NEWS AROUND THE LOCAL DECEMBER 2006
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Injured Workers and Plant Closures
All workers faced with a plant closure should be given a survey and advised on how to file Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) Claims for Occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss. Those workers with existing claims for noise induced hearing loss should be encouraged to get re-determinations of the decisions in those claims in order to have them receive additional compensation for additional hearing loss sustained since their existing claims were first filed with the WSIB.

All workers with pre-1990 permanent disability pensions should be strongly encouraged to get up to date medical findings to determine whether they can get their pensions increased via reassessments. Likewise workers who received post-1990 Non Economic Loss (NEL) awards should obtain up to date medical findings from their treating physicians in order to try to get their NEL awards re-determined and increased.

Workers who were injured at work at the affected plant should all be interviewed to determine whether ongoing entitlement can be successfully obtained and where it can be obtained written requests for either permanent disability pensions or NEL awards should be made to the WSIB contingent upon the applicable date of injury. Where permanent disability pensions can be successfully obtained medical findings should be sought in order to obtain the maximum possible arrears on those permanent disability pensions. The dates of Maximum Medical Recovery used to calculate NEL awards should also be reviewed to see whether the best possible award was given.

The boss closing the plant should be told in no uncertain terms that where these examples of compensation cannot be achieved at WSIB Operations through the assigned Claims Adjudicators all issues where there is a credible chance of winning an appeal will be pursued all the way to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal. This will impose huge legal costs upon the boss if she or he chooses to be represented in the appeals process.

Workers with recognized permanent impairments should also be advised to seek payment for all medications, assistive devices and therapies through the WSIB. They should also be encouraged to get Clothing Allowances and travel expenses for medical appointments related to their occupational impairments whenever possible.

As a result all of the costs associated with these entitlements will be charged to the boss’ account with the WSIB. This will sharply increase the premiums the boss pays to the WSIB and it will continue to adversely affect the boss’ WSIB premiums in a major way for as long as the affected workers live.

The sum total of the costs of all of these WSIB entitlements for the affected workers potentially runs into the millions of dollars. In other words the legacy costs to be born by the boss for the about to be terminated workforce will turn out to be the boss’ worst nightmare come true. You reap what you sow.

Mobilize on December 7
The Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups will be mobilizing a series of events in as many Ontario cities as possible to demand the justice so wrongly denied to injured workers in this province and badly needed changes to Ontario’s anti-worker workers compensation legislation. The December 7 rally in Niagara will take place at 4:30 pm outside of the WSIB offices at 301 St. Paul St. in St. Catharines

First Ontario Strike
At the time of this writing, the strike at First Ontario Credit Union in Hamilton and Stoney Creek is in its third week with the boss continuing to refuse to return to the bargaining table. The boss is demanding sweeping contract concessions that would effectively cripple the union and pave the way for its decertification. All possible support must be given to these workers on the picket line. If their strike is not successful the boss will be coming after our members at the First Ontario Credit Union next. Fight to win.

At the time of this writing the strike by members of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees union (COPE) Local 343 at the First Ontario Credit Union branches in Hamilton and Stoney Creek has entered its fifth week. All of the workers on strike are women. The boss is continuing to refuse to return to the bargaining table while making phony claims of being willing to negotiate and is doing this in order to discourage outside support for the strike. The boss is demanding sweeping contract concessions that would effectively cripple the union if achieved and would pave the way for the decertification of the union. Outside help with expertise in breaking unions was brought in before the strike began. These workers sought to negotiate a new collective agreement in good faith but were forced on strike as a result and now face the prospect of spending the holiday season on the picket lines.

All possible support must be given to these workers on their picket lines. If their strike is defeated the boss will be coming after our members at the First Ontario Credit Union in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls when their contract expires. As such, this is a critically important test for our union and for organized labour generally in Hamilton and the Niagara Peninsula.

The strikers have been receiving ongoing support from the United Steelworkers of America, the Hamilton and District Labour Council and some public sector union locals in Hamilton. Members of the CAW Local 199 Retirees Chapter and elected leaders from our First Ontario unit have led by example by bolstering COPE Local 343's picket lines on a regular basis. COPE Local 343's Chief Steward addressed our and the Retired Workers Chapter's general membership meetings in November.

However, much more needs to be done. The way we respond to this strike will show what we are made of as a union. There is absolutely no place for complacency, indifference or sitting on the sidelines in the face of this obvious attempt to smash COPE Local 343 as a step towards making First Ontario an entirely non-union employer. Fight to win.

GM and the Awakening Giant
For the past year we have been bombarded with tales of woe about the future of GM. These tales of woe have been peddled to justify lowering worker expectations and contract concessions at the expense of both active and retired GM workers.

It is significant and very revealing that those who are peddling these tales of woe have had little or nothing to say about GM’s stunning success in China. Just consider the following things. China has one quarter of the world’s population and is an awakening economic giant. It has the fastest growing automobile market in the world. That automobile market will soon be bigger than the one in the US. Last year GM became the number one automaker in that market. GM’s sales there were up 76% in the first quarter of this year. GM recently announced plans to build over one hundred and fifty new automotive sales dealerships in China.

There is more. GM’s ongoing expansion in China benefits directly from rock bottom labour costs much lower than those in Mexico. These rock bottom labour costs are held down by state controlled trade union which supports the economic policies of a Chinese government that stays in power by running a highly repressive police state. So GM is massively profiting from the exploitation of a powerless, dirt-cheap labour force working within an all-pervasive police state.

The Best Laid Plans
Nonetheless, all of this could be derailed. Despite this police state that routinely imprisons critics of China’s government social unrest is widespread. But it is spontaneous unrest and lacks organization. If it can coalesce and give birth to a movement events like those which occurred in the spring of 1989 could easily happen again. China would then be destabilized to a degree that could quickly wreck the plans of corporations like GM to cash in on dirt cheap labour and an expanding Chinese automotive market.

This would be especially likely to happen if an independent labour movement burst onto the scene. Independent unions began to be formed during the spring of 1989 and allied themselves with the student movement. At the height of the events in 1989 industrial workers seriously considered major strike actions. They could do so again.

