of a cold wheelchair. Missing some innocent game that a little one in their lives wanted to play … Difference arms or hands that someone has to welcome with, because of some advanced machinery A dirty trick has been played in their lives. How about the brother or sister that can not even breathe because of some toxin in the air, We were the ones to build up their offices, Also their homes … World of Progress! World of love … Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, Mechanics, Nurses, Life-guards, Labourers Yes, the list is long … But Remember "It is in your mind" … "You are born that way" … Painkillers, muscles relaxers, inhalers Only God knows what else … Our true bread With deep sadness I can say Many, many injured workers have ended their lives Because the Law in this system Has its door closed … They were brothers and sisters As we all here are Just workers as you and I … Injured workers of Canada Its time to join hands, Yes, join what's left of our strength. Let's change our pain and frustration Into a very strong voice, Voice to yield loud, "The truth one more time has been raped!" …It is time for changes! Others looking healthier because their injury is hidden deep. We are not the black sheep of society! We are human beings that not long ago Part of society we have built... With sadness and frustration I have seen, How, some so called counselor, behind their fancy oak desk, with authority have said: "Come on its all in your head" and remember we are also workers … Let's Keep Together, that With our love and understanding With our hands as one A New System we can create Yes, a better road For the new worker to come … Many, many times Page 15 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Our Goals CIWA/ACVAMT Is about  To work towards a just SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada.  INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers Groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers.   PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels.  INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives.   system of compensation, rehabilitation and reemployment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. Publications Available        The VOICE OF INJURED WORKER PLAIN TALK HOW TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN INJURED WORKERS & ORGANIZED LABOUR REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH LABOUR SESSION AT CIWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, REGINA 1992 RETURNING TO WORK VOC REHAB & RE-EMPLOYMENT FROM THE INJURED WORKER'S PERSPECTIVE INJURED WORKERS … ON THE MOVE VIDEOS & WORKBOOKS  SURVIVORS, 1997  TOGETHER WE CAN WIN, 1997  PEER HELPER TRAINING MANUAL, 2000  LE COMBAT QUOTIDIEN DES VICTIMES DU TRAVAIL, 1999 To find out more, please contact us at: CIWA/ACVAMT P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6E3 Ph: 807-345-3429 Fx: 807-344-8683 Toll Free: 1-877-787-7010 Connect with an injured workers group near you. Check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on "Who to Contact"  OR  Call our office at (807) 345-3429 or Toll Free at 1-877-787-7010 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 Page 16 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Spring 2000 Description An account of the resource Articles about Canada Pension Plan - Disability (CPP-D) benefits; Worker's Compensation news; Integration of Canada Pension Plan and Workers Compensation Benefits; Provincial CPP. Internet Access proposals; Injured Workers coming together in New Brunswick; report from the CLC Winter School; facts about disability in Canada"; Federation of Labour Conference in Newfoundland. Letter to the Editor- WCB cuts; tips to cut stress and how to run a good meeting. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/4697c112927f216d9c8a91d43ef74b5c.pdf 32418e8a411d41b92bcc64819f1f6430 PDF Text Text Focus on Benefits We have seen major changes in Workers Compensation benefits over the last ten years. Most of the provinces have "reformed" their WC Acts which has led to reduced benefits for work related injuries and diseases. Most have moved to a projected wage loss plan to compensate for permanent disability. This has led to severe reductions in the number of injured workers receiving long term benefits. For example, in Ontario there has been an 85% decrease since 1990 when projected wage loss came into force. In response to these changes, the CIWA/ACVAMT Steering Committee held an interactive workshop in Alberta focusing on WC Benefits in October of '99. We were joined by local injured workers and labour reps. in our attempt to better understand the impact of these changes. This issue of HIGHLIGHTS captures much of what we found. As well, we have our regular features including info on our projects and activities, letters from injured workers and news from south of the border. Read on. The Steering Committee meets twice each year and plans to hold similar workshops at each of it's meetings on various issues of importance to injured and disabled workers. We welcome your participation when we are in your neighborhood. If interested, give us a call at the CIWA/ACVAMT OFFICE at 807-345-3429 or EMAIL us at ciwa@norlink.net Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts Visit our Web-site at http://www.ciwa.ca ................. 2 News & Happenings ......................... 3 Projects & Activities ......................... 4 The History Of WC (Fr/Eng) ........... 5 Principles of WC (Fr/Eng) .......... 6 - 9 Provincial Benefit Comparisons 10 - 11 Violations of WC Principles ............ 12 Improving the System ..................... 13 Letter to the Editor .......................... 14 News from South of the Border ...... 15 CIWA Info ........................................ 16 Page 1 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ………… S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Organization: ________________________________ Address: Date: ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: ________________________________ ________________________________ Postal Code ________________________________ Phone ________________________________ Fax ________________________________ E-Mail ________________________________ Web Site ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Donations $ __________ Total $ ____________ Thanks for Your SUPPORT` Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6E3 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6R2 Phone: 807-345-3429 email: ciwa@norlink.net Fax: 807-344-8683 CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE Web-site: www.ciwa.ca Provincial Reps to the Steering Committee BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver AB ... James Burke, Calgary Calgary Injured Workers Assoc. SK... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society - Sask. MB... Wayne Desiatnyk, Winnipeg Injured Workers Assoc. of Manitoba ON... Joan Crevar, Hamilton Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l’ATTAQ Page 2 NF... Ron Jesso, Cornerbrook NLIWA Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County ADVISORS… Andy King, Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, Injured Workers Consultants �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance News & Happenings Thanks to the Social Development Partnership Program of HRDC for the funding necessary to produce this newsletter. Workers Compensation The Manitoba government has passed a law making Board of Manitoba certain Manitoba Workers We sure appreciate your help !!! Special Notice Upcoming Events February 2000 International RSI Awareness Day Feb. 29/2000 www.ctdrn.org/rsiday March 5,2000 CIWA/ACVAMT Interactive Workshop on CPP Disability Benefits Holiday Inn, St. John, Newfoundland May 19 - 21, 2000 Compensation Board (WCB) widows & widowers eligible for a one-time cash payment. If you received Manitoba WCB survivor benefits in the past and those benefits ended because you remarried or entered a common-law relationship - you may be entitled to a special $83,000 payment. To Former Manitoba WCB Widows and Widowers For the Special Payment information package and application form, contact the Manitoba WCB by telephone at (204) 954-4321 within WCB Canda toll-free 1-800Workers Compensation 362-3340 or e-mail Board of Manitoba claims@wcb.mb.ca International Injured Workers Conference, Niagara Falls, NY Contact: IwonyMary@aol.com CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE Scholarships are available for persons with disabilities attending university. L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL Phone us at the CIWA/ACVAMT office for more information at 807-345-3429 Page 3 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Projects For more information on any of our projects, give us a call at: 807-345-3429 Look for the "How To" Guide to setting up Peer Support Groups in your community. Coming in early 2000. "COMING TOGETHER" PROJECT There is increasing pressure to reduce the costs of Workers Compensation across Canada. Injured and Disabled Workers are often not included in the planning for reforms and have often faced reduced benefits and services as a result. By having strong provincial groups, injured workers across the country will have a larger role to play in future reforms. A NEW LOOK We are still experimenting and looking for suggestions for new looks for our newsletter. A new name? Any suggestions? ATTENTION: PROVINCIAL INJURED WORKERS GROUPS Is your Provincial Injured Worker Group interested in developing a web site? Need some help? Two injured workers in B.C. have offered to provide that help – free of charge. Contact: Craig McLachlan boardwarden@componet.com Or Dann Buss - busstop@busstop.net Page 4 The vision of Coming Together is to share our experiences regarding the creation of provincial organizations. We will share information regarding our past successes and failures at organizing at the provincial level. We will do this through interviewing 50 injured and disabled workers to collect their experiences in their efforts to form provincial organizations. We will then develop a “how to” guide that includes lessons learned from forming provincial organizations, and an analysis of why some are successful while others are not. We then plan to host meetings in Provinces where no provincial organization exists in order to introduce the "how to guide" and to host discussions about our experiences working with other injured and disabled workers' groups. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance “The History of Workers’ Compensation” There are changes happening to our Workers Compensation Systems in Canada. Historically, Workers Compensation Boards were established in each province to administer the System. Recently, some of the Boards have undergone substantial changes, including their names. New names include:  Workplace Health and Safety Compensation Commission (two provinces)  Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (one province) The word “workers” is missing from both examples; in Ontario, we are also missing the word “compensation.” This is significant as it demonstrates a shift in fundamental principles. This was done without public debate or public consultation. What are the principles of compensation in operation in these new systems?  