Canadian Labour Reporter

lAboUr brieFs 2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Unsafe companies being rebated millions of dollars by WSiB: oFL report TORONTO — A new report by the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) says Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insur- ance Board (WSIB) is rebating millions of dollars each year to companies found guilty of offences that have resulted in workers being killed in work- related accidents. "The WSIB is re-victimizing workers and their families by handing offending corporations millions of dollars in premium rebates," said Sid Ryan, presi- dent of the OFL. "These CEOs shouldn't be receiving rebates — they should be going to jail." The shocking pattern of WSIB payments is documented in the OFL report Rewarding Offenders: Report on How Ontario's Work- place Safety System Rewards Employers Despite Workplace Deaths and Injuries, written by labour lawyer Joel Schwartz. Over the three-year period between 2011 and 2013, 135 employers that had been con- victed of offences under the Oc- cupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) were granted rebates on their premiums by the WSIB. Seventy-eight of the 135 (almost 58 per cent) received nearly $15 million in rebates in the very same year they had committed their offences, the report found. In one case, a 57-year-old elec- trician employed by Goldcorp Canada was killed in a workplace accident in 2011. The company was fined $350,000 after plead- ing guilty to not implementing proper safety procedures, but the next year it received a $2.7- million WSIB premium rebate, an amount seven times higher than the fine it paid for the work- er's death. The rebates were made through the WSIB's controver- sial "experience rating" pro- grams, which are intended to provide a financial incentive to employers for improving work- er's health and safety. Instead, the program provides financial incentives for companies to suppress claims, said the OFL. "The WSIB should scrap its experience rating system in all its forms and the resulting sav- ings should be reinvested into workplace health and safety, as well as compensation for in- jured workers and their fami- lies," added Ryan. alberta's Bill 3 will amend Personal information Protection act CALGARY — Alberta opened its fall legislature at the end of November and, with it, in- troduced a slew of legislation including Bill 3, which would change how unions use per- sonal information of private sector employees. Otherwise known as the Personal Information Protec- tion Amendment Act, Bill 3 was brought to the table in the throne speech delivered on Nov. 17, which outlined Premier Jim Prentice's agenda. The proposal would amend the province's current Personal Information Protection Act which establishes rules for the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal informa- tion of organizations and in- cludes protections for personal private sector employee infor- mation and regulation of non- commercial activities. The revisions proposed in Bill 3 would authorize trade unions to collect, use and disclose personal information without consent only in the limited circumstances of a matter relating to a labour re- lations dispute. "Protection of privacy is a pri- ority for this government. We are responsible to the changing information needs of society and will be consulting further on this legislation starting next summer as part of a scheduled renewal," explained Stephen Khan, minis- ter of Service Alberta. On average, the provincial government receives an average of 600 inquiries every year under the act from employees, employ- ers and stakeholders. According to Service Alberta, the Personal Information Protection Act pro- vides private sector workers with more protection regarding per- sonal information than existing federal regulation does. Back in 2006, the United Food and Commercial Work- ers (UFCW) union took photos and videos of people crossing the picket line during a strike at the Palace Casino at the West Ed- monton Mall. Then, in 2011, the union legally challenged the va- lidity of the Personal Information Protection Act when the privacy commissioner ruled the UFCW violated the act. On Nov. 15, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada determined the act contravened the union's char- ter right to freedom of expression — thereby prompting Alberta to make the personal informa- tion act constitutionally compliant. Two dozen arrests were made at a Wal-Mart in California, where unions are demanding a wage hike of about $15 per hour. FoRMeRLy CLV RePoRtS Serving labour relations professionals since 1956 www.labour-reporter.com Published weekly by omson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $595 per year Customer Service tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher John Hobel - On leave acting Publisher/Managing editor Todd Humber News editor Sabrina Nanji | (416) 649-9348 sabrina.nanji@thomsonreuters.com News editor Liz Foster | (416) 298-5129 liz.foster@thomsonreuters.com Marketing Co-ordinator Travis Chan | (416) 609-5872 travis.chan@thomsonreuters.com © 2014 Carswell, a division of omson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. 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