e At IWA-CANADA'S National Health and Safety Conference there was a special presentation on the issue of dis- abled workers. L. to r. are IWA First Vice-President Neil Menard, MB’s Director of Labour Relations Peter Lawrie, and Wolfgang Zimmerman, Executive Director of the Disabled Forestry Workers' Association of Canada. Union and industry boost support for reintegration of the disabled he issue of rehabilitating in- ijured workers has never been fully addressed in a comprehensive and cohesive way in Canada. In recent years there have been increasing ef- forts among some union’s and em- ployers to deal with the issue. But by and large, efforts have been piecemeal in nature and there are no federal or provincial rules and regulations to in- sure that the injured get a fair shake and are given an opportunity to lead productive and meaningful lives. IWA-CANADA, like may other unions and employers, has a strong re- alization of the problems and obsta- cles involved in getting the injured and/or disabled workers back to work. Statistics say that about 5% of the B.C. forest industry covered by collective agreements are off on long-term dis- ability, workers’ compensation, or pri- vate insurance. Those numbers can be replicated across Canada. In human terms the costs are much more severe. In terms of emotional and psychological well-being of dis- abled workers and their families and the erosion of skills and self-confi- dence of persons with disabilities, the costs are immeasurable. So we as a trade union have to con- tinue to do something about the issue. Doing something about it is as impor- tant as our efforts for preventative health and safety measures in the workplace. We should not only care about our Sisters and Brothers before they go to work, we should also do our level best to help them in the un- fortunate event that they have sus- tained a disability either on or off the job. At a recent IWA-CANADA National Health and Safety conference the is- sue concerning disabled workers was addressed with the intention of giving the conference delegates the notion that now is the time to take the final step to instituting joint labour-man- agement run reintegration programs in the workplace. “It’s an important program that needs to be looked at, accepted, and done,” National first vice-president Neil Menard said to the conference. “We always, as union people think about the welfare of our Sisters and Brothers when they get hurt on the job.” But Brother Menard said that all to often, we slough off people onto Workers’ Compensation benefits, health and welfare benefit programs or long-term disability programs and the disabled become “out of sight, out of mind.” Working people with disabilities must be entitled the pride of bringing home a paycheque to their Jamilies — EARL FOXCROFT IWA’s National Injured Workers’ Rep. Disabled workers become frustrat- ed, says Menard, because “we are sup- posed to be their union and we are supposed to be developing programs to help them out instead of saying ‘you've go weekly indemnity or you’ve got WCB’.” “All of these (disabled) members - at least a lot of them at some point in time, have changed abilities but they still have ability to come back into our operations,” added Menard. “The first thing that comes up in the red flag of seniority. We're forgetting that a lot of these (disabled) members are senior people that get hurt and they have a right to get back into the workplace.” The IWA has embarked on a joint labour-management operated pilot project with Macmillan Bloedel. The first testing grounds for the pilot are at MB’s Somass cedar mill in Port Al- berni (See story next page) A lot of eyes will be on the Case Management model program to see how things turn out. Also present at the National Safety Conference was Earl Foxcroft, retired IWA president of the Port Alberni lo- cal, who serves as the union’s Nation- al Injured Workers Representative. In his role with the IWA and as an Exec- utive Director with the Disabled Forestry Workers Foundation of Canada, Brother Foxcroft has been active on the issue for more than 12 years. He says the time has come when the union and the companies have to take the final step at the operation level. “We can spend all the time that we want talking to CEO’s and industrial relations people and talking to our union officials about what should hap- pen but it all has to come down to commitment at the operational level in the plants and in the logging opera- tions.” “Working people with disabilities still must be entitled the pride of bringing that paycheque home to pro- vide a reasonable living for them- selves and their families.” added Brother Foxcroft. “Most workers are no longer satisfied with weekly in- demnity, long term disability or other forms of compensation payments.” The simple fact is that persons with disabilities across Canada live well below the poverty line. More than 60% of working age people with a disabili- ty receive under $10,000 a year in in- come. Brother Foxcroft told the safety conference delegates that efforts to re- integrate workers cannot succeed unless there is a joint program in place. He said there is no question about MB's commitment to the joint labour- management program. He also said that other major employers such as International Forest Products, Weld- wood Canada, and Fletcher Challenge Canada are interested is possible coming in with similar programs. Peter Lawrie, Director of Labour Relations with MB, said that work- place-based joint labour-management programs are the only way to make things happen. In 1990 at a national conference on disabilities, MB and IWA-CANADA an- nounced an agreement to cooperate in searching for solutions to work- place reintegration of disabled work- ers. Four years later, after many investigations, the program is getting ready to go. ay feed, to get past the good inten- tions and develop programs that actu- ally mean something on the shop floor,” he said at the conference. He said that often employers have been worried about the financial costs of reintegrating disabled workers but. that those worries are really a “red herring.” He also said that experience and research has shown that an aver- age cost of accommodations in the workplace are in the $600-700 range. Sometimes when an individual is in- jured, said Lawrie, higher barriers are set for their return to work. He said that with perseverance and good will, a lot can be done for in- jured workers. He also said that, not unlike the Employee and Family Assistance Pro- gram, the objective of a jointly admin- istered Occupational Disability Management program is to focus on the outcome for the individual. Speaking at the conference was Wolfgang Zimmerman, Executive Di- rector of the Disabled Forestry Work- ers Foundation of Canada. “It's taken a long time to get where we have gotten today. We’re making progress because of the commitment that is there.” He said that we need to analyze, in- dividually and collectively, all we can do to assist the disabled. “We in Canada are the only ones in a modern industrial country who have not handled this in a cohesive fash- ion,” commented Zimmerman. “Soon- er or later the day will come when we will have no choice but to impose some clear requirements which may not be to the liking of a whole lot of people.” Government gives priority to disabled issues When talking to top level Cabinet members in the B.C. government it is obvious that there is considerable awareness and a resolve to do more for disabled workers than has been done in the past. The Lumberworker recently went to Victoria to see what both Dan Miller, Minister of Skills, Training, and Labour and Minister Re- sponsible for Disability Issues and Glen Clark, Minister of Employment and Investment would say about the plight of the disabled. “I am not satisfied that we do enough generally in our society to as- sist people who have disabilities to find a meaningful role in our society,” said Mr. Miller. He also said that too often society sets people aside with a social assis- tance cheque or long term disability insurance payments. “There’s a strong feeling amongst the representatives of people with dis- abilities that that’s not good enough,” said the Minister. “They (the disabled) want to be gainfully employed and a part of this economy.” In early June Premier Mike Har- court announced that the provincial government intends to establish an Office for Disability Issues to coordi- nate an integrated plan for dealing Continued on next page Ce 8/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1994