The employers are the “clients” because they supposedly pay for the system;    The injured worker is the “customer,” but this customer has no power to choose. They can’t say, “no thanks to compensation, I’ll sue instead.” This leaves no individual leverage. This customer is not “always right.” The client (the employer), on the other hand, is to be served: a) to have his/her fund managed well to lower his/her costs; b) to protect him/her from lawsuits. The employer’s interests are to be served at all costs. This results in lowered benefits, reduced services, and getting injured workers off of compensation as fast as possible. There is much talk and worrying about OVERcompensation and dependence: this is a way to legitimize UNDER-compensation. The key feature in this shift in principles is to place primary concern on the financial preoccupations of employers and to ignore the financial reality of injured workers. Is this what the compensation system is supposed to be all about? No! "Historique des organismes d’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses" Il y a des changements qui se produisent dans nos systèmes d’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses au Canada. Historiquement, les organismes d’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses avaient été instaurés dans chacune des provinces pour administrer le système. Récemment, certains organismes ont subi des transformations substantielles, y compris dans leurs appellations. Parmi les nouvelles appellations nous retrouvons :  Workplace Health and Safety Compensation Commission (deux provinces)  Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (Commission de la sécurité et de l'assurance des travailleurs) (une province) Le mot « workers » (travailleurs et travailleuses) est absent dans ces deux appellations. En Ontario, le mot « compensation » (indemnisation) est absent. Ceci est significatif, car cela reflète un changement dans les principes fondamentaux. Ceci a été fait sans débat public ni consultation publique. Quels sont les principes d’indemnisation à l’œuvre ici?  Les employeurs sont les clients parce que, censément, c’est eux qui paient le système.  La victime d’un accident ou d’une maladie du travail est la consommatrice, par contre cette consommatrice n’a pas le pouvoir de choisir. Elle ne peut pas dire : « non merci à l’indemnisation, je vais plutôt poursuivre en justice ». Ceci n’accorde pas de force individuelle. Cette consommatrice n’a pas « toujours raison ».  Cependant, le client (l’employeur) doit être servi : a) recevoir une bonne gestion de son fonds afin de réduire les coûts; b) le protéger contre les poursuites.  Les intérêts de l’employeur doivent être servis à tout prix. Ceci se traduit par des prestations réduites, moins de services et l’annulation des indemnités le plus tôt possible. On parle et on se préoccupe beaucoup de SURindemnisation et de dépendance. Ceci est une façon de légitimer la SOUS-indemnisation. La principale caractéristique de ce changement dans les principes est de se préoccuper prioritairement de la situation financière des employeurs et de ne pas tenir compte de la réalité financière des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail. Est-ce que le système d’indemnisation est censé rimer avec cela? Non! Page 5 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance “Principles of Workers Compensation” Let’s review the basic principles the Canadian compensation systems were founded on. Provincially implemented systems came about due to rising discontent (especially in Quebec at first) when workers were being cast into the streets, forced to become dependent on other families and charity. This was found to be unacceptable, but the courts were too slow and out of reach to deal with it. Nova Scotia and Ontario were the first to have systems of compensation implemented in 1915; Newfoundland was the last in 1950. All provincial systems were based primarily on the exhaustive study by Sir William Meredith, carried out from 1910-1913. Meredith traveled the world, held endless meetings, and thought. He came up with a system to protect workers and employers called the Historic Compromise:       Employers: would not get sued (significant), and social stability would be the result; Workers: no fault system, no delays; non-adversarial, no harassment; an impartial, independent public board; Inquiry system: help the worker, give them the benefit of the doubt; Employers to pay (as they are protected from lawsuits): the burden was not to fall on the injured worker, their family, or society in general. Payment was to occur for as long as the disability lasts; Payment was to be based on the concept of lost wages. SUMMARY POINTS FROM THE MEREDITH REPORT  No suing employers (brings about social stability and predictable costs);  No fault: quick, non-adversarial, balance of power;  Public/independent system;  Inquiry system (worker-friendly);  Employers pay into the system;  Works as long as there is a disability;  Workers will receive pay for lost wages. To limit the period during which compensation is to be paid regardless of the duration of the disability . . . is in my opinion, not only inconsistent with the principle upon which a true compensation law is based, but (also) unjust to the injured workman for . . . he will be left without earning power at a time when his need of an income will presumably be greater than (before) he was injured. Meredith, 1915 This is the essence of our reform. We are providing money to injured workers on a fairer basis—the basis of actual need. Workers will be compensated for their reduced ability to earn a living—and that’s what workers’ compensation is supposed to be about. Ontario Liberal government on bringing in “deeming system,” 1990 Page 6 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance « Les principes de l’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses » Examinons les principes de base selon lesquels les systèmes d’indemnisation canadiens ont été établis. Les systèmes provinciaux sont apparus à la suite d’un mécontentement grandissant (notamment au Québec au début) quand les travailleurs et travailleuses étaient jeté-e-s à la rue, forcé-e-s de devenir à la charge d’autres familles et de la charité. Ceci a été perçu comme inacceptable mais les tribunaux étaient trop lents et inaccessibles pour traiter de ce problème. La Nouvelle-Écosse et l’Ontario ont été les premières provinces à instaurer des systèmes d’indemnisation en 1915; Terre-Neuve a été la dernière en 1950. Tous les systèmes provinciaux ont été établis principalement d’après l’étude exhaustive de William Meredith, réalisée entre 1910 et 1913. Meredith a voyagé partout dans le monde, a organisé des rencontres interminables et a réfléchi. Il a conçu un système pour protéger les travailleurs et travailleuses ainsi que les employeurs appelé le « compromis historique » :       Employeurs : ceux-ci ne seraient pas poursuivis en justice (un avantage non négligeable) et il en résulterait la stabilité sociale. Travailleurs et travailleuses : système sans responsabilité = pas de délais; pas de confrontation, pas de harcèlement; un organisme impartial, indépendant et public. Système d’enquête : aider le travailleur ou la travailleuse, lui accorder le bénéfice du doute. Les employeurs paieraient (ils sont à l’abri des poursuites) : le fardeau ne devrait pas incomber à la victime d’un accident ou d’une maladie du travail, ni à sa famille, ni à la société en général. L’indemnisation devrait durer aussi longtemps que l’incapacité. L’indemnisation devrait être établie sur la base du salaire perdu. GRANDES LIGNES DU RAPPORT MEREDITH :  Pas de poursuites judiciaires des employeurs (ceci favorise la stabilité sociale et des coûts prévisibles).  Pas de responsabilité : célérité, pas de confrontation, équilibre des forces.  Système public et indépendant.  Système d’enquête qui soit favorable aux travailleurs et travailleuses.  Les employeurs contribuent au système.  En vigueur aussi longtemps que dure l’incapacité.  Travailleurs et travailleuses indemnisé-e-s pour le salaire perdu. Limiter la période durant laquelle l’indemnisation doit avoir lieu sans égard à la durée de l’incapacité est à mon avis non seulement incohérent avec le principe sur lequel une vraie loi d’indemnisation est fondée, mais (également) injuste pour le travailleur accidenté, parce qu’il sera laissé sans possibilité de revenu à un moment où son besoin (d’un revenu) sera vraisemblablement plus grand qu’avant son accident du travail. Meredith, 1915 Voilà l’essence de notre réforme. Nous donnons de l’argent aux victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail sur une base plus équitable, sur la base du besoin réel. Les travailleurs et travailleuses sont indemnisé-e-s pour leur capacité réduite de gagner leur vie; c’est ce que l’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses est censée être. Le gouvernement libéral d’Ontario lors de l’introduction du système d’évaluation (deeming system) en 1990. Page 7 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance On that fundamental principle of justice . . . we have an obligation to move heaven and earth to put the injured worker in the position that the injured worker would have been in had it not been for the accident. In these days of social unrest . . . it would be the gravest mistake if questions as to the scope of the proposed legislation was to be determined, not by consideration of what is just to the working man, but of what he can be least put off with or if the legislature were to be deterred from passing a law designed to do full justice, owing to groundless fears that disaster to the industries of the province would follow from the enactment of it. Meredith, Final Report, 1915 Meredith finished his report with the following statements: 1. Justice: do what is right; 2. Do not mix up compensation with employer concerns. Meredith’s principles were all excellent principles. He was the head of the Conservative Party, whose platform usually included a strong employer lobby. However, these were days of social unrest. Workers WON this system, and the system has something to fear if they are sufficiently unhappy. We don’t want to go back to suing. These principles have stayed more or less intact over the decades, until recently. Improvements have been made on their foundation (i.e., 55% went up to 75% of net; rehab; cost of living). These reflect general improvements in society as a whole. If we want to be legal about it, there have been necessary corrections to keep the system more or less in line with what the courts would give. Until recently, any reforms would be couched in similar language. We have an obligation to adhere to these principles. We now have a dramatic change whereby the system that was designed to take injured workers off the streets is throwing them onto the streets again. Today, we want to examine where we are at in regard to the fundamental principles of compensation in each province. “Workers’ compensation is not a charity to be more or less generous depending on whether or not these are economic good times.” Meredith, 1915 Page 8 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Selon ce principe fondamental de justice, nous avons l’obligation de tout faire pour placer la victime d’un accident ou d’une maladie du travail dans la position dans laquelle elle aurait été si ce n’eut été de l’accident ou de la maladie du travail. En cette époque de troubles sociaux, ce serait une erreur des plus grave si les questions touchant la portée de la loi proposée devaient être décidées non par la considération de ce qui est juste pour le travailleur, mais bien par ce qui le déroutera le