All of this poses serious questions for workers in Canada. What does our labour leadership have to say about what is happening and what could happen in China? What kind of labour research is being done concerning this activities of corporations like GM in China? What are the implications of what is happening in China for the future of organized labour in Canada? What can we do in response to developments there? Finally, why isn’t debate about developments in China being strongly encouraged?

JUNE 2006 ISSUE

The 2006 CAW Constitutional Convention The 2006 CAW Constitutional Convention will be held the week of August 14, 2006 in Vancouver. This will be a critically important event insofar as for the first time there will be a contested election to choose the CAW National President.

Delegates to the convention will decide the outcome in a secret ballot election. The way in which this election will be carried out will be instructive for all CAW members in terms of showing whether the election of the CAW National President should continue to be decided by delegates voting at our Constitutional Conventions or whether we should elect the CAW National President by votes cast by the entire CAW membership across Canada.

Other top officers of the CAW will also be up for election at the CAW Constitutional Convention in Vancouver. Presently there is no indication that the other incumbents will be facing opposition in the elections for their positions.

Acclamations have been the norm at CAW Constitutional Conventions since the CAW was formed over 20 years ago.

WSIB Meeting
At the end of March the members of the CAW Council’s Workers Compensation Committee had a meeting in Toronto with the current Chairperson of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Ms. Jill Hutcheon. CAW Secretary Treasurer Jim O’Neil sat in with us throughout. The meeting was highly informative and featured a cordial but very frank exchange of views concerning some of the key issues facing injured workers at the WSIB. Among these was the applicability of the Ontario Human Rights Code to the WSIB's policies. There was specific discussion of the questions of employers’ duty to accommodate disabled workers and the application of the concept of undue hardship in relation to this employer duty provided for via the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Time will tell how fruitful the meeting with the WSIB Chairperson actually was. A follow up meeting with her is expected later this year. It should prove to be most interesting and hopefully will yield tangible results.

June 1: Injured Workers Day
June 1 is Injured Workers Day in Ontario and mobilizations of injured workers and their supporters are being planned for a number of cities across the province. One of these will be held for the second consecutive year here in St. Catharines in front of the WSIB offices on St. Paul St.

This important province-wide day of action constitutes an invaluable opportunity to hold Ontario’s Liberal government accountable for its abysmal failure to re-write the wrongs of the previous Tory government with respect to workers compensation legislation and do so in a way that will deliver long overdue justice to Ontario’s injured workers. The Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG) is at the forefront of these mobilizations. The CAW is a member organization of ONIWG and its workers compensation activists have been steadfast in supporting ONIWG's ongoing efforts. The struggle for justice for injured workers continues.

The Ontario Liberal government, with Tory support, has passed legislation ending mandatory retirement at the age of 65. It will come into force later this year. Apologists for this legislation dressed it up and defended it as a human rights issue. This is a farce and an insult to our intelligence as workers.

To understand this it is only necessary to consider the practical effects of eliminating mandatory retirement at age 65. It means more and more workers will work until they die. This is especially so in the context of corporate attacks on workers pensions and medical benefits and the growing economic insecurity faced by workers everywhere.

It is no coincidence that the net effect of this backward legislation will be consistent with the relentless corporate drive to continuously “improve” the workplace by getting the most possible amount of production out of the fewest possible number of workers.

Liberal Priorities Not Our Priorities

The Ontario Liberals made getting rid of mandatory retirement at 65 a priority. Effectively protecting workers from sustaining repetitive strain injuries was clearly not a Liberal priority.

Organized labour and injured workers organizations have campaigned for years in favour of incorporating ergonomic regulations into Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. We hoped the Liberals were going to do the right thing for injured workers and announce such a measure on February 28 which is International repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day. They did not. Instead other more weak measures were announced that will not effectively compel employers to curb the epidemic of repetitive strain injuries in Ontario’s workplaces.

Over 40% of WSIB claims that are allowed are for repetitive strain injuries. Where such regulations are in effect the incidence of these injuries has declined significantly. The Liberals turned a blind eye to these facts.

Hargrove Suspended

Much has been said about the Ontario NDP’s suspension of Buzz Hargrove’s membership in the party. I look at it this way. In every challenge lies an opportunity. I see this development providing a welcome opportunity to embark on the formation of a political force to the left of an increasingly right-wing NDP that does little for workers when it is the governing party. But it will not be possible to do this with credibility and move our agenda forward if our union advocates voting for Liberals and especially for union busters like Magna Corporation’s Belinda Stronach.

Nor should we advocate any kind of permanent arrangement between the NDP and the Liberals. Former NDP Premier Bob Rae did this not long before being touted as a possible leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Phil Reynolds

Finally, I want to note the passing of Brother Phil Reynolds. Phil held many positions in our Local Union, including Chairperson of the Retiree’s Chapter. Phil was a great friend and an even better trade unionist. For him being actively involved in the union was about advancing the interests of workers and was never about what was in it for himself. We all owe a lot to him and others like him, who were always focused on moving our members forward, not backward.

UAW Rank and File Rebellion led by a larger than life size replica of legendary labour heroine Mother Jones hundreds of rank and file UAW members rallied outside the International Auto Show at Detroit’s Cobo Hall on January 8. Calling themselves “Soliders of Solidarity” they gathered to denounce demands by Delphi and the Big 3 for major contract concessions. Among those in attendance to support them were local CAW leaders and activists from Ingersoll, Kitchener, Windsor and St. Catharines. Our presence was vividly on display in the form of several CAW flags fluttering in the cold winds of a January day in the Motor City.

Though the turnout was not especially large what was on display was just the tip of the iceberg. The magnitude of the movement the marchers represent was made particularly clear at Ford in December. 49% of Ford workers in the U.S. voted against reopening their contract and granting Ford contract concessions like those the UAW just gave GM. At some large Ford UAW locals the no vote won by a clear majority. This was a powerful vote of non-confidence in the international leadership of the UAW and its longstanding track record of contract concessions and continuous retreat.

A rank and file rebellion is in fact brewing in the UAW prompted mainly by Delphi’s radical demands for sweeping, union – busting contract concessions. Hundreds of rank and file UAW members and some local UAW leaders have gathered in attendance at each of a series of local meetings designed to organize resistance to Delphi’s attempts to wipe out everything these former GM workers fought and gained over the past 70 years. Indeed, it is very significant that the meetings they have been holding are very similar to the type of gatherings that led to the formation of the UAW in the 1930s and ultimately to the Great Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1937. Those involved are acutely aware of this historic parallel.

