LU

LABOUR

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She said the ombudsman’s report is proof that a Royal Commission into the WCB’s

tions should be implemented now, the report only touches on a few aspects of workers’ com- pensation in B.C., said Allevato.

She also said arguments against instituting the recom- mendations on the grounds these would be too costly, “fare ludicrous. That $263-million surplus Nielson is talking about would go a long way to solving all the inequities and faults in the present system.”

Trade unionists say the first

18 of Owen’s recommenda- tions, dealing with first-stage claims, should be implemented immediately. They are cool, however, to recommendations that they say would increase the “adversarial” nature of the appeal process. Among Owen’s list of sugges- tions, some of which entail legis- lative changes, are recommend- ations that:

@ The WCB discontinue its policy of suspending benefits pending the outcome of empl- oyers’ appeals;

@ Claimants be allowed access to their file on request;

@ Decisions denying claims be preceded by a letter outlining the reasons for denial;

@ The cammissioners’ auth- ority to overturn or reject review board recommendations be ter- minated.

Owen’s report also recom- mends that the medical review

workings is needed. While sev-. eral of Owen’s recommenda- ~

WCB reform pressed

Workers Compensation Board offices, Richmond ...

Commission is needed.

panels be independent of the WCB, falling instead under the authority of the independent review board.

And the ombudsman calls for a conference “of all inter- ested parties” to review the recommendations and other WCB issues.

“T think that’s an excellent idea, but only as a first step toa Royal Commission,” said CAIMAW’s Walker.

In a letter to Nielson B.C. Government Employees Union president John Shields urged the implementation of Owen’s recommendations for “the pri- mary adjudication ‘process.

“TI am concerned that Mr. Nielson’s initial response was unduly negative, particularly in light of the measured and objec- tive analysis of the ombuds- man,” Shields wrote.

Royal

In another letter the BCGEU president urged Labour Minis- ter Lyall Hanson to allow an “independent inquiry” into the WCB arising from the $99.3- million payback decision.

That decision, which fol- lowed reductions in 1987 aver- age assessments to employers earlier this year, was called “a disgrace” by International Woodworkers Canadian pres- ident Jack Munro.

Georgetti said that “someone has to pay for the workings of the board. If employers don’t, then the provincial government will have to come up with the money.”

He called the move “part of the Vander Zalm government’s strategy of putting B.C. into the bargain basement for sale, by offering employers an assess- ments holiday.”

Labour in action

GEORGE HEWISON

- PSAC come to bat in a few weeks time.

~ Havilland, with bargaining at the Big Three shaping up for

AFL blasts Labour Code

EDMONTON — Bill 60, Al- berta’s proposed new Labour Code is a_ pro-business legal straight jacket which the Alberta Federation of Labour has vowed to oppose.

AFL president Dave Werlin, in the wake of provincial Labour Minister Ian Reid’s introduction of the legislation, June 17, has promised to extend the fed- eration’s ‘‘Change the Law” campaign to lobby against Bill 60. That campaign, and the turbulent labour climate which produced it, were the main reasons the Tory government launched its costly review of labour legislation in 1986.

Werlin has said the federation will once again tour every region of the province to mobilize both public opinion as well as labour against the bill. 1986 witnessed what amounted to a total break- down in labour relations in Al- berta with such key battles as the Gainers strike, and other strug- gles including Ziedler Lumber, Suncor and Fletcher’s Meat products.

The Change the Law campaign, he added emerged from these bat- tles and its main focus, aside from demanding sweeping labour law reform, ‘‘was to continually re- mind Dr. Reid and his colleagues what the major underlying causes

”

were.

These included the employers’ widespread use of spin-off com- panies to escape union organiza- tion, the imposition of 25 hour lock-outs to destroy union con- tracts, and the hiring of scabs.

Combined with what he called Alberta’s ‘‘antiquated, anti-union certification process,” and pen- sion regulations that permitted Pocklington to seize part of the workers’ pension funds, the government's _ pro-business labour policies were exposed as the cause of hostilities.

‘Despite the overwhelming evidence at the public hearings, despite concerted province-wide lobbying of MLAs, and despite a petition with more than 20,000 signatures, the government has introduced legislation which either fails to address any of our major concerns, or what is even more serious, adds to the anti-union, anti-labour provisions in existing legislation,’ Werlin said.

The federation centred on about half a dozen major areas and _ scores of omissions. In fact, Werlin pointed out that the pro- business bias is actually en- shrined in the proposed labour code’s preamble.

It talks about labour relations in the framework of ‘‘the competi- tive world-wide market economy

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 15, 1987

*’ and bases them “‘on a com- mon interest in the success of the employing organization ...”

So the intent is to develop a labour relations climate in Alberta serving business interests rather than protecting workers’ rights.

Included among labour’s com- plaints against Bill 60 are:

e A section banning picket line solidarity, or publicizing a boy- cott by anyone not striking, or employed by the company in the dispute;

@ Introduction of a forced mediation process where the min- ister can unilaterally appoint a mediator after 60 days of bargain- ing, who in turn can recommend the minister appoint a mediation board;

@ Permission for employers to force a vote on their final offer whenever they choose to do so;

@ The “right” for workers to.

exempt themselves from union membership. on_ religious grounds, while enjoying the full wage, benefits and working con- ditions negotiated in a union con- tract;

' @ Limitless authority for the government to force workers into consultative procedures bypass- ing unions, and the creation of multi-sector labour relations and employment standards advisory councils with unknown mandates and powers.

‘noose tightens around the trade union throat.

_words of the former provincial deputy labour minister, _ stitutes ‘“‘legislative violence’’ against workers, i

Are the lesson of unity

being leamed

by leadership?

There is a great deal of concern in the trade union moveme that the specially-called meeting of the Canadian Labour Co: gress later this month will deal with the Canadian Autoworke Fish incident as the main agenda item.

If this proves to be the case it will be a collective tragedy fe labour, especially if the meeting is not used to quickly consign the divisive issue to history and forge the new unity demanded these times of intense struggle.

The time and energy of Canada’s top trade union leaders wo’ be better spent preparing labour for the biggest test ofits history

Licking its wounds Canada Post, and the Mulroney Government, have just taken licking from the Letter Carriers and the trade union movement despite the unprecedented use of government strikebreakers a violence gagainst workers. The government has gone off to lick its wounds, but has swo to be back. Harold Dunstan, chief spokesperson for Gafenh Post, appeé intent on taking another run at postal workers during ‘the ne round of the continuing saga at the post office when CUPW

The CAW is locked in serious union-bashing combat at.

tember.

Tightening the noose The United Food and Commercial Workers union isin ah long clash with the Western Groceries chain, and the Big: fo conglomerates. The Steelworkers, who almost escaped 1987 bargaining scathed, are in a classic strike at Cominco in British Columbi This is but a sampling of what some of the major union going through. The registry is far from complete. Then there’s the politico-legal front: Merv Lavigne and the NCC have just scored again as the le;

Bill Vander Zalm has rammed through legislation whith: int

Ss sentiments. of British Columbians. —

* Neanderthal cousins sa Next pa in VaAlbertali Vander Zalm’s neanderthal cousin .

Petes have just confirmed that they too have learned not from last year’s Gainers’ dispute. Premier Don Getty has br. in amendments to the Labour Code which make the act worse! —> (as if that was possible).

Grant Devine, in Saskatchewan, fas eed to sell

and in face of police ae tees have moved out into : f democratic opinion. —