moins, ou si la législature devait être dissuadée d’adopter une loi visant à donner pleine justice, à cause de craintes non fondées que ce serait désastreux pour les industries de la province en pareil cas. Meredith, rapport final, 1915 Meredith a conclusion rapport par les déclarations suivantes : 1. Justice : faites ce qui est juste; 2. Ne confondez pas indemnisation et préoccupations des employeurs. Les principes de Meredith étaient tous excellents. Il était à la tête du parti conservateur dont le programme comportait habituellement de fortes pressions auprès du patronat. Cependant, c’était une époque de tensions sociales. Les travailleurs et travailleuses ont mérité ce système et le système a quelque chose à craindre si ces personnes sont assez mécontentes. Nous ne voulons pas retourner aux poursuites judiciaires. Ces principes sont demeurés plus ou moins intacts au cours des décennies, soit jusqu’à récemment. On a fait des améliorations grâce à ces principes : on est passé de 55 % à 75 % du salaire brut; la réadaptation; l’indexation au coût de la vie. Ceci reflète les améliorations générales de la société dans son ensemble. Si nous voulons en parler sur le plan juridique, il y a eu des ajustements nécessaires pour garder le système plus ou moins en accord avec ce que les tribunaux accorderaient. Jusqu’à récemment, toute réforme serait formulée en pareils termes. Nous avons l’obligation d’adhérer à ces principes. Nous avons maintenant un changement radical selon lequel le système qui avait été conçu pour sortir les victimes du travail de la rue est en train de les retourner à la rue. Aujourd’hui, nous voulons examiner où nous en sommes quant aux principes fondamentaux d’indemnisation de chaque province. « L’indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses n’est pas un système de charité dans lequel on est plus ou moins généreux selon le contexte économique. » Meredith, 1915 Page 9 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PROVINCIAL WORKERS' COMPENSATION BENEFITS - PRESENT COMPARISONS NF BASE RATE Net benefits - 80% NS PEI NB QC ON MB 75% Net 85% Net 85% Net 95% Net 85% of 90% of Net 85% Net after 30 days CEILING ON INSURED EARNINGS - Not to exceed maximum Annual Earnings up to $31,800 $44,600 $50,500 Approx. $54,000 ARE BENEFITS INDEXED Only for Cost of No Yes -- based full EEL living on NBIAE (estimate (2%) d economic loss) TIME LIMIT ON FULL BENEFITS No-Not until No Regular depends maximu benefits on m usually paid medical medical until able to informati recovery RTW on BENEFITS FOR A PERMANENT INJURY Wage Wage Deemed LTD benefits loss with loss Wage pd. Monthly deeming Loss - regular minus deemed and then only 85% of difference UPON RETURN TO WORK Loss of Top up at Benefits Benefits benefits - 85% of Stop cease unless - partial loss of wage loss earnings benefits stop WHEN JOB LOST Re-injury ? on old claim No benefits WHEN DISABILITY WORSENS Re-injury Hard Reclaim fight for evaluated return to benefits Page 10 SK AB BC 90% of Net 90% Net 75% gross Based on $48,000 gross Based on $45,600 Based on $56,900 Yes Very limited On Pensions only Yes -consumer price index 100% cost of living Stats. Can.- CPI based on 6 months No Yes (medical guides are used) 6 weeks, then average earnings No Varies with medical opinion 1 year based on provisions Lump Sum for Permanent Impairme nt Deemed earnings, NEL for pain and suffering Deeming on PPD Wage loss Pension & Pension, wage loss Benefits stopped or earnings deducted Earnings deducted Wage loss, less deeming No benefits, unless proven accidentrelated No benefits, unless proven accidentrelated No benefits, unless proven accidentrelated Benefits may be adjusted. May be entitled to PPI increase. New claim at CSST, usually refused Deteriorat ion must be significant economic loss supplem ent Deeming : even though WCB cannot deem wages since 1994 Benefits stopped -- ELS Wage loss stopped, functional pension continues Wage Loss Less Deeming Non Benefits No benefits Reassessment Reevaluate Reopening �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NF NS PEI NB CPP /QPP REDUCTION TO WC BENEFITS 75% WC 50% 100% lost CPP reclaimed lost associated to injury, WCB reduced BENEFITS REDUCED BY CPP, Negotia Collateral Prov. ted Benefits pensions, contract company takes pensions priority AFTER AGE 65 Possibilit CPP y of 2 plus 5% years tops up lump sum QC ON MB SK AB BC Combined not to exceed full benefits Yes 100% (dollar for dollar) Yes -- full reduction Yes, 50% of CPP contributi on No-after June 1, 1995 No except : for survivors Any material change of circumsta nce Any income Yes: re-assess ments (RTW, projected pay raise) Lack of cooperation 25% reduction every year Paltry retirement award WCB pension Annuity begins after disabled for two years Reducing WCB pension Injured before 50, for life, after 50, 1/15 reduction / year) No, but policy is becoming tougher & tougher Yes (cost of living, net comp. of 85%, retirement award, etc. No No No-- just not paying Not yet Over Compensa tion Competiti on Competit ion, unfunded workers are lazy & cheaters N/A None Preexisting condition N/A Blue cross, life insurance, savings, RRSP's Benefits packages No perm. comp. after 65, no actual wage loss Pain and suffering, loss of benefits package (i.e., dental, vision) Company Benefits Pensions, beg for homecare Level of benefits, overpayments, CPP, "family income", survivors benefits Level of Benefits, lack of retirement benefits Injured worker cut off due to fake and unsuitable RTW Interpretati on of doctor's reports Supreme Court: injured workers cannot get proper medical care Cut benefits, Lost earnings potential Entire system (Royal Commiss ion Report), Death benefits Vacation pay, bonuses, overtime, sick leave, EI, etc. Benefits cease -- 5% pension pd. To off-set reduced CPP benefits due to injury. HAVE BENEFITS BEEN CUT RECENTLY No No Yes Yes -- 3 day wait period; related expenses; pension lowered to 85% WHAT WERE THE REASONS FOR CUTS WC Harder to Unfunded unfunded get long liability; liability term make more benefits after injury NOT COMPENSATED Home Pension care, and special drug company plan perks loss Benefits cease Pain & suffering, mental stress, chronic pain ISSUES BEING CONTESTED Consulting CPP -Several Doctors, benefits reports, increased protection of privacy benefit plan, pain & suffering Page 11 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Page 12 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Violations of the Principles of Compensation In our workshop, we identified violations of the original principles of Workers' Compensation as laid out by Meredith as follows: 1. BASE AND CEILING: in each province, practices violate the principle of “workers will receive pay for lost wages.” 2. INDEXATION: ideal would be full indexation of cost-of-living upheld. Lowered levels of compensation violate the principle of wage loss replacement. When compensation doesn’t cover workplace pensions or dental plans, it violates the principle of wage loss replacement. Cost of living protection was intended to do the following: ∙ Full wage loss protection; ∙ Compensates the injured worker for as long as the disability lasts; ∙ Requires the employer to pay, rather than transferring the cost to society. Therefore, reduced cost of living protection also violates the principle of wage loss replacement. 3. TIME LIMITS: violates the principles in each province in which compensation systems cut people off before they are recovered. We must examine the role of the medical establishment in this regard. 4. PERMANENT: in those provinces where there is wage loss and deeming, the principles of wage loss replacement and “as long as there is a disability” are violated. 5. RETURNING TO WORK: where workers’ compensation benefits are discontinued because a disabled worker is receiving wages, the principle of “as long as there is a disability” is violated; also wage loss replacement is violated in cases where the injured worker was deemed at a lower paying job. 6. JOB LOSS: where the WCB takes no responsibility, the principle “as long as disability lasts” is violated. It also violates the principle of non-burden to the family and society. 7. WORSENING: in provinces where injured workers must prove significant “worsening” or deterioration, the principles of “as long as there is a disability” and non-burden to the family and society are violated. 8. CPP: in each province except for Alberta and British Columbia (with the exception of survivors benefits), the principle of “the employer pays” is violated. The employers end up, in effect, being subsidized. 9. REDUCTIONS: in provinces where benefits are reduced due to the injured worker receiving other forms of income (such as provincial pensions, company pensions, vacation pay, bonuses, overtime, sick leave, EI, or any change in one’s material circumstances), the principle of wage loss replacement is violated. These pensions, etc. may be/have been part of the worker’s salary and benefit package, lending to their overall quality of life. 10. BENEFITS END AT AGE 65: reductions violate the principle “as long as there is a disability.” Also violates the principle of “employers pay into the system” (employers are effectively transferring their responsibilities). 11. CUTS: unfunded liability violates the principle of “employers pay.” It gives the message that economic considerations (in the life of an injured worker) are not relevant. 12. EXCUSES: operating on the premise that workers are fundamentally lazy and need to be pushed back to work/off compensation violates the principles of “to be paid as long as the disability lasts” and “not to be adversarial.” 13. NOT COMPENSATED: failing to compensate injured workers for “non-wage” benefits lost after injury (i.e., company pension, drug and dental family plans, life insurance, RRSP contributions), as well as general pain and suffering, violates the principles of “as long as there is disability,” “employers pay,” and “non-burden to the family and society.” 14. OTHER: in cases where survivors or death benefits are lacking, the principle of employers paying into the system is violated. The worker’s lost wages are also not compensated to the surviving family members: a portion could be beneficial in at least covering burial costs, etc. Page 13 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Improving the System: How to improve our benefits Participants responded to the following four questions from their respective regions: 1. What successes have we had, in the past, in improving benefits? What was done to achieve success? 2. What plans are presently in place to address these issues in your province? 3. What do we want to change in our benefit structure? What are our goals? 4. How can we achieve our goals? Eastern Canada: 1. Successes: the lobbying of injured workers and labour has resulted in chronic pain being recognized as injury. Workers Compensation denial of benefits have opened the door to suing employers. This is with the assistance of injured workers, as well as politicians and legal advocates. 2. Plans: lobby for legislation changes and benefits increases; upcoming court case (CPP). 