CONVENTION

° Local 1-71 Safety Director Bob Patterson (left) and Local 2693 Safety Director Joe Hanlon read resolu-

tions on behalf of committee.

National return to work policy adopted unanimously

° Monty Mearns, ° Nick Doubinin

A milestone was acheived at the convention
when I.W.A. delegates unanimously adopted a re-
turn to work policy for the national union. The

_ policy, which was developed by the I.W.A. CANA-
DA National Safety Council, offers local unions
guidelines on the duty to accomodate disabled
workers back into the workforce.

The policy outlines the principles that union lo-
cals should apply when putting return to work
programs in place. It recommends that joint com-
mittees be established, which consist of the work-
er affected, the union and the company, and that
committees should expand, by agreement, to
include such important parties as attending physi-
cians, WCB representatives (i.e. rehab consul-
tants), benefit carrier representatives, health and
safety practicioners (local union safety directors,
ergonomists, hygienists, etc), and others.

The policy states that the Joint Committees
shall develop the return to work program at the
operational level for both long term and short
term disabilities. The committee should monitor
all cases on an ongoing basis and review the pro-
gram annually, filing reports with both the compa-
ny-and the union.

- WCB claims must be filed in cases of occupa-
tional injury or illness and weekly indemnity cases
must be filed in cases of non-job related sickness
or injuries.

Other principles outlined in the policy are confi-
dentiality, the principle of seniority, and the volun-
tary nature of the program.

During the debate on the new policy, Monty
Mearns of Local 1-85 said that “we have slowly
started to smoke the employer out on this issue of
duty to accomodate. Unfortunately, I think that a

“]

¢ Bob Hird

° Damien Roy

whole lot more work is going to have to be done
and it’s going to have to be done, I believe, at the
bargaining table.”

“J think the key to this is whether the industry
[is] going to come willing or whether we're going
to take them dragging and screaming,” he added.

Nick Doubinin, from Loggers’ Local 1-71, said
that the new policy is “going to be a hell of a bene-
fit to our members out there who are going to be
asked by the companies to sit down and negotiate
these programs, because they are coming.”

He said that once a worker is on WCB he is for-
gotten.

“What the hell do they (the employers) care? It’s
us that has to look after these members. These
members are lacking in the attention that they
get,” said Brother Doubinin.

Jack McLeman, who sits on a Disability Man-
gagement Committee at MacBlo’s Somass sawmill
in Port Alberni, says the policy correctly includes
the maintenance of the principle of seniority in the
collective agreement.

Brother McLeman said that it is important to up-
hold seniority to avoid discrimination against
workers who have more years in an operation
than a fellow worker who suffers injury. x

Local 1000 Safety Director:Bob Hird said that
participation in return to work programs in On-
tario is mandatory or WCB benefits can be lost. He
also said that' joint committees should look for
new work opportunities for the disabled rather
than looking at an existing employee’s job.

Damien Roy, Safety Director for Local 1-2995,
said that decisions from Canadian courts have
even overuled the rights of seniority in collective
agreements.

e Ray Fleming

Paul Hallen

“The courts also state that the union cannot,
take refuge behind a concept like the sanctity of
the collective agreement or any concept that is in-
consistent with human rights,” said Brother Roy.

Roy said the idea of the return to work program
is to assist the disabled find gainful employment
while causing less disruption to the collective
agreement.

Local 1-417’s Dave Briscoe said that statistics in-
dicate that the longer a worker is off after his in-
jury, the less likely he is to return to work.

He said that in one Local 1-417 operation the
union has sat down with an employer to negotiate
a return to work policy but that employers are re-
sisting in other operations.

Local 1-71 delegate Ray Fleming said that return
to work programs will be difficult to implement in
logging camp cases where confidentiality is hard
to protect and that return to work committees
may be harder to put together.

National Fourth Vice President Harvey Arcand
said that the committees must work to protect
confidentiality of medical information and person-
al information about an employee, not the fact that
there is a disability involved.

“If you’re going back to work because you’ve
got a bad shoulder and we're going to modify the
job so you can do the work, naturally the guys
around you are going to have to know that they've
modified the job . . .” said Brother Arcand.

Paul Hallen, of Saskatchewan Local 1-184, said
that once a doctor tells the worker that he can
work and the employer makes a job available that
won't aggravate an injury more, it will be tough to
keep a return to work program voluntary in na-
ture. _

Safety resolutions
get nod of approval

NATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH DIRECTOR - the na-
tional union will appoint a full-time Occupational
Safety and Health Director.

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTRE —
LW.A. supports and will participate in efforts to
establish a worker administered, government
funded Occupational Safety and Health Centre in
British Columbia.

TREATMENT CENTRES — the convention calls upon
the provincial governments to build treatment cen-
tres for people with alcohol, chemical and other
dependencies.

WCB GOVERNANCE - the convention called upon
the B.C. government to put in place a representa-
tive governance that will work and protect the in-
terests of B.C. workers and the Board’s Senior Ex-
ecutive Committee should be accountable to that
structure.

JOB PLACEMENT AND TRAINING — the union will lob-
by federal and provincial governments to create

meaningful job placement and retraining programs
for injured or disabled workers.

WCB RETRAINING — the I.W.A. will lobby the appro-
priate government agencies and the WCB so that
the WCB takes full responsibility for meaningful

retraining of injured workers who cannot return to
their jobs.

FIRST AID TICKETS - the union demands that the
WCB, in the next regulation review process, make
all B.C. forest industry operations carry a Level IIL
First Aid ticket.

DISCIPLINE FOR INFRACTIONS — the union reaf-
firmed its safety policy that I.W.A. members shall
not recommend or endorse disciplinary action

against any other member.
Continued on next page

14/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1996