5 a THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER DECEMBER 1976 — JANUARY 1977 —

especially in Ontario, Quebec
and British Columbia within
the last year. Here in B.C., the

truggles at Cominco, Alcan
and Cassiar are the most ob-
vious.

“Thirdly, the largest export
market resource-based em-
ployers, under the leadership
of the Employers’ Council and
COFI, want-to develop an in-

creasingly consolidated
business political strength,
through uniting small and
domestic market service and
manufacturing employers with
them. This they have tried to
do, around the WCB, through
arguments which stress
assessment costs and govern-
ment interference in employer
activities.”

— KIMEROUC Lic

NUME

EROUS FIRINGS

Munro also slammed the
numerous firings and forced
dismissals among senior staff
which has had a drastic affect
on the morale of the other WCB
personnel.

Munro was highly critical of
two major problems faced by
the Boards of Review. He
stated:

“For some time a problem
has been developing in respect
of the workload at the boards of
review. There are, in normal
circumstances, three boards of
review chairmen. For some
time there has been pressure
from the labour movement to
appoint a fourth board, since it
was apparent that three boards
could not keep pace with the
number of claims going to
appeal.

“As of July 1, 1976, the ad-
ministrative chairman of the

boards of review resigned.
This has left only two boards
functioning and the backlog of
cases has grown dramatically.

“As of September 30, 1976
there was a backlog of approx-
imately 860 cases. It is
estimated that the backlog will
reach 1,000 cases by December
31, 1976.

“Appeals are going to the
board of review at the rate of
approximately 180 cases per
month. It is estimated by the
current chairmen at the board
of review that a normal work-
load for each board would be
the determination of 40 to 45
cases per month. On that basis,
four boards of review would be
required simply to keep pace
with the number of cases
currently coming before the
boards, without consideration
of dealing with the backlog.”

WAITING

MONTHS

To put the gravity of the
situation in perspective, it
should be kept in mind that
three boards working full-time
in 1975 dealt with 1,400 cases.
‘The system is, therefore,
suffering from a backlog of
approximately one year of
cases. The result for workers is
that they are literally waiting
months before they receive a
decision on their entitlement to
compensation benefits.

“The backlog is so severe
that if an appeal is launched at
the present time the board of
review is unable to set a date
for a hearing.

“It should be noted that the
workload at boards of review
varies proportionately to the
negative attitude of claims
adjudicators towards
claimants. If the approach of
adjudicators is to deny all
doubtful claims without

making a full investigation the
caseload of appeals will over-
whelm the boards of review
within a short period of time;
that is, if the adjudicators are
not doing a proper job or if they
are disallowing claims on the
assumption that the worker
will appeal if dissatisfied, the
boards of review will be unable
to cope.”

Viewed in this way, it is
apparent that the problems at.
the board of review are not
peculiar to their administra-
tion, but are a function of the
approaches of Board staff. It

_ seems apparent to labour that

such approaches have taken a
definite anti-worker shift in the
past ten months and that this
shift at the level of claims
adjudicators is a reflection of
their perception of the Com-
missioners’ attitude toward
workers. :

SECOND PROBLEM

“The second major problem
in respect of the boards of
review is the Commissioners’
practice developed in the past
months of reconsidering

decisions of the boards of

review. The Commissioners
have lately been refusing to
implement those decisions
pate: of wrens: on i
evidence by the

‘boards of review. This is
directly “snare to board
So grenageeniie Reporter
No. 31. This states

that board of review decisions
only be overturned by the
nmissioners where they
some error in law or
n of Board

“Fired Board Secretary
Connie Sun supported charges
made earlier by former
Labour’ Minister Bill King that
the Commissioners were
refusing to implement up-
wards of 60% of board of
review decisions changing
decisions of claims adjudicat-
ors. In a letter to the editor
(Vancouver Sun, November
17th, 1976) WCB public
relations director Grant Mc-
Millan described Ms. Sun’s
statements as distorting the
facts. The figures he supplied
showed that the Commission-
ers had refused to implement
50% (73 of 147) of the board of
review decisions reviewed by

“There are at least 2 glaring
ommiissions in MecMillan’s
response. Firstly he does not
suggest that the remaining
50% of board of review
decisions have in fact been
implemented. It is our conten-
tion that the majority of these
decisions have not been im-
plemented. The experience of
our union members has been
that the Commissioners are
“sitting on’”’ numerous board of
review decisions.

“An accurate picture of the
non-implementation of board
of review decisions will only be
available when we are advised
how many: decisions are
gathering dust in the Commis-
sioners’ offices. A covert
failure to implement is just as
effective as a direct refusal to
implement.