3. Goals: want to work toward fair compensation for loss of earnings, getting rid of the ceiling on earnings, and not offsetting CPP. 4. How? Organize injured workers groups and work with CIWA/ACVAMT, have closer relations with labour, educate the general public, get support from public service organizations and churches. Central Canada: 1. Successes: a) Supplemental Benefits: a joint public campaign that enhanced benefits to more than 10,000 injured workers to a tune of $50,000,000 annually; b) $200 monthly increase in pension benefits for unemployed injured workers who were injured prior to Page 14 1990; c) full cost of living in 1985 was initiated by injured workers demonstrating at the opening of the legislature session; d) CPP benefits not deducted from WCB benefits in Alberta. 2. Plans: call for independent inquiry of the Alberta WCB; continue with the current campaign to save chronic pain compensation; organize a campaign to prevent abuse (of injured workers) within the returning to work process (i.e., demeaning work); integrate CPP and compensation benefits; continue with the favourable changes that have occurred in Manitoba’s Workers’ Compensation Act. 3. Goals: want to work toward Just Compensation; use the Meredith Principles; obtain job security or full compensation for injured workers. 4. How? Organize public forums and demonstrations, work to increase awareness, form working coalitions (i.e., with labour, injured workers groups, advocates, present government or members of the opposition), create a crisis, conduct long-term planning, and continue sharing information. Western Canada: Using the BC Royal Commission as an example: 1. Successes: none; in fact, after two years the result has been possible loss of the benefits we already have. 2. Plans: canvassing government and the WCB Board of Directors. 3. Goals: to apply the procedures, policies, and legislation that has been published. 4. How? Demonstrate to the WCB and government that they have already recognized the deficiencies within the system. �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Letters to the Editor (from our Web Site) Dear Editor! Dear Editor: My name is Djuro Maljkovic and I am an injured worker for a long, long time. I was injured in 1975 working in the Lincoln Electric Co. in Toronto. In spite of my back injury that never got better, I worked for Hamburg Dental Lab., until 1987 when I re-injured my lower back and injured my upper back. I went back on full benefits from (then WCB) now WSIB. I was tortured by WCB endless times. I even had a nervous breakdown. My marriage fell apart, and I was on the verge of killing my self. I'm an injured worker and have tried every possible way to get my benefits from the Workers' Compensation Board of Alberta. It has been impossible. I want to let you know a little about my injury. I moved to the Province of Quebec, thinking that all of my problems will stay behind, but it wasn't like that. Problem with WSIB followed me and got even more complicated! Because I have had two claim numbers, my file ended up in the Complex Case Unit in Toronto, and a decision was rendered in my favour in 1992. Some time in 1996, I was contacted by a Claims Adjudicator in Ottawa. He told me that I was overpaid, and that I must pay back $7,000 dollars. I contacted Roy Careless in Hamilton, Ont. to represent me and he took $300 dollars from me and did nothing. So, I hired a lawyer - Mrs. Foy in Kingston, Ont. from "Neligan Power" based in Ottawa. She gave me the run-a-round on $100 an hour, raised to $200 an hour without any decision or appeal. Then, I hired Bill Johnston from Ciw. Consultants (Canadian Injured Workers' Consultants) based on 1000 Huron St., London, Ont. He took $400 dollars, a so-called "RETAINER" and I never heard from him again. I started working in a "sandblasting and painting" company in November, 1980. In 1985, the Alberta Health and Safety Department sent a team of three specialists to my workplace. After a week working there, they left and we (the workers) never heard about the results of the inspection. The Health and Safety Department told the Company's Management that the sand used in the process contained a high grade of Silicon Oxide. I quit my Job in 1988, three years after the inspection was carried out. I did not know I was taking with me an "acute silicosis". I looked for another job and worked one more year in Ontario. Then I felt very ill, my health was ruined. I quit my job there and returned to Alberta. I remained working for another year until August 1991, when I had to quit my job for good. The Workers' Compensation Board made their calculation and gave me an "Award" of $322.28 per month. Then, they told me to go back to a job where I would have no contact with airborne, or any thing that would aggravate my health. I think that I hit the wall. I don't know what to do? I asked (before of any previous actions I had taken) for assistance from the Workers' Advisor and I was refused. Please, can you help me? I can't go through misery again! I would rather end up dead! My problem was not only respiratory. My physical impairment, restricted my ability to do my job. Any physical activity creates a major problem for me. Seeing that there was no solution, I wrote to the International Labour Office (ILO). The answer was "The Canadian Government has ratified none of the ILO conventions", up to date. They supplied me with the related Convention's copies. I followed up by writing letters without any result. Yours truly! Djuro (George) Maljkovic I don't know if my story and opinion is of your interest. I let you have them anyway. Luis A. Bachmann Edmonton, Alberta Page 15 �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NEWS FROM SOUTH OF THE BOARDER (REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE NATIONAL WORKPLACE INJURY LITIGATOR, A NEWSLETTER FROM DENVER, COLORADO) Insurance CEO Compensation Skyrockets The average 1997 CEO salary in a publicly held insurance company was $1,399,459, according to a recent study by the Firemark Group and SNL Securities. So what?, you might say, jaded by endless "dot com" stories of absurd bonanzas. But available salary documents don't tell the whole story of executive compensation. Bonuses and stock options now comprise a huge portion of the standard package. And some CEOs may draw multiple salaries from separately incorporated companies within insurer "groups" or "families". The reported compensation figures - i.e. everything but unexercised stock options - for the top ten most highly compensated insurance CEOs for 1997 ranged from $19,573,910 to $4,919,337, for an average of $7,826,656. The average percent increase from 1996 to 1997 for this "top ten" was over 200%! The largest, typically unreported, component of insurance CEO compensation, however, is unexercised stock option. When the above figures were "option adjusted" to include this value, they ranged from $175,046,554 (Sanford Weill of Travelers) to $10,215,700 - a truly amazing average of $35,820,089! The "Crystal Report", a periodical which tracks executive compensation, recently produced an interesting statistic along similar lines regarding HMO CEO compensation. It found that, adjusting for size and profitability of a company, CEOs for HMOs and healthcare companies make 66% more than the average CEO of any company of similar size. This is occurring notwithstanding the relatively poor performance lately by HMOs and the healthcare industry. Lower Premiums Mean Higher Profits, Not Higher Benefits According to the Missouri Department of Insurance, that state continues to be on the forefront of lower premium costs to employers and higher profits to insurers. For every premium dollar collected in 1998, only 58.7¢ was paid or reserved on workers' compensation benefits. This Loss Ratio is expected to allow insurers to earn a profit ratio of 26¢ per premium dollar collected, after the operating expenses are deducted, for the second year in a row. "Relief from workers comp costs continues unabated for Missouri's business community and workers," said Keith Wenzel, the state's insurance director. Ironically, however, benefits to injured workers or their families haven't appreciable increased since 1980, other than for the annual adjustment to the maximum benefits available to the highest wage earners. Of note and significance to other states faced with reform is what occurred in Missouri following Page 16 significant reforms in 1993. Through deregulation, elimination of the monopoly upon rate making, and open market competition between insurers, employers have received lower costs for workers' compensation and benefits have not been emasculated for injured workers. Missouri's five year experience could be a model for those states facing future reform efforts, as substantial regression of workers' benefits has thus far been avoided. It is thus possible for meaningful financial savings to be secured by employers, and not from cutting benefits to injured workers, but by focusing reform on insurers and their ability to compete. By opening up the market and by creating a competitive insurance company for which the state "guaranteed" the reserves, over 164 insurers have filed rate reduction requests through June, 1999 alone. Editor's Note: We wonder if increased competition means it's harder for an injured worker to get benefits? �Alliance canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Is about Our Goals SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada. INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers. PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels. INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives. To work towards a just system of compensation, rehabilitation and re-employment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. To connect with the injured workers group nearest you check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on people and organizations  OR  Call the office at (807) 345-3429 This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Printed by CUPE 87 Page 17 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Winter 1999 Description An account of the resource Articles about the "Coming Together" Project; the history of Workers' Compensation; the principles of Workers Compensation; comparisons of Provincial Workers' Compensation Benefits; violations on the principles of compensation; CEO compensation; lower premiums mean higher profits; Letters to the Editor- WSIB, Health and Safety. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/a899cd7af61b424552246bc6a6107a7f.pdf 55f3a78c3288f010ac4b31b6c21bdb0a PDF Text Text l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Focus on WCB Privatization This issue of “Highlights” looks into the moves afoot to privatize Workers Compensation in Canada. There has been lots of talk about this with Liberty Mutual, the largest WC insurer in the USA, becoming active on the Canadian scene. Meanwhile, John Burton, a leading expert on Workers Compensation in the States, has released a study comparing Private and Public systems of compensation in North America. He found that private insurance costs more and delivers fewer benefits to injured workers. Overall, his report found that our Public Compensation systems in Canada were more efficient and effective in providing benefits to injured, diseased or disabled workers. Other areas of interest in our newsletter are:  Our Peer Support Project. You may ask what’s peer support? Injured workers talking to each other, sharing their stories and educating each other on how the system works.  