WCB hostage taking analysis

An interesting article has popped up on the Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences about the WCB hostage taking in 2009.

“Perceived injustice in injured workers: Analysis of public responses to an injured worker who took Workers’ Compensation Board employees hostage” thematically analyzes the personal narratives about WCB submitted by posters on public news websites in the wake of the Patrick Clayton hostage taking

While the article is not particularly critical (it basically concludes that incorrect worker information is an important factor in worker dissatisfaction with workers’ compensation), the article does have some interesting bits as pieces.

The authors identified six themes evident in reader posts: retribution/retaliation; justice; perceived systemic mistreatment; empathy; disbelief and loss. Perceived systemic mistreatment by the Alberta WCB was present in 84% of narratives reviewed.

While obviously not a statistically generalizable sample, this analysis does suggest significant dissatisfaction among posters. I thought this quote also made a fairly compelling point:

The most evident examples of the degree of suffering, and unbearable suffering, experienced by some of the (posters) were the narratives from family members recounting an injured worker whose retaliatory violence was not directed at the WCB system, but rather appeared internalized to the point of resulting in attempted or completed suicide. (p.7)

Overall, this article is an interesting tin opener into the effect of Alberta’s workers' compensation system on workers.

-- Bob Barnetson

Rumblings of public-sector wage restraint

Last week, a University of Calgary study on public-sector wage increases made headlines. This week, the premier is musing about public-sector wage freezes in the midst of collective bargaining that doesn’t appear to be going in the direction the government wants.

An interesting corrective to the notion that public-sector wages in Alberta are rising twice as fast as the national average can be found here. In fact, Alberta public-sector wages are rising at roughly the rate of inflation (just like most other provinces)—it is the overall wage bill that is growing quickly.

Among the factors driving this are executive perks that few public sector employees see. One observer has suggested that the authors did not account for the effect of inflation on earnings growth (i.e., they are not using constant dollars) which, consequently, overstates the growth quite significantly .

-- Bob Barnetson

Emergency room visits as a proxy for injury numbers?

The under-reporting of workplace injuries is widespread in Canada because governments rely on workers’ compensation claim data. Cameron Mustard and colleagues have released a new study examining the utility of emergency room records for providing a more accurate picture of the frequency of workplace injuries.

Among their findings is the observation that the “frequency of emergency department visits for work-related causes was approximately 60% greater than the annual incidence of accepted lost-time compensation claims” (p. 3). Lost-time claims are among the most serious of workplace-injuries.

This outcome broadly jives with previous research on under-reporting of serious injuries in WCB data. The authors note some important and quite interesting discrepancies between the two data sets on the basis of age and gender.

-- Bob Barnetson

Alberta Justice drops 33 OHS charges

The Edmonton Journal is reporting that Alberta Justice has dropped OHSA prosecutions connected to the Big Valley Jamboree stage collapse two-and-a-half years ago. Several workers were injured and one spectator was killed in the collapse.

These charges were laid July 29, 2011, almost two years to the day after the stage collapsed. This delay is fairly typical in Alberta.

How could a two-year long investigation have missed something so significant that all 33 charges would be withdrawn? It is unlikely we’ll ever know.

“After careful review and consultation with Occupational Health and Safety investigators and counsel for the defendants, the Crown concluded that there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction on any count,” Alberta Justice spokesman Josh Stewart said Friday afternoon.

“It was a complicated case and a number of factors were considered in the course of the ongoing review. Because this case is still before the courts and there exists related civil litigation, it would be inappropriate to get into more detail about the case or the investigation.”

A more troubling question is what message this sends to employers who already know that they stand virtually no chance of being fined when they seriously injure or kill a worker.

-- Bob Barnetson

Saskatchewan recommends workers' compensation for farm workers

Saskatchewan has just finished a review of its Workers’ Compensation Act and the committee has made 57 recommendations.

The first and most interesting recommendation is that all exclusions to the Act be eliminated. In Saskatchewan, 30% of workers did not have workers’ compensation coverage in 2009. This includes a significant number of farm workers.

The Saskatchewan review panel’s argument is that “no fault coverage for injured workers is a mark of a just society and of improved relationships between business and labour…” (p.5). This was a consensus recommendation among the committee members, who included both employer and worker representatives. It does not look like there were any agricultural representatives on the committee.

