Stresses are many on the job We all face different types of stress on the job that fall into three major categories - physical, organizational and workplace stresses. At this year’s conference, Local 1000 business agent and officer Yvon Rochon, a certified safety instructor in Ontario, took several workshops through some important material on the topic. He told them that stress causes a normal “flight or fight” response in humans. Hither we try to get away from it, or we get caught by it and our body fights back. Over the short term, stressors can cause an inability to work. Nervousness, disorientation and fear can result. Over the medium term there can be loss of appetite, irritativeness, sleep deprivation, weight gain/loss, dizziness, headaches and other symptoms. Long-term exposure to stressors can lead to diseases; anxiety, depression, diabetes, a decreased immune system, stomach problems, heart and circulation difficulties, higher blood pressure, an increase in cholesterol and fats, premature retirement and can even cause death. During one workshop that the Lumberworker sat in on, the participants where asked to identify stressors they have seen in the workplace. In the area of physical stress, dangerous work is one major category. The immediate environ- ment (heat, air quality, noise, lighting, exposure to lasers, etc.) are also important factors. Crowded conditions and ergonomically unfriendly environments (with excessive vibrations, too many repetitive tasks, and bad posture) are stressors on the workforce. Organizational stresses identified include lack of involvement, lack of knowledge of goals and lack of training, bad production methods, discrimination and forms of harassment. Brother Rochon said studies show about 75 per cent of women experience sexual harassment during their work lives. Unemployment is also a_ serious stressor and prolonged joblessness results in greater premature deaths and increased suicides. “Unions and union members are one of the best equipped groups to ee ¢ Local 1000 business agent and officer Yvon Rochon facilitated a workshop on stress issues in the workplace. deal with stress and help people out,” said Rochon. “but we have to first know what the stress factors are.” He said that if workers bring such issues to their negotiating committee, better conditions, including health and safety, can be negotiated in the workplace. He said that union members should take a democratic approach to negotiating reasonable workloads. In negotiations, unions can. negotiate more work breaks and, on swing shifts, they can negotiate longer breaks. Union can also support their members with education and training on stress issues and support workers and their families. Changing lifestyles can go a long way to reducing stress. Workers can seek assistance in modifying their diet, exercising more, getting proper sleep and increasing family time. Rochon said that as most I.W.A. members and their families have access to Employee and Family Assistance Programs, access to them can be of great help in reducing stressful issues. When all fails, stress related injuries or illness are compensable but there is first a need to establish “work-relatedness” said Brother Rochon. "Union people need to realize that they belong to organizations that are the workers’ best option to fight back against a stressful workplace," added Rochon. “Because we have such a diverse national union there are so many different types stressors on our brothers and sisters." & Fight Bill 57 Ontario reps told Ontario delegates to the national safety conference heard warnings about the Harris government’s recent assault on workers’ health and safety rights when they learned more on Bill 57 (an act to promote government efficiency and to improve services to taxpayers by amending or repealing certain acts). That omnibus bill, which was in its first reading in mid-June, amends the Occupational Health and Act of Ontario and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, and is in part intended to take away the present system that allows workers the right to refuse unsafe work. Today if any worker fears a hazard they can step back, call their supervisor and joint safety committee rep and make a decision. If there is a discrepancy, an inspector from the Ministry of Labour can be called in to physically visit the site and make a decision. Bill 57 would allow the employer to call in to the ministry ee an inspector to make a decision on the phone. The government has not much more than 200 inspectors anyways. “T don’t know about you guys but I don’t know too many Ministry of Labour inspectors that were workers,” said Wayne Glibbery, a field re; and Safety Centre in Sudbury. “You know what’s coming? Our right to refuse is going down the tubes,” he added. The effectiveness of joint health and safety committees is being reduced. Currently ajoint OH&S committee member has the right to be present during a critical injury review. Bill 57 says that if a joint committee member is absent, the boss can go to the worker of their choice to do the review. Bill 57 also includes the following: ° it gets rid of obligations on the Ministry of Labour and employers to make sure workers are protected when biological agents or new chemicals are introduced for the first time. e it gives the pean Minister the power to accept standards or codes developed by industry as law and allows employers to ignore current legislation by following a standard the Deputy Minister accepts. ° it eliminates WHMIS require- ments to develop and maintain hazardous material inventory and Continued on page twenty-nine a WCB/WSIB Cont. from page twenty-seven and the determined benefit based on his/her old income. But the result from a lower-paid, non-union job is often no benefits and no private pension plan continuance. The workshop instructors said that it’s easy to find compensation rates by going to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada website (awcbc.ca) for links. The wages that workers earned before their accident determines what compensation comes their way, the amount of vocational rehab assistance paid out, and future pension benefits. In B.C. in most cases they look at what the person earned a year before the injury. But, for instance, if they don’t work for six months of the previous 12 months, the benefits can drastically drop off. The unfairness of the system is that ifthe board deems there’s lesser lost earnings, its position is that there are fewer training allowances that are needed to mitigate. The Harris government has hammered workers. Not only does it deduct income tax, CPP and EI contributions from WSIB benefits, but it also pays out at 75 per cent of lost wages after those deductions. Marques said employers in that provinces are saving hundreds of millions of dollars and that a plan that began to compensate injured workers decades ago is now being used to insulate employers from paying full premiums. On the issue of compensation appeals, Parker said most I.W.A. collective agreements provide short term disability benefits and/or weekly indemnity while workers wait it out. But they have to pay the WCB/WSIB back if and when benefits flow. Employment Insurance offers up to 15 weeks of benefits (for those who qualify) to assist workers who can’t get weekly indemnity and that the last resort, social assistance, is only paid in B.C. if the injured has no house, doesn’t have a car worth over $5,000 and has no real assets. “If you’re pretty well living out of a shopping cart and walking down the street, they might consider social assistance,” he said. Parker said that over 90 per cent of fatalities occur to male workers and that “it’s very cheap for the system to kill workers.” If a workers with no dependents is killed and has no aera the B.C. board only picks up funeral costs. In Ontario death benefits range from a low of $28,486 to a high of $85,429.13 with all sorts of criteria determining benefits in between, a policy which Brother Marques called “discriminatory on the basis of why is one person’s life worth more than another's?” m a rrr, 28/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 2001 from the Workers Health ~ .