In the news and views dept. there is an exciting item about the resolution of support passed at the recent CLC Convention. There’s much more inside so please read on. Our next issue focuses on Returning to Work Send us your thoughts – share your story. Table of Contents CIWA/ACVAMT contacts .................2 Projects & Activities ..........................3 Privatization ..........................................4 La Privatisation.....................................4 Provincial Updates ...............................9 News & Views .................................... 13 CIWA Info .......................................... 16 1 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance PLEASE HELP ……. S U B S C R I B E ! Name: ________________________________ Organization: ________________________________ Address: Date: ________________________________ Newsletter Subscription: ________________________________ ________________________________ Postal Code ________________________________ Phone ________________________________ Fax ________________________________ E-Mail ________________________________ Web Site ________________________________ Injured Worker/Unemployed $ 5.00 __________ Individuals $ 10.00 __________ Organizations $ 15.00 __________ Donations $ Total $ __________ ____________ Thanks for Your SUPPORT Editor’s Note This newsletter is for sharing and exchanging information. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individuals or groups making submissions. We take no responsibility for their accuracy or opinions. L’ALLIANCE CANADIENNE DES VICTIMES D’ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL P.O. Box 3678 1201 Jasper Drive Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6E3 Thunder Bay, Ontario. P7B 6R2 Phone: 807-345-3429 email: ciwa@norlink.net Fax: 807-344-8683 CANADIAN INJURED WORKERS ALLIANCE Web-site: www.ciwa.ca Provincial Reps to the Steering Committee BC … Craig McLachlan, North Vancouver AB ... James Burke, Calgary Calgary Injured Workers Assoc. SK... Robert Lindsay, Regina Western Injured Workers Society - Sask. MB... Wayne Desiatnyk, Winnipeg Injured Workers Assoc. of Manitoba ON... Joan Crevar, Hamilton Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups QC... Liane Flibotte, Montreal l‟ATTAQ 2 NF... Phil Brake, Labrador City USWA NB... Wendy McGee, Saint John St. John Labour Community Services Inc. NS... Dave MacKenzie, Pictou County ADVISORS… Andy King, OHCOW Orlando Buonastella & Marion Endicott, IWC �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Projects For more information on any of our projects, give us a call at: 807-345-3429 ONE STORY FROM THE PEER SUPPORT PROJECT “ PEER SUPPORT” Project Update Bob (pseudonym) is a 44 year old former worker at a manufacturing plant. He injured his back and groin in 1992, and went for an appeal in 1999. He is being medically treated by his family physician, and was under the care of a psychiatrist. We are now half way through our Peer Support Pilot Project. It is a partnership with injured workers groups operating in Northern Ontario. We are supporting and monitoring the work of four peer support groups of injured workers and family members. He is a pleasant man, with a lot of anger towards the WCB. He doesn‟t understand why the WCB would choose him to have a hard time. His anger is directed to the politicians and his accident employer. He said he was an excellent worker and had awards to prove it, he had a monetary award he earned for employee of the month. His accident employer made it very hard for him to return to work, that is one of the reasons why he is not working for his accident employer today. In his first visit to the peer support meeting he appeared anxious, probably because he had an appeal in 2 months. He had concerns about appeals. At that time he was a very closed person and would not speak openly about his problems. After a few sessions he began to open up, he was very distressed about his case and what would happen if he lost it. He mentioned suicide. He has gained confidence during these sessions and speaks openly about anything. He is a very caring and compassionate person and would help anyone. There are some things he will not talk about. He wants to forget the whole experience and move on. He has some resentment still in him. The group tried to instill upon him that he was not the problem, the problem lies in how society treats injured workers. By meeting with us he came to understand that it was political decisions that created this. Many Injured Workers Groups have had great success using peer support as one of their key activities. It can provide immediate help to injured workers in need. And in turn, it is a way to involve new members and build a strong group. By the end of this project we will develop a manual about our successes and how you can get a peer support group going in your area. . Did you get your copy yet? The Survivors manual is a guide for organizing community forums, using a 17-minute video (included with the manual) and the round table discussion technique. CIWA/ACVAMT has used these tools to build support in local communities, to recruit new members to injured workers groups, and to start new groups. Call our office at 807-345-3429 and order yours today ! Price: $30.00 (Corporations and Institutions) $22.50 (Unions and Non-Profits) $15.00 (Injured Workers and Unemployed) 3 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Projects For more information on any of our projects, give us a call at: 807-345-3429 MYTHS AT WORK This is an excellent video produced by the Toronto Injured Workers’ Advocacy Group (TIWAG). It exposes the myths about how well you are protected by Workers Compensation. As well it exposes some of the policies and practices that are undermining the system. Even though it is filmed in Ontario, it will ring true in any part of Canada. It is 25 minutes in length and can be purchased by contacting: ORGANIZING ON THE NET As we grow more comfortable with the Internet, we will be learning new skills and acquiring new tools. These may have a tremendous potential for organizing; for including more people; for broadening the discussion. We will need to share our successes with each other so we can fulfill this potential. One of the ways to do this is through injuredworkers.online The address for their web site is: www.injured-workers.org Judy Kondrat at 416-924-6477 Fax 416-924-2472 Email kondratj@olap.org Injured Workers Groups can get one free copy at the same place. Thanks to all our friends and supporters in the Ontario Community Legal Clinics for this great video and your help over the years !! Check out these sites: www.goldrush.com/~koontz/ http://www.mediaring.com/zdnet/pcmag/front.html www.prairielaw.com www.wwdp.org www.caw.ca/departmts/hs e.html To connect with the injured workers group nearest you check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on people and organizations ATTENTION: MYTHS AT WORK This is an excellent video produced by PROVINCIAL INJURED WORKERS GROUPS the Toronto Injured Workers’ Advocacy Is your Provincial Injured Worker Group Group (TIWAG). It exposes the myths interested in developing webprotected site? about how well you aare by Need some help? Workers Compensation. As well it exposes some of the policies and Two injured that workers B.C. have offeredthe to practices areinundermining provide that help – free of charge. system. Even though it isContact: filmed in Ontario, it will true -inboardwarden@smartt.com any part of Canada. It Craigring McLachlan is minutes in length and can be Or25 Dann Buss - busstop@busstop.net purchased by contacting: Judy Kondrat at 416-924-6477 4 Fax 416-924-2472 NEW BACK CARE INFORMATION We have just received 47 boxes of pamphlets, books and posters all about back injury and steps you can take to better understand options available to you for treatment and recovery. A BIG THANKS to Judy Laine-Fine and the Back Association of Canada, for the donation of this wonderful material. �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance WCB PRIVATIZATION - Should it Concern Us? LA PRIVATISATION DE LA CSST ET DES WCB — Doit-elle nous inquiéter ? While all compensation boards in Canada "swear" that they will never be sold to private companies, very powerful interest work day and night to accomplish just that. The folks who will profit from a "McDonald's style" compensation system are slick. They know that a "big sale event" won't be popular. Their strategy is to reduce the "public" compensation system to the level of private insurance first. Then they will move in for the kill. Même si tous les organismes d’indemnisation au Canada « jurent » qu’ils ne seront jamais vendus à l’entreprise privée, des intérêts très puissants travaillent jour et nuit pour faire justement cela. Les personnes qui vont profiter d’un système d’indemnisation du genre McDonald's sont très habiles. Elles savent qu’une vente spectaculaire ne sera pas populaire. Leur stratégie est de commencer par réduire le système d’indemnisation public à un niveau d’assurance privée. Ensuite, on assènera le coup fatal. 5 REASONS WHY PRIVATIZATION MAY BE COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: 5 RAISONS POUR LESQUELLES LA PRIVATISATION S’EN VIENT PEUT-ÊTRE : 1 ONTARIO LEADS THE PACK: Ontario has recently privatized its Vocational Rehabilitation Department. Given the size and clout of Ontario, watch for this trend to continue in other provinces. Incidentally a 1990 Alberta study on the advantages of the workers' comp system cited that vocational rehabilitation is one area where the public boards provide a much better service than private insurance. Ontario has moved to eliminate this relative advantage. 2 THE TREND IS WELL FOUNDED. The Canada-wide preoccupation with eliminating "the unfunded liability" (the difference between current assets and future obligations to the injured) in every Compensation Board follows the goal of privatization. Private insurance companies are not allowed to have "unfunded liabilities". Because of competition, and therefore the possibility of business failure, they need to have enough cash in the bank to pay all obligations if they were to go under. 5 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance L‟ONTARIO EN PELOTON DE TETE : L‟Ontario a récemment privatisé son service de réadaptation professionnelle. Compte tenu de l‟envergure de cette province, vous verrez cette tendance se poursuivre dans d‟autres provinces. Une étude réalisée en Alberta en 1990 sur les avantages du système d‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses a révélé que la réadaptation professionnelle était un des secteurs où les organismes publics fournissent un meilleur service que l‟assurance privée. L‟Ontario a opté pour éliminer cet avantage relatif. 1 2 LA TENDANCE EST BIEN FONDEE. La préoccupation à l‟échelle du pays d‟éliminer le passif non capitalisé (la différence entre l‟actif actuel et les obligations futures envers les victimes d‟accidents et de maladies du travail) de chaque organisme d‟indemnisation poursuit l‟objectif de privatisation. Les compagnies d‟assurance privée ne sont pas autorisées à avoir un passif non capitalisé. Vu la concurrence, et par conséquent la possibilité de faillite, elles doivent avoir assez de liquidités en banque pour payer toutes leurs obligations si elles devaient faire faillite. La raison d‟éliminer le passif non capitalisé du système public est double : il entraîne des réductions dans les services et prestations dans un système public, rendant ainsi la The purpose of eliminating the "unfunded liability" in the public system is two-fold. It forces cuts in service and benefits under a "public" system, thus making privatization more attractive. In addition, the Board becomes attractive to potential private buyers. 