“The second aspect of the
problem which Mr. McMillan
has undoubtedly been encour-
aged to overlook by those who
seek to justify or mask admin-
istrative lawlessness is the
type of decision which the
Commissioners choose to
attack. It comes as no surprise
to organized labour to discover
that every decision of the
board of review which the
Commissioners have refused
to implement has been a
decision favourable to a
worker.”’
~Munxro in conclusion stated
the IWA Regional Council was
requesting from Labour
Minister Williams and _ the
Commissioners of the WCB
action on the following eleven
points:

1. An immediate review by the
Minister of the qualifica-
tions and conduct of the
Commissioners and Acting
Chairman, and the imme-
diate appointment of a
knowledgeable Chairman of
integrity and independence;
and,

2. Immediate release of the
Ross and Eckler studies
together with a commitment
that no action will be taken
to implement the recom-
mendations of those reports
until the labour movement
has been given a full oppor-
tunity to respond to their
proposals; and,

3. Immediate appointment of
an administrative chairman
for the boards of review and
a fourth board of review as
well as additional tempor-
ary appointments whose
function it is to deal with the
massive backlog of appeals;
and,

4. A commitment from the
Minister that the independ-
ent boards of review will be
maintained and that the
Commissioners will not be
allowed to negate their
effect by an overt or covert
refusal to implement
decisions; and,

5. A commitment from the
Minister and the Board to
immediately correct the
serious problems pointed
out in the areas of accident
prevention, industrial
hygiene, noise and hearing
control and fishing inspec-
tions; and

6. A commitment from the
Board to enact progress-
ively amended health and
safety regulations at the
earliest possible date and to
immediately allocate the
necessary staff and
resources to ensure effect-
ive administrative imple-
mentation; and,

7. Immediate implementation
by the Board of Section 40A
of the Workers’ Compensa-
tion Act; and,

8. Immediate implementation
by the Board of Section 24A
of the Workers’ Compensa-
tion Act, to make available
to workers the benefits
which the legislature has

°

long since sanctioned; and,
9. Immediate appointment by
the Minister of a full-time
workers’ Compensation
Consultant; and,

10. Immediate promulgation
by the Board of a policy to
provide full compensation
coverage for cedar dust
asthma victims, in the
form of retraining, guaran-
teed employment, full
time-loss benefits and
permanent partial dis-
ability awards; and,

11. An immediate halt to any ~
further cutbacks -in Board

services and compensation
entitlement.

LOCAL 1-206 SEEKS
NEW CERTIFICATION

Local 1-206 IWA, Calgary,
Alberta, has applied for certifi-
cation of Norfab Homes
Limited, Fort Macleod,
Alberta.

This application resulted
from the many employees
from Norfab Homes Limited
approaching Local 1-206 and
expressing their dissatisfac-
tion with the United Brother-
hood of Carpenters & Joiners of
America, Local 1525 and their
desire to have the IWA repre-
sent them as their bargaining
agent.

On October 15th and prior to
the expiry date of their collec-
tive agreement on October
24th, an application for certifi-
cation was filed by local 1-206
which was received by the
Board: of Industrial Relations
in Edmonton on October 18th.

At a hearing conducted by
the Board in Calgary on
November 9th, objections from
both the employer and Local
1525 were raised claiming the
IWA application untimely in
that a collective agreement
was executed and effective as
of October 15th, 1976 and that
this should be a bar to the IWA
application, since the applica-
tion for certification was not

received by the Board in
Edmonton until the 18th of
October.

In considering the evidence
presented by the interested
parties at this hearing, the
Board ruled that the purported
collective agreement between
the employer and Local1525 is
not a bar to the IWA applica-
tion and thereby ordering 4 re-
presentation vote. The Car-
penters immediately filed an
appeal in fhe eas chal-
lenging the Boards ruling in al-
lowing the IWA application as
timely. This is to be heard in
Calgary on Friday, December
10th, 1976.

The representation vote
which was scheduled for Fri-
day, December 3rd was also
challenged in the Courts by the
Carpenters in which they were
successful in having this vote
set aside until after the judge-

.ment is handed down in the

first appeal. The Board of In-
dustrial Relations of Alberta is
presently in the process in ap-
pealing the decision to have the-
vote set aside. It is hoped that
this judgement can be over-
turned in order to proceed with
the vote at the earliest time
possible.

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“LAWYERS NO MORE THAN :
HIRED GUNS” — BROWN om

Many lawyers are no more
than hired guns: of- the
capitalist system resisting the
forces of change, B.C. legis-
lative member Rosemary
Brown told 100 law students in
Vancouver Oct. 29.

“In legitimizing the status
quo lawyers are the servants of
capital. . . they act as guerilla
warriors ‘against the forces of
change,” the New Democratic
Party MLA said.

But lawyers are usually the
first to “‘colonize” areas of
hard-won change and use them
to make business, she added,
challenging law students to
examine where they will fit

‘into the legal system.

“There has always been a
minority of lawyers dedicated
to helping others,’’ but only, ‘‘a
small number of lawyers in-

|

volve themselves with the real
world, with prisoner’s
problems and the rights of
native Indians, women and
blacks,”’ she said.

During a question period
students protested that the
necessity of articling with
large law firms restricts them
from playing socially con-
scious roles.

Brown agreed, saying, “The
dilemma you have between
making money and changing
the social system is something
only you can solve.”

LIGHTER SIDE

Sawmill Sue says that a
small town is where everyone
knows which husbands beat

their wives — and also which
ones deserve it.