Labour News Responds

WCB Chair Rick LeLacheur felt so strongly about the December series of articles on WCB matters he felt moved to write a letter to the editor.

None of the criticisms found in the three articles should come as a surprise to Mr. LeLacheur. The AFL and the Labour Coalition have repeatedly expressed our views to WCB in many different forums on these and many other matters. That he was surprised by the articles in the Labour News may say more about how well the WCB is listening to the labour movement than the articles themselves.

The AFL criticized the donation to the Track and Field Games because we felt it was not the WCB’s role to donate money to sporting events. It is a public institution, not a private corporation. Mr. LeLacheur’s response merely proves the WCB has forgotten this basic fact.

He refers to the WCB’s role in "corporate sponsorship". They have no role in corporate sponsorship – that is precisely the point. A point Mr. LeLacheur and the WCB miss entirely.

Mr. LeLacheur then goes on to accuse the Labour movement of not working with the WCB on the two review committee reports. It is true the labour movement decided to make our view known directly to the Minister of Human Resources – the person responsible for making the needed changes. Our decision was sparked by the initial stakeholder meeting on the reports, where Mary Cameron indicated the WCB had already decided certain issues – such as reviewing past appeals for fairness and paying worker advocates – were "off the table".

The WCB had made up its mind before the stakeholder "consultation" even began. No wonder we felt we would get a better hearing from the Minister.

Thirdly, the CEO’s salary story reported that a WCB source indicated the Board voted an additional raise for Mary Cameron for 2001. The accuracy of that source has yet to be disproven by the WCB. They have failed to publicly release Mary Cameron’s current salary. The reality will be known when the WCB releases its annual report for 2001.

The statement of the WCB paying its officers at 2% of the market is a direct quote from the WCB. Maybe the WCB should check its own releases as carefully as it reads the Labour News.

Finally, Mr. LeLacheur asks how criticizing the WCB will help workers. One thing we know for certain, staying silent certainly will NOT help injured workers.

The WCB has forgotten its mandate and its primary function – to provide just compensation to workers injured on the job. The articles, and all the things the AFL does around WCB issues, are intended to try and get WCB back on track.

Our job at the AFL is not to make WCB feel "liked". Our job is to stand up for workers. And if doing that job makes Rick LeLacheur uncomfortable from time to time, then that means we are doing our job well.

We will continue to defend workers’ interests at the WCB. We will continue to work with the WCB to make constructive improvements, but we will always reserve the right to criticize them when they get it wrong.

We won’t do it any other way. And that is what our members want of us.