3 THE U.S. INSURANCE INDUSTRY finds workers compensation the most profitable business. America's workplaces - among the world's deadliest. (Another site to check out is: http://www.injuredworkers.org) The U.S. insurance industry is also the most powerful in the world and is actively interested in our compensation "business". It's only business is profit. 4 THE "STATES" ARE THE WORST. U.S. style compensation and privatization has made the USA one of the worst systems for injured workers. The AFL-CIO labour federation documented the story of Loretta Shelton, a woman in Virginia whose hand was cut off in 1992 and whose claim was denied for "misconduct". The company had an unwritten rule that workers were to never stick their hand into a machine! Even thoughShelton's employer had removed the guard on the machine and her supervisor had put pressure on her to work faster, her claim was denied. (For more horror stories order "WC Notes" from the AFL-CIO, 815 16th St. N. W., Room 704, Washington, D.C. 20006). 5 RE-THINKING IN ALBERTA. The forces for privatization are so intense that even Alberta WCB has had to commission a study in 1990 to look into its merit. To the dismay of the profiteers, this study showed that a public WCB system is superior to private insurance and the Board decided not to go private. In December 1998 the Alberta Board issued a "Comparative Look at Workers' compensation Models" which again shows the superiority of public boards privatisation plus attrayante ; aussi, l‟organisme devient plus intéressant pour les acheteurs privés éventuels. L‟INDUSTRIE DE L‟ASSURANCE DES ÉTATS-UNIS trouve que l‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses est le secteur le plus rentable de l‟industrie. Les milieux de travail américains comptent parmi les plus mortels au monde. (Un autre site Web à consulter : http://www.injured-workers.org) L‟industrie 3 6 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance de l‟assurance des États-Unis est également la plus puissante au monde et s‟intéresse vivement à notre « entreprise » d‟indemnisation. Son seul intérêt est l‟argent. 4 LE SYSTEME AMERICAIN EST LE PIRE. L‟indemnisation et la privatisation du genre américain est un des pires systèmes pour les victimes d‟accidents et de maladies du travail. La FAT-COI a documenté le cas de Loretta Shelton, une femme de la Virginie dont la main a été coupée en 1992 et à qui on a refusé la demande d‟indemnisation pour « inconduite ». L‟employeur avait une règle non écrite que les travailleurs et travailleuses ne devaient jamais mettre leur main dans une machine. Même si l‟employeur de Shelton avait retiré le dispositif de sécurité de la machine et que son superviseur avait exercé des pressions sur elle pour qu‟elle travaille plus vite, sa demande lui a été refusée. (Pour connaître d‟autres horreurs de ce genre, commandez WC Notes à : AFL-CIO, 815 NW 16th Street, Room 704, Washington, D.C. 20006, ÉtatsUnis). 5 REMISE EN QUESTION EN ALBERTA. Les forces de la privatisation sont tellement intenses que même le WCB de l‟Alberta a dû mandater une étude en 1990 pour évaluer ses mérites. À la grande consternation des profiteurs, cette étude a révélé qu‟un système d‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses public est supérieur à l‟assurance privée et ce conseil a décidé de ne pas se privatiser. En décembre 1998, le conseil de l‟Alberta a publié une étude comparative des modèles d‟indemnisation qui a encore une fois démontré la supériorité des conseils publics comparativement à l‟assurance privée. Veuillez consulter son site à www.wcb.ab.ca over private insurance. See their website at www.wcb.ab.ca 5 REASONS WHY PRIVATIZATION AFFECTS YOU: 1 PRIVATE INSURANCE MEANS LESS BENEFITS FOR WORKERS. The Insurance Bureau of Canada representing Canada's insurance industry, says that a significant number of its companies are ready to take over workers compensation and adds that "current benefit levels need to be reviewed." Any doubts as to what they really mean? 2 PRIVATE INSURANCE IS MORE WASTEFUL. In Ontario in 1990, 76 cents out of every dollar spent on workers compensation went to workers, the rest for administration and medical costs. In the privatized California system the figures are reversed - only 34 cents for every dollar goes to injured workers. 3 WITH PRIVATE INSURANCE PROFITS COME FIRST. Private sector insurers can refuse to insure high-risk employers. One would think that the more dangerous a job is, the more the worker needs workers' compensation coverage. Not if you are an insurance company! In 1992 in the state of Maine, private insurers withdrew from the market and refused to write any more compensation policies for profit margin reasons. For a period of time in that year, new businesses could not open and workers went uncovered. 4 PRIVATIZATION MEANS MORE MONEY FOR LAWYERS AND LESS TO THE INJURED. In California, 95% of all cases go to litigation. An estimated 60% of compensation funds go to pay legal fees. 5 PRIVATIZATION MEANS MORE SECRECY: Have you tried to get a copy of your private insurance policy lately? 7 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance VICTIMES D‟ACCIDENTS ET DE MALADIES DU TRAVAIL. En Californie, 95 % de tous les cas sont soumis aux tribunaux. On estime que 60 % des fonds d‟indemnisation servent à défrayer les frais juridiques. 1 L‟ASSURANCE PRIVEE SIGNIFIE MOINS DE PRESTATIONS POUR LES TRAVAILLEURS ET TRAVAILLEUSES. Le Bureau d‟assurance du Canada (BAC), qui représente l‟industrie de l‟assurance au Canada, dit que plusieurs de ses compagnies sont consentantes à faire l‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses tout en précisant que « les prestations actuelles doivent être révisées ». Avez-vous des doutes quant au sens de cette déclaration ? L‟ASSURANCE PRIVEE GASPILLE DAVANTAGE. En Ontario, en 1990, 76 cents de chaque dollar d‟indemnisation ont été versés aux travailleurs et travailleuses, le reste a été dépensé pour les frais d‟administration et de soins médicaux. Dans le système privatisé de la Californie, les chiffres sont renversés : seulement 34 cents de chaque dollar sont versés aux victimes d‟accidents et de maladies du travail ! 2 DANS LE SYSTEME PRIVE D‟ASSURANCE, LES PROFITS PASSENT EN PREMIER. Les assureurs du secteur privé peuvent refuser d‟assurer des employeurs à risque élevé. On serait porté à croire que plus un emploi est dangereux, plus le travailleur ou la travailleuse a besoin de la protection de l‟indemnisation. Pas si vous êtes une compagnie d‟assurance ! En 1992, dans le Maine, les assureurs privés se sont retirés du marché et ont refusé de rédiger des politiques de rémunération pour des raisons de marge bénéficiaire. Pendant un certain temps, cette année-là, les nouvelles entreprises ne pouvaient pas démarrer et les travailleurs et travailleuses n‟étaient pas couverts. 3 4 8 LA PRIVATISATION SIGNIFIE PLUS D‟ARGENT POUR LES AVOCATS ET AVOCATES ET MOINS D‟ARGENT POUR LES 5 LA PRIVATISATION VEUT DIRE PLUS DE DISCRETION. Avez-vous essayé récemment d‟obtenir une copie de votre police d‟assurance privée ? �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance QUELLE EST LA LEÇONÀ ÈN RETIRER WHAT'S THE LESSON? P rivatization is a real threat and we should not depend on the Alberta WCB to lead the fight against it. Injured Workers beware! Our task is to act now. The best way to stem the tide toward U.S. - style privatization is to improve our compensation system for injured workers now. While private insurance has a "killing them softly" approach to the compensation boards, we should have a "resuscitate them strongly" approach to upgrade and update them to the needs of workers in the new millennium. Injured workers are not for sale. Workers' compensation is not for private gain. Workers' Compensation for Workers? What an original idea for the year 2000. L a privatisation est une véritable menace et nous ne devons pas dépendre du WCB de l‟Alberta pour la combattre. Victimes d‟accidents et de maladies du travail, prenez garde ! Notre tâche est d‟agir maintenant. La meilleure façon d‟enrayer la vague vers la privatisation du style américain est d‟améliorer dès maintenant notre système d‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses. Alors que l‟assurance privée a une attitude de « tuons-les doucement » envers les organismes d‟indemnisation, nous devrions avoir une attitude de « ressuscitons-les vigoureusement », afin de les renouveler pour qu‟ils répondent adéquatement aux besoins des travailleurs et travailleuses dans le nouveau millénaire. Les victimes d‟accidents et de maladies du travail ne sont pas à vendre. L‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses n‟existe pas pour le gain privé. L‟indemnisation des travailleurs et travailleuses pour les travailleurs et travailleuses… quelle excellente idée pour l‟an 2000. A FUN QUICK TEST OF INTELLIGENCE. READ THIS SENTENCE: FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS. NOW COUNT ALOUD THE F'S IN THAT SENTENCE. COUNT THEM ONLY ONCE. DO NOT GO BACK AND COUNT THEM AGAIN. (SEE ANSWER ON PAGE –15 ) NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHER! John invited his mother over for dinner. During the meal, his mother couldn‟t help noticing how beautiful John‟s roommate was. She had long been suspicious of a relationship between John and his roommate and this only made her more curious. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between John and the roommate than met the eye. Reading his mom‟s thoughts, John volunteered, “I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Julie and I are just roommates.” About a week later, Julie came to John and said, “Ever since your mother came to dinner, I‟ve been unable to find the beautiful silver gravy ladle. You don‟t suppose she took it, do you?” John said, “Well, I doubt it, but I‟ll write her a letter just to be sure.” So he sat down and wrote: “Dear Mother, I‟m not saying you „did‟ take a gravy ladle from my house, and I‟m not saying you „did not‟ take a gravy lade. Buth the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.” Several days later, John received a letter from his mother which read: “Dear Son, I‟m not saying that you „do‟ sleep with Julie, and I‟m not saying that you „do not‟ sleep with Julie. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now. Love, Mom. Lesson of the day – Don‟t lie to your Mother. 