CAW members have every reason to rejoice in these developments. We can and must extend our hands in solidarity with this growing fight back by the UAW rank and file. They are showing us that fighting back still makes a difference.

On December 9, 2005 Ontario’s injured workers groups and their labour allies will be back on the streets and in the media. They will be again demanding that Ontario’s Liberal government live up to its unfulfilled promise to injured workers to fix Ontario’s workers compensation system and finally realize justice for this province’s injured workers.

The decision to engage in province – wide action on December 9th was made at a provincial meeting of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups held in Toronto at the end of September. CAW Local 199 was represented at the meeting by Bob Chapman & Dorothy Kelly of our Retirees Chapter and by myself. The meeting mandated me to organize an action in St. Catharines as an integral part of this provincial effort. The St. Catharines action will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, December 9th outside of the WSIB offices in the MTO building at 301 St. Paul St.

On June 1st, a similar event was successfully organized. Close to 75 people took part. Media coverage was extensive. The rally accomplished a lot in terms of raising the profile of injured workers issues in Ontario and the plight of injured workers in our community. A clear message was sent out from the rally concerning the miserable failure of the Ontario Liberal government to keep its word by seriously addressing injured workers issues and correction the grotesque injustices of the province’s workers compensation system.

Considerable more resources, planning and effort will be going into the December 9th action to be held in St. Catharines. Accordingly, there is every reason to believe we can mobilize an even bigger and more successful event that will resonate throughout our community.

Our goal should be nothing less than to organize a successful rally that will distinguish the Niagara Region as an emerging hotbed of activism around injured workers’ issues and concerns. The event promises to be marked by a militant, in your face stance towards the Ontario Liberals for their inaction and, specifically, their failure to stand up to Ontario’s employers in the face of relentless pressure from them and their lobbyists to continually lower the costs of the workers compensation system at the expense of the province’s injured workers.

PATTERN AGREEMENTS MUST BE INDUSTRY-WIDE AGREEMENTS

The 2005 CAW Collective Bargaining Convention held in mid-July adopted a program that did not make any mention of one of the most important challenges confronting the CAW in the auto industry. Namely, it did not address the fact that the downsizing of the workforces at the Big 3 automaker’s in Canada coincides with the growth of the workforces employed by Japanese automakers operating here. This means the CAW has yet to acknowledge the fact that a growing proportion of the auto workforce in Canada is non-union and is not covered by our pattern agreements in the auto industry.

This profoundly significant development has ominous implications for the future strength of the CAW and its ability to deliver the goods for its members. The absence of a response to this development should be cause for alarm among our members. Furthermore, when I addressed this matter at the convention the response to my remarks was one of dead silence. This indicated there is also a serious lack of leadership recognition of the urgent need for a response to this development in the Canadian auto industry.

We as a union cannot allow this lack of recognition of the problem and the resulting lack of action to continue. Organizing the workers at Toyota and Honda’s Canadian operations must become a foremost priority for our union.

Furthermore, successfully organizing their operations must also be viewed as only a step towards the goal of extending our pattern agreements to cover those operations. Achieving this goal is a must if our pattern agreements are to be genuinely industry-wide agreements and if those collective agreements are to regain the significance they once had.

CLC CONVENTION

The 2005 Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Convention in Montreal saw the principal labour body in this country continue to march backwards. Policy retreats were evident throughout the convention especially with regard to domestic issues confronting the Canadian labour movement.

Nonetheless, one very positive development did occur at the convention. Carol Wall of the Public Service Alliance of Canada rocked the CLC and its leadership by getting almost 40% of the vote in the election for CLC President. Support for Carol Wall was especially strong among delegates from the public sector unions.

Carol Wall’s stunning success sent a powerful message. It showed that a growing legion of leadership and activists are increasingly concerned about organized labour’s ongoing decline in Canada highlighted by the fact that only 18% of private sector workers now belong to unions. Their support for Carol Wall’s anti-establishment candidacy showed they recognize the urgent need for a determined labour leadership in this country ready, willing and able to do something about this developing crisis right now.

Carol Wall and her core supporters are building on her success at the convention. Stay tuned.

Pattern Agreements Must Be Industry – Wide Agreements

The 2005 CAW Collective Bargaining Convention held in mid – July adopted a program that did not make any mention of one of the most important challenges confronting the CAW in the auto industry. Namely, it did not address the fact that the downsizing of the workforces at the Big 3 automaker s in Canada coincides with the growth of the workforces employed by Japanese automakers operating here. This means the CAW has yet to acknowledge the fact that a growing proportion of the auto workforce in Canada is non – union and is not covered by our pattern agreements in the auto industry.

This profoundly significant development has ominous implications for the future strength of the CAW and its ability to deliver the goods for its members. The absence of a response to this development should be cause for alarm among our members. F urthermore, when I addressed this matter at the convention the response to my remarks was one of dead silence. This indicated there is also a serious lack of leadership recognition of the urgent need for a response to this development in the Canadian auto industry.

We as a union cannot allow this lack of recognition of the problem and the resulting lack of action to continue. Organizing the workers at Toyota and Honda’s Canadian operations must become a foremost priority for our union. Furthermore, successfully organizing their operations must also be viewed as only a step towards the goal of extending our pattern agreements to cover those operations. Achieving this goal is a must if our pattern agreements are to be genuinely industry - wide agreements and if those collective agreements are to regain the significance they once had.

CLC Convention

The 2005 Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Convention in Montreal saw the principal labour body in this country continue to march backwards. Policy retreats were evident throug hout the convention especially with regard to domestic issues confronting the Canadian labour movement.

Nonetheless, one very positive development did occur at the convention. Carol Wall of the Public Service Alliance of Canada rocked the CLC and its leadership by getting almost 40% of the vote in the election for CLC President. Support for Carol Wall was especially strong among delegates from the public sector unions.

Carol Wall’s stunning success sent a powerful message. It showed that a growing legion of leadership and activists are increasingly concerned about organized labour’s ongoing decline in Canada highlighted by the fact that only 18% of private sector workers now belong to unions. Their support for Carol Wall’s anti-establishment candidacy showed they recognize the urgent need for a determined labour leadership in this country ready, willing and able to do something about this developing crisis right now.

