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national first vice president Neil Menard.

OH & S conference held in Timmins

Timmins, Ontario was the site of
this year’s National Health and
Safety Conference, hosted by I.W.A.
Canada Local 2995, which has two
sawmills in the city. The conference
was held at the Senator Hotel, with
some workshops at the nearby
Colege Boreal.

About 165 participants from
across Canada were in attendance
from local unions in six provinces;
national and local union officials,
national safety council officers and
local safety directors.

The welcoming address was given
by Local 2995 president Damien
Roy whose local, with some
assistance from Local 2693 in
Thunder Bay, worked with the
national safety council to coordinate
the event and ensure the agenda
went smoothly.

Brother Roy said in a bilingual
French/English address that it was
an honour and a prvuegs for his
local to welcome the delegates and
noted that, for the first time, a
national conference was about to
offer bilingual workshops and
indicated that it was an important
step in the I.W.A’s becoming a truly
national union.

He was proud to announce that in
his local, there have been no
fatalities in the past two years, and
attributed the result in great part
to 2995’s efforts at the local and
sub-local level and increased
cooperation with employers.

The local saw the conference as
an opportunity to increase rank-
and-file participation and also
involve employers, of which several
were in the audience.

The high level of participation
caused Brother Roy to remark that
“people are interested and that
health and safety are joint ventures.”

He welcomed all the I.W.A.
members and encouraged them to
share their experiences and
expertise.

‘Enjoy your conference and when
you’re back home make sure that
you inform your brothers and sisters
in your workplace to always
remember work safety — someone
at home is either waiting for a father,
mother, spouse, brother or sister to
come home from work. Don’t
disappoint them,” said Roy. “Never
forget that an injury to one is an
injury to all.”

National First Vice President
Neil Menard, officer responsible for
health and safety, remarked that it
was encouraging to see management
representatives appear at another
union safety conference.

“We don’t change anything. We
don’t do anything different because
you are here,” he said, pointing out
that safety is a joint effort and that

“hopefully we can strike some nerves
ai all of you and create some
really good debates.”

Menard acknowledged the
presence of national I.W.A. president

¢ Opening speakers at this year’s safety conference included host Local 2995 president Damien Roy (1.) and

Dave Haggard. He said that
Haggard’s commitment to be present
at every national safety conference
since assuming office in 1997, has
worked to increase the conference’s
profile at the national level. Also
present was national fourth vice
president Norm Rivard.

National safety director Tom
Lowe, on behalf of the national
safety council and local union safety
directors, delivered the message
that the national and local unions
represent all workers regardless of
their title or employer. :

He outlined the I.W.A’s goal of
“zero tolerance” towards injuries,
illness and fatalities.

Brother Lowe said that any
workplace that does not put a
number one priority on safety,
compromises safety. He added that
the conference provides an
opportunity to “redirect the struggle”
towards the zero tolerance policy
and promotes safety through
training and sharing of ideas.

He encouraged employers to
“protect their investment” by
devoting increased time and
resources to meet health and
safety needs.

“Full cooperation by us as
individuals, co-workers, employers
and as a union will create a positive,
pro-active approach to encourage
and improve the health and safety
of all workers in Canada,” said Lowe.

Bob Patterson, chairperson of the

national safety council, highlighted
the conference theme of “Working
Together to Achieve Zero Injuries.”

He said that they are in
conjunction with the union’s theme
for the decade — the challenge to
achieve an injury-free workplace by
2010.

“A lot of us don’t know how we
are going to get there but we will
start to develop tools and start
working together to achieve this
goal,” said Brother Patterson.

Patterson introduced other
members of the national safet;
council, including Brother Menard.
They are 1st vice Joe Hanlon,
president of Local 2995; 2nd vice
Les Veale, officer from Local 1-3567;
3rd vice Norm Prevost, business
agent from Local 1-425; 4th vice

_Bernie Rushton, officer from Local

1-207; recording secretary Stan
McMaster, officer from Local 1-405,
and Brother Lowe.