In Alberta, somewhere between 10% and 15% of workers fall outside the ambit of workers’ compensation. The true level of exclusion will be somewhat higher due to under-reporting. The list of exclusions is fairly bizarre, encompassing both the safest jobs (e.g., accountants, clergy) and the most dangerous (e.g., farm workers, prostitutes).

The report also makes recommendations regarding injury prevention, including bringing agriculture into the realm of occupational health and safety. (In Alberta, farming is almost entirely unregulated.) It recommends all fines and administrative penalties be retained by the WCB and put toward further injury prevention work.

-- Bob Barnetson

Temporary foreign worker videos

The Alberta 2012 project (run by the labour-sponsored Alberta Labour history Institute) has just released a video documenting the abuses inherent in Alberta's Temporary Foreign Worker program. You can view the video here.

It is quite powerful to hear the experience of temporary foreign workers and their advocates. It calls into question government MLAs' assertions that temporary foreign workers are adequately protected in Alberta. There is a fair bit of research underway about on this topic but this video really puts a human face to the issue of guest workers, including illegal underground workers.

It is also interesting to see how the provincial and federal governments have colluded with corporations to expand the labour force via immigration in order to cheapen labour and exploit vulnerable foreign nationals.

-- Bob Barnetson

Teacher bargaining starting to stall?

Teacher bargaining is again in the news, with Minister of Education Thomas Lukaszuk indicating he would like a new contract signed sooner rather than later so he can make a budget-ask of Treasury Board, presumably to cover the costs associated with the deal(s). The current contract expires August 31.

"I need to know what the cost of education will be so that I can make that ask to the Treasury Board," Lukaszuk said. "So, the sooner they reach a deal, the easier it will be for me to still acquire those dollars from the Treasury Board."

It is hard to know what to make of this statement. Lukaszuk likes press coverage, so he may just be talking. But my guess is that bargaining has hit a significant roadblock and he is trying to get it finished before the provincial election is called.

Earlier this month, Lukaszuk retained two lawyers to assist the Alberta Teachers’ Associations and the Alberta School Boards Association to bring the talks (started last fall) to a conclusion. This sort of intervention is often indicative of bargaining beginning to stall. The Minister’s statement can also be read as indicative of bargaining reaching impasse.

This could be politically problematic for the government. An election is expected in March or April. Attracting the votes of teachers’ and their supports could be important in ensuring the Redford government can hold off the Wildrose and retain seats in southern Alberta. Bargaining impasse may incline teachers to withhold electoral support.

Impasse also creates an issue that the Wildrose can exploit. The Wildrose has previously suggested stripping teachers of the right to strike. This is not a discussion the Conservatives can profit from. If Redford refuses to strip teachers of the right to strike (with the spectre of a strike looming), the Wild Rose will draw off hawkish PC votes. If the Conservatives agree to strip teachers of the right to strike to nail down their right flank, they will lose votes from centrist supporters.

This may explain why Lukaszuk is laying the groundwork to blame the parties (not the government) if bargaining fails. Consider this statement:

"I have heard very loud and clear from school boards, from parents, from teachers, that they want long-term, predictable and sustainable funding," Lukaszuk said.

"Well, if I am to deliver on that undertaking, that will mean that I need to know how much the delivery of education will cost."

This is, clearly, a bit of theatrics. It is rare for contractual negotiations to be finished six months before the expiration of a contract. Employers are always forced to guess at what labour will cost in the future. And Alberta budgets are more of a political exercise than a financial one; the government can always build in a cushion or make adjustments later.

Further, the idea that the ATA and ASBA will conclude a long-term agreement with clear financial terms is hard to swallow given Alberta’s boom-bust economy. No one knows what a reasonable settlement will be in three years or five years, which is why the last teachers’ contract indexed pay to the cost of living. I have difficulty believing that teachers would ratify a long-term deal unless the cost-of-living adjustment was either indexed or subject to a wage re-opener.

What this statement does do is pressurize the parties to settle by blaming them for any future funding shortfall or instability because, apparently, a multi-billion dollar organization like the province unable to cope with modest uncertainty in its budget.

“The money might not be there if you don’t settle at a politically convenient time” and “voters—it is not our fault” are the messages the Minister is sending.

-- Bob Barnetson