Carol Wall and her core supporters are building on her success at the convention. Stay tuned.

This year’s Day of Mourning events were an overall success. They were comprised of the usual trio of wreath laying ceremonies at monuments in Niagara on the Lake, next to the Garden City Skyway and in St. Catharines.

The main event was in St. Catharines. It was focused on repetitive strain injuries because the provincial government is finally considering the incorporation of ergonomic regulations into Ontario’s Occupational Health & Safety Act. Such regulations have proven to significantly lower the occurrence of repetitive strain injuries.

Media coverage was extensive and very positive. This provided organized labour with some needed high profile in the community. Participation in this year’s ceremonies was also noticeably higher than last year. However, the participation of the leadership of CAW Local 199 in these important events for organized labour was quite abysmal. The conspicuous absence of so many of our leadership reflected very badly on our local union.

Another issue addressed at the St. Catharines ceremony was the Ontario government’s failure to deliver on its promises to make badly needed changes to the province’s workers compensation legislation. Ontario Labour Minister Chris Bentley met with injured workers’ groups within weeks of the election of the Liberals in 2003 and appeared to be adamant about recognizing the need to make legislative changes designed to give justice to injured workers in this province. More than a year and a half later injured workers and their supporters are still waiting for Mr. Bentley to roll back the attacks we were subjected to by the previous Tory provincial government. Inexcusably, nothing is on the immediate horizon in this regard.

Promises Promises

The failure of the Ontario Liberals to deliver on their promises of achieving justice for injured workers mirrors their failure to do so many of the other things they promised to do when they were in opposition and striving for power. Specifically, since being elected the Ontario Liberals have done little more for Ontario’s workers than implement small increases in the minimum wage workers with incomes well below the poverty line and offer card based union certification for construction workers and no one else. Their track record with respect to the needs of Ontario’s workers is totally unacceptable. It constitutes proof positive that there is no reason whatsoever why our union should be offering the Ontario Liberals any degree of support. Rather than support them we should be mobilizing in a more determined way against the quasi-Tory policies of their government in Ontario and for legislative changes that really address the needs of Ontario’s workers such as the passage of an effective anti-scab law.

CLC Convention

Shortly after this column appears I’ll be in Montreal for the 2005 Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Convention. Some 3000 delegates are expected to attend and challenges will be mounted to the failed leadership of the congress. CAW Local 199 has several resolutions to the convention which I was responsible for and will speak to if they get debated. Generally speaking I am going there to do what I can to breathe new life into Canada’s dormant labour movement.

This turnaround is only a beginning. Getting claims allowed and gaining initial entitlement just enables you to get the benefits and other forms of compensation you deserve. To actually get all you can potentially get requires doing what is necessary to go beyond initial entitlement and secure ongoing entitlement for as long as you are injured.

Securing ongoing entitlement requires medical reporting on an ongoing basis for as long as you are impaired.

Securing ongoing entitlement is easier if you obtain any and all of the necessary therapy, medication and assistive devices from the WSIB backed by supportive medical findings. When the WSIB pays for these things it reaffirms that your impairment is work related. Furthermore, if anything happens that aggravates your work related impairment promptly report it and get it documented with the WSIB, with my assistance. In addition, have your treating physician provide the WSIB with medical findings documenting the aggravation of your impairment.

Doing these things will spare you the grief, aggravation and anger that comes with continuing to endure a work related injury only to have the WSIB deny that there is still a problem. The WSIB will do this if it can cite a lack of evidence of a continuing problem. Significantly, if there are gaps in documented treatment of complaint the WSIB will assume your problem has resolved. The WSIB will also assume any subsequent reporting of a problem involvers a new injury that is not necessarily work related.

Thus it is vital to build on our victories in getting claims allowed by securing ongoing WSIB entitlement. Collectively we must empower ourselves with the knowledge of what it takes to win entitlement to everything we have a right to, and win it.

Contrary to what many of those who currently sit on St. Catharines City Council would prefer one thing is certain in the wake of the vote to approve the merger of St. Catharines Hydro with Hamilton Hydro. CAW Local 199 will not forget who voted for the merger. They will be held accountable for all of the ugly consequences of their action.

In other words, they will be held accountable for a loss of well-paid, unionized public sector jobs in St. Catharines. They will be held accountable for the loss of what little control our community had over our hydro service. They will be held accountable for the fact that on a proportional basis this city took the hardest hit in terms of job losses. Finally, they will also be held accountable by members of CAW Local 199 for the resulting loss of membership to us and the potential loss of a bargaining unit to our local union due directly to their action.

This political defeat at their hands was not entirely a bad thing however. Their vote has galvanized CAW Local 199 as a political force that will henceforth intervene in municipal politics guided by definite political objectives defined by the collective interests of our membership.

Henceforth we will work to realize our political objectives with all of the means at our disposal and by any means necessary. The days when CAW Local 199 sat on the sidelines of municipal politics like passive spectators are now over as a result of their vote and this will become clear in no uncertain terms.

DESCENT INTO DARKNESS

People concerned with the well being of workers and protecting democratic rights should be alarmed by the results of the U.S. elections. They produced a decisive victory for Bush and the far right of the Republican party. The implications of this are very far reaching.

Consider the following things: The clique around Bush control the White House and can now claim to have a legitimate popular mandate. Their allies now have enlarged majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. These things will give Bush the ability to stack the U.S. Supreme Court by filling upcoming vacancies on the court with those who think exactly like him. The net result will be to give Bush’s regime a stranglehold over all three branches of the U.S. government. This will effectively end the system of checks and balances designed to curb abuses of power.

This will also mean that the rich and powerful and their allies in the religious right will set the agenda for the U.S. within a system resembling a one party state. The strengthened position of the religious right, whose votes produced Bush’s re-election, will, in the process, seriously undermine the democratic principle of separation of Church and State. A political atmosphere of growing intolerance of those with different views is consequently a real and present danger in the U.S. We could see a return to the kind of persecution that took place during the McCarthy era in the 1950s when many people’s lives were destroyed because of their political associations and beliefs.

Worsening government repression is already a fact of life in the U.S. The passage into law of the Patriot Act has already resulted in hundreds of citizens being held for weeks and even months without being charged and without being given access to a lawyer. The Patriot Act has also greatly expanded the ability of the U.S. government to spy on its citizens without their knowledge. Worst of all, the Patriot Act reversed changes made in the 1970s in response to the repression and abuses of power that marked Richard Nixon’s administration and set the stage for the Watergate scandal.