9 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Provincial Updates: Focus on PRIVATIZATION OF WCBs BRITISH COLUMBIA In BC privatization has not been an issue with respect to the workers' compensation system overall. What the BC Board has done over the last few years is move more and more in the direction of using 'outside service providers' to fulfill many of the functions previously handled within the Board. Although in the beginning this practice raised some hopes that outside service providers might bring a measure of professional ethics and integrity. As well they may bring a mix of human compassion and respect into the system, long ago discarded by Board staff. This has, for the most part, not been the case. What seems to be the more common result is that many outside service providers very quickly become WCB, or WCB / ICBC processing agents who simply herd patients through Board dictated programs to satisfy a predetermined result provided by an adjudicator or rehab-consultant. In one example an outside service provider in North Vancouver designed an entire 'work conditioning program' for the injured worker around a previously ruled out diagnosis, but one that better suited the Boards preferred end goal. The 'mandatory program' included exercises the patient was warned to specifically avoid by a number of specialists. To compound the problem the 'facility' was so overcrowded that the exercise program designed to be done in a specific order was impossible to complete without waiting so long for the necessary equipment that the intended purpose of the exercise 'set' was lost. The program 10 coordinator's solution was to instruct patients to ignore the order of exercise which she had been previously instructed was important to adhere to, and simply jump around to whatever station was free until you had completed all the exercises. Equipment was in poor repair and out of calibration, with the same equipment being drastically different in resistance while on the same settings, and exercise stations were not maintained at a safe distance from each other, or from main traffic corridors. In the end the program coordinator provided the WCB with a report which was supportive of the Board's previously expressed position on further entitlement. Even though this was totally contrary to the evidence provided during the program. As a result, the injured worker was cut off benefits. To add insult to injury, the agency altered file records after completion of the program when they became aware that the credibility of the program had come into question. Perhaps the most alarming factor related to the above example and numerous others like it is that this 'program coordinator', who has clearly adopted the typical WCB attitude and practices, was not some junior employee afraid for their job, or subject to manipulation or bullying by the WCB. This was a qualified physiotherapist and the co-owner of the company. Regardless of what you call it, there has been a significant move to use 'private companies' to provide WCB services and programs. Unfortunately the general consensus of late is that most have simply become off-premise divisions of the Board operating with the same attitude towards injured workers' as the Board has always had. �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance 'Outside service providers' should for the most part be considered in the same light as one would the WCB. Injured workers subject to the involvement of outside service providers directed by the WCB should diligently maintain active control over their program. They must ensure accurate records are kept and agreed to, disputes should be noted in writing at the time they occur and on an ongoing basis, and workers should keep their own set of records and demand copies of documentation from program coordinators. What is important to understand is that these 'outside service providers' must be 'approved' by the WCB and often end up with their entire client base being made up of injured workers. In many cases the conduct of service providers may be regulated by other professional organizations such as the College of Physiotherapists, College of Psychologists, etc. They are subject to building code requirements and safety regulations as well as any number of other rules, regulations, and restrictions which some tend to continually violate. Formal complaints should be made to the appropriate authority whenever any of these issues arise. The bottom line is that service providers who discard their personal and professional ethics and operate on the basis of satisfying the Boards wishes rather than in the best interest of their patients, need to be identified, exposed, and closed down, not just with respect to providing services for injured workers. This type of disregard for any accepted level of personal or professional ethics has no place in the private sector any more than it does in the workers' compensation system. ALBERTA In Alberta, the question is not about whether the Workers' Compensation Board is going to be PRIVATIZED. It is a done deal. The big question here is when will the Government move to open free-market competition to WCB Alberta monopoly stranglehold? In Alberta, the philosophy is that privatization is a cure all, to all that ails any government run agency. This remarkably includes the very social fabric that holds society together. The burning question in Alberta is what form of privatization will the Workers' Compensation Board evolve into? And which province of Canada will be next? I believe by the very actions our government has taken thus far, it is prepared to open the door to outright competition of WCB. One should be aware that under Bill 16, which gave the WCB awesome powers, where even the Auditor General from the government side had grave concerns of creating a potentially out of control agency which would be above reproach. (Carte/Blanch) In fact, this Bill 16 was passed in June of 1995. What is remarkable about this Bill is that the Minister responsible for WCB was the author of the Bill, which the government backed. Amazingly, there was no major opposition to this Bill, especially, and in particular, from unions and injured workers associations. This Bill for all intents and purposes set up a private organization better called privatization. So the rallying cry is going out across Canada to the ramifications of this Alberta experience that could snowball to a province near you! So please join us, while there is still time to stop this experiment in it's infancy. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. What has evolved is the Corporate name called the "WCB-Alberta" which purportedly calls itself a "non-profit mutual insurance corporation". In fact, WCB-Alberta is it's own entity, where it has free rain in it's business, where it can extort as 11 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance much money it wants from the employers. Not to be outdone, it can steal money or not pay out entitlements that are due to VICTIMS OF WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS. This "For-Profit" government agency is run by a Board of Directors with ultimate control over all WCB matters with a "safety clause" that the government suggested in case of disaster, would revert back to the government if it failed to balance it's books and show it is viable without government money. There is no UNIVERSAL COVERAGE AND ASSESSMENT in Alberta. It seems that the multinational businesses in Alberta are only paying token amounts of money in private deals with WCB to not expose them on the exception list of non-payers. It is the small businesses who are paying the lions share of funding. The WCB Board of Directors are still being controlled by government appointment, thus far. The government, in it's infinite wisdom, relinquished all controls over the operations of WCB. In turn, WCB-Alberta has thrown the Meredith Principle right out the window. Where it intentionally only mentions one side of this principle and that is the employer funding. One only has to look as far as the 5 year strategic plan 1999-2003, to see that the mandate has drastically been altered and broadened, even WCB's so called core business has changed The true test of WCB's blatant mishandling of injured workers, is where the rubber meets the road, and in reality, it is so prevalent that WCB issues are one of the most pronounced problems that MLA's in Alberta deal with. To add to these corrupt practices, is the WCB's significant OFF LOADING on to the Alberta taxpayer system. The WCB have a systematic denial (blanket denials) of the 20% of chronic claims, thought would have cost 80% of the costs. This highly offensive and unethical practice have put pressures on already burdened services such as Alberta Health, EI, CPP AISH, and what's left of outreach programs that have helped the walking wounded. (INJURED WORKERS). 12 ONTARIO There is some talk about the WCB privatizing in Ontario. We suspect that this is the goal of our Tory government. The Tories believe in the private spectrum. Instead of convincing the public that it‟s a good idea, they are denying it. We believe its being discussed behind closed doors. We are challenging privatization, by warning people that if this happens, it would be as bad as it is in the USA where it is privatized. We are providing information and the use of the Alberta study, which has shown that the public system is less costly than private Insurance. Privatization has already occurred in some areas within the Ontario WCB. Medical rehab is being provided by service providers and medical institutions; Vocational rehab is the recent biggie which is public knowledge; Initial adjudication is happening in some cases; Claim file reviews and overpayment/debt collections have gone to private companies. A private consulting firm was hired to determine the "core business" of WCB. These were determined to be developing interpretation of the legislation and not much else. All other functions can be privatized. Privatization has no positive effects for injured workers. Negative effects although mean more company profits, less money to injured workers, increased use of the court system, delays, expense and stress to the injured worker. Public system advantages are: - assured coverage and less expense for employers - for injured workers it means more funds available for benefits & services, an appeals system, and better access for reform �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance - for the public it means better protections if injured, and less of a burden on taxpayers. Powerful interests (the Insurance Companies) are pushing for privatization, purely for profit. This is not the interest of any one else - not even businesses and certainly not injured workers. NEWFOUNDLAND Privatization of the Workers' Compensation Commission in Newfoundland and Labrador is not an issue at this time. To our knowledge, this issue has never been addressed. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND As an injured worker group representing a lot of people on PEI, we are shocked to say the least that the WCB is to possibly be privatized. We are not entirely positive that this is starting to take form on the island, but we do know something is in the making. The WCB down here has released an article whereas the workings of this no-fault insurance organization has been scrutinized by all parties. A complete comprehensive study of the WCB is taking place. Tenders have been sent out to have a consulting company do they study. This is a large step but what the consequences to follow is anyone's guess to the outcome. In the past several weeks, we have seen new doctors progress reports, employer's reports and the employee's report of the accident. Previously, we as an injured worker never heard tell of objective medical findings on our reports, questions such as the word, recurrence usually baffles the minds of our medical profession. the presenting symptoms consistent with the objective signs - yes/no?; Are the presenting symptoms proportionate to the objective signs yes/no?; If not, are there possibly other factors delaying recovery - yes/no?". These are only a few things regarding the pilot medical progress report. The report of the employers report is 3 pages and more complicated than before. The workers report of injury is 5 pages in detail and God help an injured worker who is not educated in the workings of WCB. This could really destroy their chances of getting benefits if they did not get outside help from a group or organization. It is so complicated that an individual versed in these matters had a hard time trying to understand the forms. If this is the steps that the WCB all across Canada are initiating, then the injured worker is being dealt a very undeserving blow and something has to be done. In the past few weeks, we have been in contact with injured workers in the U.S.A. and if we in Canada think we have problems we don't compared to the horror stories that are heard from injured workers there. In closing we must insist on our given rights to choose which doctor we want. WCB has to be given the message they need to support us, do away with the thoughts of private insurance models. The medical profession has to be invited to open forums of injured workers, explain what is taking place in an injured workers life. Some way, we must get rid of Board Doctors and have a medical panel who is non-bias towards the injured worker. At the same time, emphasize to our own family doctors the importance of their role. We really, really need and appreciate them more than ever. Some of the questions are: "Is this a recurrence of a previous injury?; Is this a new injury or a recurrence?; What are the objective physical findings to substantiate the above answer?; Are 13 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance NEWS & VIEWS CLC CONVENTION PASSES RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF INJURED WORKERS ORGANIZATIONS We are very pleased to report that we had an information table at he CLC Convention in May. We asked for support on resolutions in support of injured and disabled workers that came to the floor for a vote. Well – we were successful. Thanks so much to our union friends across the country! This resolution was passed on Friday morning. May 7th, 1999 WHEREAS injury and disability at work is a major concern of all working people and their Unions; and WHEREAS organizations of injured workers share the same goals; and WHEREAS many of the members of injured workers' groups are or were Union members; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the CLC support injured workers' organizations and their national umbrella group, the Canadian Injured Workers' Alliance; and THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the CLC encourage Federations of Labour, Labour Councils and Affiliates to actively support the organizing of injured 14 UNE RÉSOLUTION SOUTENANT DES GROUPES DE TRAVAILLEURS/TRAVAILLEUSES BLESSÉ(E)S A ETÉ APPUYÉE PAR VOTE DE LA CONVENTION CTC: ATTENDU QUE les accidents et maladies du travail constituent une grande préoccupation pour tous les travailleurs et travailleuses ainsi que leurs syndicats; et ATTENDU QUE les organisations de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail partagent les mêmes objectifs; et ATTENDU QUE plusieurs membres des groupes de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail sont ou étaient des syndiqué(e)s; PAR CONSÉQUENT, QU’IL SOIT RÉSOLU QUE le CTC appuie les organisations de victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail et leur organisme de coordination national, l’Alliance des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail; et PAR CONSÉQUENT, QU’IL SOIT DE PLUS RÉSOLU QUE le CTC encourage les fédérations du travail, les conseils du travail et leurs groupes affiliés à appuyer activement l’organisation des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail et de leurs groupes, et que ces associations appuient financièrement ces efforts quand cela est possible; et PAR CONSÉQUENT, QU’IL SOIT FINALEMENT RÉSOLU QUE le CTC encourage les fédérations du travail, les conseils du travail et leur groupes affiliés à demander la participation des groupes de �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance workers and injured workers' groups and to contribute financially wherever possible to these endeavours; and victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail dans l’élaboration des politiques de travail en matière d’indemnisation et de sécurité. THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the CLC encourage Federations of Labour, Labour Councils and Affiliates to seek the input of injured workers groups in the development of labour policy around compensation and health and safety. Repetitive Motion Syndrome Association The Association for Repetitive Motion Syndrom publishes a newsletter written by and for those suffering from RMS. For more information contact Stephanie Barnes, PO Box 471973, Aurora, CO 80047. U.S. Social Security/Workers Comp Rules Change Withdrawn The proposed social security and workers compensation offset rules change (proposed by SSA in the Federal Register in April 1998) is "completely dead" according to SSA Baltimore staff speaking at the recent meeting of the examine introduction of competitive workers' compensation market. Hung Pham, MLA for Calgary-Montrose, developed a private member's bill that passed first reading the legislature on February 22. WCBAlberta stakeholders should be aware of the implications of this proposed legislation. International Association of industrial Accident Boards and Commissions in Saint Lewis. Credit for the successful derailment of this onerous rule change goes to everyone involved in a massive national letter writing campaign coordinated by the Workplace Injury Litigation Group. SSA was deluged with forceful, pointed, and credible letters from injured workers, attorneys, labour leaders, industrial accident board commissioner, state legislators, state attorneys general members of congress and other state and federal elected and appointed officials. This is an example of how the trial bar, working in conjunction with labour, can successfully influence the federal rulemaking process. Watch for future action on key issues as they arise. ALBERTA MLA Proposes legislation to Bill 211 would establish a Select Special Committee to examine introduction of competition into the workers' compensation insurance market in Alberta. The committee would make recommendations to the legislature after engaging in public consultation and reviewing workers' compensation systems in other jurisdictions. Once established, the committee would have 12 months to report back to the legislature. 15 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance FOCUS ON FACTS Taken from a Publication of the MFL Occupational Health Centre Table 1 WHAT IS WORK ORGANIZATION? Work organization is a broad concept with no strict definition. It deals with the way work is organized and managed. The following subjects are among the basic elements of work organization. Scheduling: This refers to work and rest schedules, over-time, shift work, hours of work. Job design: This includes the complexity of the work, the pace of work, the skill and effort required, and the degree of control the worker has over the job. Interpersonal issues: This would include the relationships that a worker has with supervisors and co-workers. Career concerns: this includes job security and the opportunity for advancement. Organizational characteristics: This refers to the broader corporate culture and the level of corporate communications. IMPROVING WORK ORGANIZATION WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T. Studies of programs intended to reorganize work to reduce occupational stress have come to a number of conclusion. Successful programs: - improve employee self-worth by recognizing stress reactions as legitimate. - allow worker groups to discuss problems and develop plans for solutions. - provide the needed economic and technical resources for change. Less successful programs: - impose totally technical solutions - direct attention away from difficult working conditions by treating the symptoms - allow management to maintain constant control by limited awareness or stifling discussion. A FUN QUICK TEST OF INTELLIGENCE (ANSWER) THERE ARE SIX F'S IN THE SENTENCE. ONE OF AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE FINDS THREE OF THEM. IF YOU SPOTTED FOUR, YOU'RE ABOVE AVERAGE. IF YOU GOT FIVE, YOU CAN TURN YOU NOSE AT MOST ANYBODY. IF YOU CAUGHT SIX, YOU ARE A GENIUS. THERE IS NO CATCH. MANY PEOPLE FORGET THE "OF'S". THE HUMAN BRAIN TENDS TO SEE THEM AS V'S AND NOT F'S. PRETTY WEIRD, HUH? IT FOOLS AMOST EVERYBODY Two college students went partying instead of studying for their physics final. So they skipped the exam and showed up afterwards telling the prof that they had a flat tire. They asked if they could take the test the next day. The prof said okay, so they stayed up all night cramming, until they were pretty sure they could pass. The prof assigned them to separate rooms for the final. Each kid shrugged and went off to his assigned location. The first question, for 5 points, was explain nuclear fusion. Easy. The second question, for 95 points: Which tire was the flat one? 16 �l’Alliance Canadienne des victimes d’accidents et de maladies du travail Canadian Injured Workers Alliance CIWA/ACVAMT Is about Our Goals SUPPORT We are a national network of injured worker's groups (IWG's) and we exist to strengthen and support the work of local and provincial IWG's across Canada. INDEPENDENCE We believe that injured workers should be in control of their own destinies & Injured Workers groups must be democratically controlled by injured workers. PARTNERSHIPS We believe that we can best assist these objectives by providing training and educational resources in partnership with provincial or territorial organizations of injured workers and the trade union movement at all levels. INFORMATION SHARING We believe that by sharing our stories and our experience we can learn from each other and become better educated and exert more control over our lives. To work towards a just system of compensation, rehabilitation and re-employment in all of Canada. To provide a national forum for debating issues concerning injured workers at national conferences and board workshops. To gather and share information with groups across Canada. To improve the Occupational Health & Safety of workers across Canada. To identify and make available, educational and training resources produced by the union movement and other agencies, that focus on organizing and maintaining effective injured worker groups. To enhance the local base of the injured workers movement through all our activities. To form partnerships that will achieve common goals. To connect with the injured workers group nearest you check out our web site at: www.ciwa.ca and click on people and organizations OR Call the office at (807) 345-3429. This Newsletter is intended to share information of interest to injured workers, union activists and their supporters. It provides a forum for sharing our experiences - so we can learn from each other - in order to improve the lives of injured and disabled workers and the system that is there to assist them. Please help - by sharing your story with us. Page 17 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Description An account of the resource Articles about Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Canadian Injured Workers Alliance Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CIWA Highlights Newsletter Summer 1999 Description An account of the resource Articles about the Peer Support Project; WCB Privatization with Provincial comparisons; CLC convention resolution in support of Injured Workers Associations; work organization. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CIWA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English, French Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Labour and Labour Unions