MOST WORKSHOPS TO DATE

_ The Timmins conference was the
fifteenth annual national safety
conference for I.W.A. Canada. It
offered two main speakers, a
motivational speaker, eleven
different workshops, an address
from the national president and a
wrap-up.

The main speakers were Stephen
Mantis, national coordinator from
the Canadian Injured Workers’
Alliance, who spoke on the effects of
injury, and Michel Perusse, director
of safety for Noranda, who lectured
on influencing attitudes and
behaviors on health and safety.

Workshops were as following:
Brother Menard joined with
Weyerhaeuser’s Jim Stimson and
consultant Neil Berger to address
the “Courage to Care” (dealing with
alcohol and drug dependency issues
in the workplace; Tom Lowe directed
groups on conflict resolution

techniques to solve health and safety
matters and achieving “the neutral
zone” as occupational health and
safety committee members; Local
2171's safety director Jim Parker
and Local 500 safety director Saul
Marques spoke and facilitated
discussion on WCB/WSIB advocacy;
Brothers Patterson and Veale
facilitated discussion on dealing
with discipline and safety incentive
programs in the workplace; and
lawyer Michael Gottheil led a class
on workplace harassment.

Bilingual workshops included
“Stress in the Workplace”, directed
by Local 1000’s Yvon Rochon;
“Ergonomics”, led by Wayne
Glibbery and Julienne Dionne of
the Workers Health and Safety
Centre; “Safety and the Myth of the
Careless Worker”, with Marc
Quevillon, and “Strategies for
Change”, led by Gaetan Carrier.

At the end of the first day,
delegates and visitors enjoyed a
full banquet and a humorous
motivational presentation by Dr.
Gilles R. Lapointe. a

CIWA rep
speaks to
delegates

Who better to talk about how the
ies works for injured workers
somebody whose been injured
and has been through all the trials
and tribulations that it takes to get
thier life back together? _
Delegates and participants at
this year’s safety conference heard
from Thunder Bay’s Stephen
Mantis, a former construction
worker who was injured and suffered
permanent disability in a 1978

accident. He is now the national
coordinator of the Canadian Injured
Workers Association (CIWA).

Mr. Mantis was working on
moving a house and was
straightening a 10 ton winch at the
front of a truck when his left hand

love got caught on a jagger and
dian d his whole arm through the
saat His limb first broke at his
forearm completely popped out,
winding around the winch.Had a $6
kill switch been working, the
incident could have been prevented.

The accident changed and
influenced Mantis’ whole life. He
tried to go back to work but “whose
gonna have a one-armed carpenter
around?” he pondered.

Then the WCB told him he would
never work in construction again.
Nor would he be able to garden.
The advice he got was “to finda

good woman.”

Fortunately for Mantis, a network
a friends and neighbours helped get
him back on track and helped him
set a new direction in life. That
strong social support made the
difference.

“It lifted me up,” he said. “It also
created for me the need to get back,
to repay for the help.”

For a young man missing an entire
limb, Mantis faced uncertainty. It’s
the type of uncertainty that can
make the disabled lose social contact
with friends and fellow workers.

In dealing with the then Workers’
companeesion Board of Ontario, he
felt alienated by patronizing attitude
of an organization of “folks paid to
look after you.”

Stress levels go up. For those on
long term cially or who are
permanently disabled, one-third of

marriages break-up.

“Most of us are defined by the
jobs we do — who we are,” he said.
But when you can’t your self-esteem
and value to the community go down.
The same goes for the family.

Mantis said scrapping in the
family ensues as full emotional
impacts are felt. It’s hard for the
disabled to deal with rejection if it
happens. a

Across Canada, Mantis said about
50,000 people a year wind up with a
permanent disability. Fifty to
seventy-five per cent of those end
up unemployed.

The average pension? About $300
a month, which is less than welfare.

“Thank God for unions, because
that’s the 25-50% that go back to
work and stay back at work,” said.

Continued on page twenty-six

—S LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 2001/25

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