Indeed, it is not coincidental that U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld both held important positions in Nixon’s White House.

Many people expect to see the Patriot Act strengthened during the second term of a Bush Administration. This is a real possibility because the U.S. Congress is now dominated by people who continue to support the Patriot Act.

In the wake of Bush’s re-election and despite the political repression it will bring a resurgence of social resistance to his regime’s agenda is certain to develop the opposition to the war in Iraq is certain to grow as the U.S. casualty count continues to rise. Labour struggles will undoubtedly be part of this resistance despite the timid, right-wing and weak leadership of organized labour in the U.S. Insofar as what happens in the U.S. is certain to have a profound impact upon us, we have a real interest in supporting the development of that resistance and the defeat of everything Bush’s regime represents. We must clearly show whose side we are on.

OCTOBER 2004 ISSUE

The following is the text of a letter sent to Ontario Labour Minister Christopher Bentley prompted by anticipated changes to Ontario’s worker’s compensation legislation. This letter was subsequently forwarded to the Chairperson of the WSIB. Copies of Mr. Bentley’s reply to this letter are available on request.

Dear Mr. Bentley:

I am taking this opportunity to write you concerning the changes being contemplated to Ontario’s workers compensation legislation. I want to relate some developments directly relevant to it.

To begin with I want to point out that I am the person responsible for the WSIB claims of the entire GM workforce in St. Catharines including retired and laid off GM workers. I have handled many, many appeals of claims that have been denied. Doing this has been an intensive learning experience and has made me acutely aware of numerous, profound weaknesses and failings of the system and, particularly, the adjudication of claims.

Arguably the most obvious and far reaching failure of the system is the detachment of Claims Adjudicators from the real world of the rapidly changing workplace. In noting this I must make specific reference to the automotive workplace with which I am most familiar.

The workplace in the auto industry has changed almost beyond recognition over the past 10 to 15 years due to rapid technological change and particularly due to the aggressive implementation of radical work reorganization strategies designed to facilitate optimal capacity utilization by way of relentless corporate restructuring, downsizing, and making operations as “flexible” as possible. The result is an increasingly stressful workplace where workers are fully utilized meaning they are increasingly pushed to their limits.

This phenomenon is exemplified by the wholesale elimination of job classifications and open-ended job descriptions meaning there are effectively no limits to what a worker can be asked to do. Open-ended job descriptions are a license to push workers to do more on an ongoing basis. Most importantly, they are totally incompatible with the provision of medically suitable work to injured workers and put them directly at risk of further injury. In other words, they are totally incompatible with the concept of Early and Safe Return to Work. Yet they are more and more commonplace.

The resulting intensification of work is having horrendous consequences in terms of workplace injuries. Overuse injuries such as RSIs are increasingly widespread. Worst of all workers who are already injured are finding the workplace increasingly inhospitable and unaccommodating and this is often giving rise to serious problems with workplace stress.

Increasingly injured workers are suffering in silence and working in pain as a result. They are terrified of asserting their rights to medically suitable work because of the very real risk of having their employer tell them there is nothing else for them and throwing them to the street and, at best, putting them on WSIB loss of earnings benefits. Following that they can look forward to being assessed for a Labour Market Re-entry (LMR) program and pray that they will qualify. Otherwise they end up with their benefits drastically lowered in most cases.

That said, LMR has been a nightmare for most injured workers. Injured workers who are in danger of being cast to the street by employers like GM are terrified by it. LMR should be scrapped.

Noting the above I want to restate my main point. Namely, that the WSIB is out of touch with reality in terms of dealing with the actually existing workplace in 2004. Its Claims Adjudicators are either indifferent or clueless as to what is taking place and are often much too readily willing to take whatever employers say about the workplace at face value.

This abysmal and persistent failure on their part is having disastrous consequences for the workers I represent. It can only be addressed by a dramatic overhaul of the system to bring into line with the actually existing workplace of 2004.

You have the power and the ability to set in motion the kind of sweeping changes that are demanded by this unacknowledged crisis situation. I look forward to seeing whether you are up to the challenge.

On April 28th, Ontario’s Labour Minister Chris Bentley held his second meeting this year with injured workers’ organizations and their allies in the labour movement. The meeting took place in Hamilton and was held to discuss changes being considered to Ontario’s workers’ compensation legislation. It followed a Thorold Chamber of Commerce meeting a few weeks earlier where a provincial lobbyist for employers also spoke on the same subject.

These two very different meetings revealed quite similar things about what is in the works in the way of changes to Ontario’s workers’ compensation legislation. Three likely changes are already apparent. One is that the six month time limit on the right to appeal claims that have been denied is certain to be revoked.

Another is that the WSIB’s criteria for accepting workplace stress claims will be expanded significantly. Yet another is that there are likely to be changes to the WSIB’s policies concerning occupational disease claims.

Many questions remain. Notably, we do not know whether the coming changes will be retroactive and applicable to past claims and those currently in the system. What is certain is that the coming legislative changes will fall well short of the radical overhaul of the workers’ compensation system necessary to provide long overdue justice to injured workers.

Consequently, the growing province, wide campaign being waged by injured workers’ organizations and organized labour, including the CAW, will not only need to be continued. It will have to be escalated in order to have the maximum effect possible.

As a conscious part of that effort, I repeatedly argued the case for an overhaul of the workers’ compensation system during media interviews surrounding this year’s successful National Day of Mourning ceremonies held on April 28th in St. Catharines and Niagara on the Lake. Injured Workers Day on June 1st can provide an even better opportunity to press for major legislative changes.

That is why at the time of this writing, serious efforts are being made to mobilize mass actions on June 1st. Activities are anticipated in twenty communities across Ontario. Locally, members of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers and the St. Catharines & District Labour Council are working to get people to participate.

The larges action will be held at noon on June 1st in Queen’s Park in Toronto. Labour Minister Chris Bentley is expected to be there. This makes it imperative that there be a real show of force by injured workers and their supporters.

The future of Ontario’s workers’ compensation legislation is on the line. The time for effective mass action is now. We must seize the time and fight to win.

