thewester Ganadian

lumber worker

Vol. 51 No. 5 PUBLISHED IN VANCOUVER, B.C. SINCE 1931 oe ISSN 0049-7371 SUMMER ISSUE, 1984
ASSAULT ON W.C.B. LABOR TRIUMPH IN

By VERNA LEDGER

The Socred Government and new WCB
Chairman Walter Flesher are bent on the
virtual destruction of Workers’ Safety &
Compensation rights in B.C.

The 1983 election was barely over when
Chairman Art Gibbons was fired. Two
weeks later, Flesher was appointed Chair-
man, with instructions from Labour Minis-
ter McClelland “to fiscally manage the
Board and reduce the unfunded liability”.

He immediately embarked on a program
of “fiscal management” by freezing the em-
ployer assessments to the WCB at the 1983
level. This increased the unfunded liability
by 66 million dollars for the coming year,
1984. Obviously, it was not the employers
who would be paying for the deficit.

If employers do not pay, workers
must. Cut services, cut programs, cut
Board employees, cut regulations, and
all you have left is an insurance pro-
gram which protects the employer
from being sued.

The “unfunded liability’ was being
reduced considerably under Art Gibbons’
Chairmanship. It had shrunk from $504
million in 1982 to $434 million in 1983. The
WCB News of March/April, 1984, said “the
reduction was influenced by the decrease in
the accident rate, improved rate of return of
WCB investments, and net gains in assess-
ments resulting from rate increases to B.C.
Industry”. So much for the excuses given for
removing Gibbons and for the slashing of
people and programs. The Socreds are
simply bent on revenge against those who
opposed them, and rewards for their
supporters, in this case, B.C. employers.
Their actions, and those of their man hired
to wield the axe, are strictly political.

Flesher was in office only a few short
weeks when the “dirty work” began.
Calhoun, Executive Director of Industrial
Health & Safety Division, was fired with
approximately one hour’s notice, the reason
given “incompatible management styles”.

Continued on Page 2

NEW ZEALAND

U NDER new Leader David Lange, New Zealand’s Labor Party triumphed over
former Prime Minister Muldoon’s far-right National Party in the election held July
14 (Bastille Day, but no guiotines yet).

The new Parliament will have 56 Labor, 37 National, and 2 Social Credit members.

Labor's campaign featured commitments to full employment policies, repeal of
Muldoon’s many anti-labor statutes, and the declaration of a two hundred mile “limit”
within which no nuclear arms or energy would be permitted. (NO nuclear-powe
warships) :

As this issue goes to press, U.S. Secretary of State Schultz is in Auckland pressing
for a change, but the new Governmentis standing firm against threats to retaliate with
a boycott of all New Zealand goods.

This became a major issue in December of 1983, when a British aircraft carrier
was accepted into Wellington Harbour by Muldoon and later refused entry to
Australia’s “nuclear-free” Sydney Harbour by Labour Prime Minister Hawkes.

The U.S. Ambassador to new Zealand made unambassadorial comments during
the campaign, no doubt increasing Labor's vote.

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