B.C. LUMBER WORKER

Management's attitude seen
as threat to
safety program

Supervisors
committees,

by-passing
“doctoring”

records claim delegates

Greater interest was shown in the subject of accident
prevention than at any previous convention, IWA Safety
men agreed, when on the concluding day of the recent An-
nual District Convention the recommendations of the Dis-
trict Safety Conference were presented for approval. These
recommendations had been formulated at the Conference
held on the day preceding the Convention.

On a number of occasions this
interest on the part of the dele-
gates was brought into focus by
resolutions which either dealt with
safety or had some bearing on the
Union's participation in the indus-
try's safety program.

Views which crystallized during
these discussions led mainly to the
following conclusions on the part
of the delegates:

Convention Conclusions

The Union’s administrative
structure must make provision
for the widest possible partici-
pation by the general member-
ship in the development of a
safety program.

Greater vigilance is required
to ensure that the basic three-
way cooperation on the part of
labour, management, and WCB,
is not sidetracked or under-
mined by management-centred
plans to gain exclusive control
for their own purposes or in-
adequate supervision by the
WCB.

Vigorous action is required to
stamp out the practice now con-
doned by some companies,
which tends to conceal legiti-
mate evidence in compensation
claims in order to create false
safety records, and unearned
official recognition for same.
That many delegates considered

the safety program to be in jeop-
ardy was evident, when the con-
vention emphatically rejected a
resolution which in their opinion
would limit Local Union repre-
sentation on the District Safety
Council.

Wider Pa
At this juncture, the ideas ex-
pressed indicated that the promo-
tion of safety in the industry was
now recognized as one of the
major functions assumed by the
Union. Emphasis was placed on
the need for greater attention to
this phase of the Union’s activity.
One remarkable and interesting
feature of this discussion was that
on all sides the Union’s repre-
sentatives firmly believed in the
efficiency of a safety program, and
that the practical results achieved
by organized safety had made an
indelible impression on their
minds.

Education Paid-off -

Safety enthusiasts were led to
state that the persistent attention
to safety education throughout the
years was bearing fruit. Workers
in the lumber industry were ac-
cepting a new code under which
they pinned their personal hopes
for safe living and working on
the more general and collective
effort to plan safety for the oper-
ation and for all the workers as-
sociated with them in the opera-
tion.

Fight Hypocri
It was freely declared that the
time had come when trade union

officials, WCB officials, and more
especially management officials
who merely gave lip service to
safety ideals were to be exposed
for their hypocrisy by the rank
and file workers.

As one speaker said, a safety
program is what it does in terms
of protecting the workers, and not
what is said in the front office or
in meetings to work up a false
front of empty enthusiasm.

Management Failure

Considerable indignation was
expressed throughout the discus-
sions over the fact that in many
operations safety considerations
were being by-passed by manage-
ment’s supervisory officials. The
belief prevailed that these condi-
tions should be forcibly brought
to the attention of top-manage-
ment, to secure more effective ob-
servance of agreements made with
labour to give sufficient emphasis
to safety.

Retribution Seen

On more than one occasion,
Prominent members of Local
Unions made it clear, that if man-
agement now sabotages a safety
program in regard to which it has
made such high and noble pro-
fessions, labor relations in the in-
dustry would be seriously dis-
turbed.

Said one delegate, “If manage-
ment and the WCB cannot be
trusted to the extent that we may
accept at face value their prom-
ises to cooperate in making safety
a reality, what mutual confidence
can exist for any sound working
relationship.”

Obstruction Charged

Evidence indicating that many
supervisory officials are obstruct-
ing legitimate compensation claims
was presented in impressive pro-
portions. The men who suffer in-
juries on the job are, as one dele-
gate stated, “whisked in and out
from under medical attention to
be propped up on the job immed-
jately with a pencil in his hand”
to gloss over the fact that a com-
pensable accident had occurred
which might mar that official’s
record with his firm or with the
Board.

Decisions Summarized
A summary of all aspects of
safety discussions at the conven-
tion establish the following con-
clusions:

@ The Union’s membership
wants a properly conducted
safety program and is deter-
mined to get it.

@ The Union is determined
to gain full participation in the
industry’s safety program, be-
cause such participation on the
“part of the workers is the best
possible incentive to their work-
ing interest in its success.

@ The Union is determined
to expose management officials

IWA meet urges
better coverage

Safety discussions during the recent IWA District Con-
vention resulted in demands that the provisions of the Work-
men’s-Compensation Act and its regulations, be amended
in several important respects. Mainly its regulations were
directed to ensure proper attention for the workmen’s claims,

following accidents.

Proposals included the follow-
ing:
@ That maximum payments
be increased by raising the max-
imum allowable earnings to
$5,00 a year.

@ That injured workmen be
assured that compensation is
based on 100% of former earn-
ings.

@ That coverage be provided
for all injuries sustained on the
job. js

@ That the 3-day waiting

period be eliminated.

@ That upon the re-opening
of a claim, the claimant be paid
compensation at the rate of his
earnings at the time of re-open-
ing, or his previous rate, which-
ever may be the greater.

@ That the words “by acci-
dent” in Section 7 of the Work-
men’s Compensation Act be de-
leted.

@ That provision be made
for the full replacement cost of
broken eyeglasses and dentures.

In its recent submission to
the Provincial Legislature’s
Standing Committee on La-
bour the Canadian Manufact-
uring Association complained
that one of the handicaps to
the development of secondary
industries to British Columbia
was the increasing cost of
Workmen’s Compensation.

Nothing was said to point
up the fact that employers’
genuine promotion of safety

CMA overlooks
best solution

in industry can do more than
anything else to reduce these

costs by preventing needless
and costly accidents.

The obvious comment is in
confirmation of remarks at
the recent IWA District Con-
vention that no one needs
courses in safety more urg-
ently than management’s of-
ficials, for dollars and cents
reasons.

Pritchard explains
victim's remedy

In an address to District Con-
vention delegates, Commissioner
Chris Pritchard, Workmen’s
Compensation Board, drove
home one point with his char-
acteristic forthright frankness.

The remedy for complaints,
he had heard in the convention,
alleging that in some instances
officials were “doctoring” com-
pensation claims from work-
men, was entirely in the hands

of the injufed workmen.

He sought to impress the
delegates with the fact that the
form provided the injured work-
man was exclusively his docu-
ment, and if he aserts his rights
under the law, no power on
earth can compel him to sign
anything but that which states
the truth about his claim,” said
labour’s representative on the
Board.

who are playing “ducks and
drakes” with safety considera-
tions in attempts to ingratiate
themselves with superior offi-
cials indifferent to safety.

@ The Union will continue

its drive to convince employers
that it is better practice to work
for the elimination of needless
accidents than to “doctor” the
accident records to conceal the
true facts.

OI70O. KWOWGETITECR ...-
orT0 RIES AGAIN /

WORKER

SHOP STEWARD

BUSINESS AGENT

British Columbia