Thanks to one of our retired members I have learned that the WSIB will pay for Pensaid as a treatment for pain, swelling and inflammation due to occupational injuries. This is particularly important for GM workers because this effective medication is not covered in your benefit package. To get the WSIB to pay for this medication, have your treating physician make a formal request for it providing medical findings to show it is needed to treat a work-related injury recognized by the WSIB. Note your WSIB claim number.

On February 1 Ontario’s minimum wage was increased by a mere 30 cents to $7.15 per hour. This increase ended an eight and one-half year long minimum wage freeze by Harris’ corporate regime. That freeze cut the purchasing power of the minimum almost in half as a result of inflation.

A worker with a $7.15 per hour wage earns an income well below the poverty line. Future increases in the minimum wage planned by the Ontario Liberal government will be similarly small and keep minimum wage workers below the poverty line. Most importantly, these meager increases will not even begin to make up for the sharp decline in real income experienced by Ontario’s working poor since the freeze began in 1995.

This shows that Ontario’s Liberal government is offering the working poor more of the same deprivation they got from the Tories. At the very least the minimum wage must be quickly raised to restore the purchasing power it has lost since 1995 and then fully indexed for inflation.

Workers making union wages cannot be indifferent to the deepening poverty affecting workers paid the minimum wage. The minimum wage freeze by the Tories was part and parcel of a comprehensive attack on all workers designed to enrich the bosses. The Tories understood that the resulting decline in the real incomes of the working poor put downward pressure on the wages of all workers. The decline also widened the gap between union and non-union workers and serving to further divide us. It also decreased the ability of the working poor to buy the products we build. It follows that supporting the right of the working poor to buy the products we build. It follows that supporting the right of the working poor to a living wage and a life with dignity is entirely in our own interests.

On April 3 the Ontario Healthcare Coalition will lead an important demonstration in Toronto opposing the planned construction of private for profit hospitals in Ontario. Our local union and our retirees complemented this action by sending the following resolution to CAW Council:

Whereas Canada’s publicly owned and operated healthcare systems guarantees access to healthcare to everyone in this country, and

Whereas our healthcare system provides corporations, including auto and auto parts makers, with a major cost advantage in Canada relative to the U.S., and

Whereas the Ontario Liberal government is close to signing agreements allowing the construction of private, for profit hospitals in Brampton and Ottawa, and

Whereas the Ontario Liberal government is considering the construction of seven more private hospitals, and

Whereas the Ontario Liberal government is not taking action to halt the spread of private MRI and CT Scan clinics, therefore

Be it resolved that the CAW condemn the Ontario Liberal government in the strongest possible terms for facilitating the destruction of our publicly owned and operated healthcare system and fight to preserve our healthcare system by any means necessary.

Liberals Threaten Auto Sector Jobs

For as long as anyone can remember this union has cited our publicly run health care system as a key reason why auto investment in Canada is cost effective. Accordingly, the cost advantage of Medicare relative to private health care in the US has helped to sustain auto investment in Canada. That is why Ontario’s auto and auto parts workers should be alarmed and ready to take effective political action in response to the new Ontario government’s broken promises concerning health care.

The Ontario Liberal government’s reversal concerning the construction of privately owned hospitals widely opens the door to the construction of private hospitals across Ontario. This reversal coupled with the McGuinty government’s failure to effectively halt the spread of private MRI and CT scan clinics clears the way for the sweeping privatization of Ontario’s healthcare system. The resulting demise of our publicly owned health care system will effectively end the cost advantage it provides Ontario’s auto sector. Consequently, our union will have to negotiate to get health care services that are now publicly owned.

We must also understand that after these health care services are privatized they can’t be returned to the public sector without stiff financial penalties being imposed. This is so thanks to the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Federal Liberals implemented NAFTA after promising to renegotiate it in the 1993 election campaign. NAFTA is also the treaty that ravaged what remained of the Canada-U.S. Auto Pact after the signing of the 1988 Canada - U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

Such considerations led me to write a resolution to the CAW Council calling on the CAW to campaign for Canada’s withdrawal from NAFTA. It passed at the CAW Council meeting in December. Such considerations are also why I vehemently opposed the policy of strategic voting for the Liberals. Rather than support Dalton McGuinty we should seriously mobilize against his provincial government just like we initially did against the Harrisites.

OFL Convention

In November I represented the St. Catharines and District Labour Council at the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Convention. Delegates to the convention were told that there has been an 18% decline in union membership in Ontario since Harris’ election in 1995. Only 27% of Ontario’s workers now belong to a union. These statistics show that organized labour is in decline in Ontario and in an acute state of crisis. But there was no corresponding sense of urgency at the convention. The lethargy was made worse by the absence of a CAW delegation.

Nonetheless, one very positive development did occur. The OFL bureaucracy tabled a weak Action Plan for the next two years that was debated and voted upon by the delegates. The delegates soundly rejected this “Action Plan”. Major changes to strengthen it were forced on the OFL Leadership. Pressure will now be needed from the base of the labour movement to insure the new Action Plan is meaningfully implemented.

It is impossible to know what all of the contract concessions negotiated are. The UAW has a long history of concealing concessions from its members who only learn about them after the new agreements are signed, sealed and delivered. In 2003 this sordid history was compounded by the fact that negotiations were still far from over when the tentative agreements were sold to the UAW membership. Consequently, the new agreements included significant signing bonuses designed to insure their ratification.

We do know that there were no wage increases in the first two years of the new agreements. Lump sum payouts took their place. Pensions were modestly increased. But UAW members will be helping to pay for these pension increases by diverting monies from COLA increases toward the cost of their pensions. Furthermore, the UAW once again signed agreements that did not include indexation of pensions.

Similarly the UAW agreed to significantly increase co-pays for prescription drugs. This will hit retired UAW members hard. The UAW also agreed to tougher corporate absenteeism policies.

The most insidious feature of this year’s UAW negotiations with these corporations was a move to combine the ratification votes at GM and Delphi into a single vote. Delphi workers will endure worse two tier wage agreements than GM workers yet their votes were effectively nullified because there are many more GM workers than at Delphi.

These obscenities show what happens when a union decides its job is to help the corporations it deals with to become more competitive. Corporate restructuring and work reorganization strategies have steadily shifted the balance of forces in auto in favour of the corporations. Autoworkers do not need a union that has crossed the line and gone over to the other side.

Labour Council Delegates Election I want to thank the membership for re-electing me as a delegate to the St. Catharines & District Labour Council. This made it possible for me to get re-elected as the 1st Vice President of the Labour Council. I also want to thank all of the others who contested the election for their interest.

The election of a new CAW Local 199 delegation to the St. Catharines & District Labour Council has already helped to pay dividends in terms of a better turnout at its general membership meetings. About 40 delegates and guests attended the November 2003 general membership meeting. That was the best turnout in at least a decade. It affirms the fact that our labour council stands out as an increasingly vibrant and dynamic organization and it sharply contrasts with an otherwise pitifully ineffective labour movement.

One of the most outrageous developments in Ontario this year occurred in late summer when Ontario Premier Ernie Eves won accolades and a boost in the public opinion polls for showing “leadership” during the massive power blackout. Eves and the Ontario Tories are the last people who should be getting credit for addressing that crisis because their policies set the stage for it.

The Ontario Tories directly facilitated the power crisis in Ontario in a number of ways. Notably, they scrapped energy conservation programs implemented by the previous NDP government. They likewise consistently ignored calls for conservation measures to be legislated in the province. And prior to the blackout they showed their absolute disdain for efforts to conserve electricity by scrapping the recently created post Director of Energy Conservation for the province. The Tories scrapped this post in a recent round of budget cuts to facilitate more tax cuts for the rich.

These actions exemplify what the Ontario Tories priorities are in this regard. Namely, the continued privatization and deregulation of electricity deregulation in Ontario. And these priorities put us at risk of experiencing more power blackouts.

The privatization and deregulation of electricity generation is synonymous with increased risk of power blackouts precisely because it makes profit the overriding goal of electricity generation. Meticulous maintenance and having spare generating and transmission capacity to meet peaks in demand cease to be priorities with privatization and deregulation because they cut into profits. Conservation similarly ceases to be a priority because it cuts into profits.

Conservation results in less demand for the product and less demand means less product is sold and less profit can be made. Furthermore, deregulation creates the potential for energy corporations to engage in market manipulation as Enron did with devastating consequences in California.

It follows that the best way to avoid more blackouts is to do the exact opposite of what the Ontario Tories are doing. In other words, vigorously promote conservation and restore a one hundred percent publicly owned and operated electricity generation and distribution system.

Furthermore, we have to insist that more than this is needed. We must go beyond the NDP’s advocacy of the status quo by keeping hydro-electricity publicly owned. We must call for all electricity generation to be publicly owned and controlled including all sources of non-polluting, renewable electricity generation; wind and solar power.

This is indispensable because if renewable energy development and application remains in the private hands it will inevitably come under the control of the same corporations that will benefit from hydro privatization. In practical terms this means that the certain and environmentally vital proliferation of privately owned electricity generation. Consequently, the same pursuit of profit regardless of public need that is intrinsic to the energy policies of the Ontario Tories will ultimately prevail. That is unless the issue of control over renewable energy sources is effectively addressed by labour and its allies.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to make a presentation concerning repetitive strain injuries (RSIs). Late last month people in many countries around the world observed International RSI Awareness Day. The purpose of that day was to focus attention on the suffering and costs associated with these crippling disorders known as RSIs affecting more and more people. International RSI Awareness Day was also conceived to raise awareness of the need for prevention, rehabilitation and compensation.

It is hard to think of a problem so large in magnitude that receives such scant public attention and is so neglected as a public policy issue. To appreciate the significance of the problem of RSIs it is only necessary to recognize that recent U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics revealed that 62% of all reported work related illness cases were for repetitive trauma disorders. Statistics in this country are not quite as bleak but are still alarming with injuries to the back accounting for a majority of RSIs.

Repetitive strain injuries are caused by poorly designed workplaces, work stations and tools and by work places that are too fast and physically stressful. These injuries are prevalent in all economic sectors. RSIs manifest themselves in symptoms like aches, pains, tingling, swelling and loss of joint movement and loss of strength. RSIs commonly develop into crippling disorders permanently injuring workers to the point where they are prevented from working and leading normal lives.

The consequent costs are enormous both in terms of diminishing productivity and health care. In 1998 the direct medical costs alone of treating such injuries was 2.6 billion overall in Canada. To further grasp this one only needs to consider the proliferation of physiotherapy clinics. In addition, there is an immediate impact on the bottom line in the form of higher insurance and WSIB premiums.

Yet all of this suffering and cost is largely preventable through the use of ergonomics. Ergonomics is the study of how to adapt workplaces, workstations and tools to the worker. It recognizes workers’ physical limits and ensures the work they perform does not exceed these limits to the point of injury.

One expects unions to negotiate contractual language promoting ergonomics in the workplace. Nonetheless, the prevalence of the problem of RSIs attests to the fact that contractual language negotiated into collective agreements is most definitely not enough. Heightened public awareness of the problem of RSIs and the magnitude of it is also critical. So is meaningful concern about the issue by public policy makers at all levels. This is especially true provincially where most of the responsibility for labour legislation lies in this country.

This brings me to my main point. That is to make the case for the need to have a Canada wide standard for ergonomics and corresponding ergonomics regulations included in Ontario’s occupational health and safety legislation. Ergonomics are currently integral to labour legislation in B.C. and Saskatchewan. Manitoba is soon expected to follow suit.

Legislation currently in place obligates employers to identify and assess risk factors for musculoskeletal injury (MSI), back injuries and RSIs. The goal is to eliminate or at least minimize the risk of MSIs and RSIs. It also calls for monitored control measures and deficiencies to be corrected and for the education of and consultation with employees in MSI and RSI risk identification.

Accordingly, I would like to see this council, by way of adopting this resolution, express its support for the incorporation of such measures into Ontario’s occupational health and safety legislation and for a Canada - wide ergonomics standard. And I might add that doing so now would be especially timely given the approach of a provincial election where this question should be the subject of serious debate. Thank you.

Strike Proved Boycotts Work

The successful first contract strike at Niagara Motors was a testament to the determination and strength of the membership. The strike also showed once again that boycotts remain an effective tactic for building labour organizations and winning important struggles. Accordingly, it is not an exaggeration to state that the boycott is as vital a tactic as it was in the early days of the labour movement when it was widely employed by organizations like the Industrial Workers of the World.

In more recent years the tactic has been used with great effect during the first contract strike at the Rainbow Bridge Duty Free Shop and during the five year long contract battle at the Detroit newspapers. In the latter example a massive boycott campaign resulted in boycott signs appearing at homes throughout the Detroit area and even in nearby Windsor. This showed that a boycott campaign is effective only if it is aggressively promoted in the affected communities.

Provincial Election

An Ontario provincial election is almost certain this spring. Given the number and duration of picket lines in Niagara over the past year and a half it is obvious that there is a compelling need for the restoration of anti-scab legislation.

Indeed, the need is arguably greater than ever given that Fleet Industries and Anagram broke new ground by importing scabs from outside of Canada in an attempt to smash strikes and bust unions. It follows that we must tell the politicians seeking our support that a firm commitment to restoring anti-scab legislation is an absolute prerequisite for getting that support. Fleet Industries.

The strike is continuing. Thanks to a court injunction a significant number of scabs are now crossing the picket line and working twelve hour shifts. Fleet has not tabled a proposed closure agreement. Until it does, the plant remains open and the struggle continues. Fleet workers continue to need our support on the picket line and financially.

Day of Mourning

April 28 is the Day of Mourning for workers injured and killed on the job. The St. Catharines and District Labour Council will again be organizing ceremonies in Niagara on the Lake and St. Catharines. Please contact me at the union hall for specific information about these important events.

As 2003 begins, an unprecedented number of strikes and a lockout continue across the Niagara Region. Two involve members of our Local Union. Specifically, there is the lockout at Ronal of Canada Ltd and the first contract strike at Niagara Motors. Other strikes continue at Washington Mills in Chippawa and Fleet Industries in Fort Erie. Strikes by Anagram, Cornelius Pools and Sheraton Hotel workers have just ended. These reveal two things: Employers in Niagara are increasingly inclined to take the offensive by trying to extract major contract concessions and/or deny workers modest improvements in their contracts. The other is that organized labour in the region has risen to the occasion by providing meaningful solidarity to the workers on the picket lines in these struggles. And this is strengthening organized labour in Niagara.

The Niagara Area Labour Councils and especially the St. Catharines & District Labour Council are in the vanguard of these efforts. Many activities in support of the workers in these struggles have been organized. Three are particularly noteworthy.

On November 29th, a solidarity caravan toured the picket lines bringing workers from all the struggles underway and many of their supporters together. Later the same evening, the St. Catharines & District Labour Council organized an extremely successful fundraising dance that raised almost $14,000 for the workers at Washington Mills who have been on strike for over 16 months.

Two weeks later, a Niagara Labour Solidarity Rally was held at the CAW, Local 199 Union Hall. This event reinforced efforts to forge unity between the striking and locked out workers and their supporters by allowing them to hear first hand accounts of all their struggles and expressions of support from the labour councils. The keynote speaker CLC leader Hassan Yussuff also offered support. $1,200 was raised to support the striking and locked out workers.

More solidarity activities are being planned. These will include another major fundraising event in February and mass picketing. Anyone wanting to help these efforts can contact me at the union hall.

One of the WSIB’s more suspect practices is to phone injured workers at home and tell them a WSIB Investigator is coming to interview them. Injured workers get concerned about such interviews fearing the consequences. There is a good way to respond to such a call from the WSIB. Tell the WSIB you want union representation present during the interview then call me at the union hall. I can arrange to have the interview take place at the hall, not at your home.

These interviews are often not a cause for concern. But many workers who have met with WSIB investigators on their own have subsequently regretted doing so. Accordingly, it is definitely worthwhile to involve your union representative beforehand just as it is in your interest to contact your union representative as quickly as possible if you are injured at work and NOT long afterwards.

NOVEMBER 2002 ISSUE

Mike Harris may no longer be the premiere of this province but his obscene legacy lives on. The recent violence at the CAW organized Navistar plant in Chatham resulting in the near death of a CAW member at the hands of strikebreaking security guards, who consciously ran their vehicle into him, revealed for all to see the bloody consequences of his government’s repeal of anti-scab legislation.

We can also see the ugly consequences of his government’s union bashing policies here in Niagara. At the time of this writing the members of IWA Local 700 are well into the fourth month of a bitter first contract dispute with their employer. Anagram has illegally brought in scabs from the US to steal and deny them a decent contract. This action has gone hand in hand with bad faith bargaining. This became all too clear at the end of July when Anagram returned to the negotiating table for the first time in several weeks and tabled a worse contract offer than it had previously presented. None of this would be happening were it not for the policies of Harris and his cohort Ernie Eves.

Clearly, the need to remove this government from power and rescind its anti-Labour policies remains as imperative as ever. So accordingly, does the need to revive a social movement in this province with those specific objectives. I, for one, am committed to seeing that need effectively addressed.

Negotiations

Over the coming weeks much of the leadership of Local 199 will be squarely focused on contract negotiations with GM and with effectively responding to GM’s relentless efforts to shrink the GM St. Catharines workforce. This will make it necessary for me to take on may of the responsibilities of CAW Local 199 President Ron McIntosh particularly with respect to the other bargaining units that make up our local union. Consequently, I will be taking those responsibilities on as well as trying to stay on top of my own rather demanding caseload of workers’ compensation claims at GM. I am confident that I will be able to balance these stacked responsibilities. However, I would appreciate the membership’s patience if I do not always manage to respond to calls and address your concerns as quickly as I normally would. If all goes well at the negotiating table this situation should not last long.

Fight to win.

JUNE 2002 ISSUE

Statistics for 2001
Total Lost Time Claims Allowed - 99,590
Total Fatalities Recognized - 262

These statistics brutally attest to the magnitude of the problem of workers being injured and killed at work. They show why all workplace hazards must be fully exposed and rectified. Yet they do not take into account countless workplace injuries and deaths (i.e. Due to occupational exposure) that are never reported. If they did the numbers would be much worse and the real track record of employers, including GM, would be better known.

It is little wonder therefore that employers engage in practices like giving away “free” jackets and watches that discourage both the reporting of injuries on the job and time off work due to injuries. It also just happens to be the case that reductions in lost time accidents result in corresponding reduction in the premiums employers pay to the WSIB. An old saying sums up this situation very well. Just follow the money.