The Royal Commission will be a major project for the labour movement in 1997, and the Federation and affiliates are continuing preparations for the task.

Following the September, 1996, Conference that focused on preparing our agenda for health and safety legislation, the Occupational Health and Safety Committee began planning activities to coordinate the work of affiliates in the months ahead to make sure workers’ voices are heard, and our views are well represented.

A Royal Commission Working Group has been struck by the Committee to develop these plans.

As a first step, the advanced Occupational Health and Safety, and Workers’ Compensation Advocacy courses at the CLC Harrison Winter School will be combined. The course content will focus on advocacy before the Commission. Affiliates are encouraged to consider sending key activists to this course who will be expected to play a leading role in their union in making representations to the Commission.

At a grassroots level, the Federation is planning a series of clinics around the province to assist workers in developing their submissions to the Commission.

Federation Secretary-Treasurer Angela Schira says, "We can be sure employers, insurers, WCB service providers and other business interests will be well represented at the Commission. It is up to us to make sure that workers -- who are supposed to be the primary beneficiaries of WCB programs -- get a fair chance to present their views."

Provincial court Judge Gurmail Singh Gill was appointed Friday to head the provincial government's long-promised three-member Royal Commission into the Workers' Compensation Board.

Apologizing for a long delay in making the appointment, Labor Minister Moe Sihota said Gill will be given an open chequebook and few constraints in his quest to determine what is wrong with the WCB.

"Over time it has become increasingly evident to the government that there is a need for a full review of the workers' compensation system in B.C.," Sihota told reporters.

The WCB has been under increasing criticism for the way it handles worker safety, benefits and rehabilitation, and has been a battleground in the past between labor and business interests.

No sooner had Sihota announced that Gill will be aided by outgoing IWA president Gerry Stoney and former Canadian Federation of Independent Business director Oksana Exell as co-commissioners than the opposition Liberals denounced it as an attempt to "politicize" the royal commission by adding people with stakeholder interests.

"This is a totally flawed commission. To add these two other people to the commission replicates the very board then-labor minister Dan Miller fired in 1995 because it was too political," said Linda Reid, Liberal critic for WCB. "I think this judge will spend the majority of his time acting as a referee."

She pointed out there is no representation on the commission from injured workers, and predicted its findings won't be implemented because they will be too costly.

"This is not fair to the people it was meant to help," she said.

Even business and labor leaders admitted they initially rejected the concept of a royal commission, which will spend up to a year and could cost more than $1 million in its attempt to determine how to better administer worker compensation and workplace injury prevention.

"This is long overdue, although I am disappointed at the delay in getting going," said Ken Georgetti, president of the B.C. Federation of Labor. "I shouldn't be defending the structure [of three commissioners], because we didn't support it. We didn't think we needed a royal commission, we needed political will to hammer out these problems and improve worker safety. Now that we've got the commission, we're going to work hard to see they get all the facts."

Suromitra Sanatani, B.C. director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said she is hopeful the commission will not degenerate into a business-versus-labor fight.

"We didn't think a royal commission was needed. But it has been appointed, so now we will roll up our sleeves and make sure it has all the facts."

Jerry Lampert of the B.C. Business Council said his organization believed a committee of stakeholders could hammer out the problems and avoid the cost of the commission.

In his throne speech in April, Premier Glen Clark promised the royal commission would examine every aspect of the WCB, from its framework to the provision of benefits to the need for improved workplace safety regulations. But the spring election, the budget crisis and the lack of a suitable candidate to head the commission delayed the kickoff.

Gill said the commission will likely hold hearings throughout the province and must present an interim report by May 31 next year and a final report by the end of 1997.

The recently named Royal Commission into the Workers’ Compensation Board of BC has generated as much controversy as has the Workers’ Compensation Board itself.

It seems the greater majority is crying foul over the make-up of the panel, and expressing a complete lack of confidence in the integrity of the commission.

Regardless of which side of the fence, if either, you’ve chosen, it’s important to remember one fact.

It was injured worker’s who forced these issues which has resulted in the calling of a Royal Commission in the first place, and this was accomplished with a fraction of the organisation and strength which exists today.

It is important to maintain that commitment to achieving a positive change to the Workers’ Compensation System that assures the protection for both worker’s and employers as it was intended.

It is certainly hoped that the Royal Commission conducts a thorough and honest inquiry devoid of any political influence, resulting in firm recommendations ensuring a return to a fair and just compensation system.

A division within the ranks of opposition and an atmosphere of discouragement is exactly what a number of key players in government and at the Board are counting on, and already a significant amount of energy has been expended on disputing the validity of the panel that might be better spent making sure they have no options in their conclusions.

If nothing else the Royal Commission Inquiry provides a focal point of attention to WCB related issues for the next year which will be carefully monitored and evaluated by a wide range of interested parties for a variety of reasons.

Whether or not you trust the motives of the commission, your best course of action is to assure they are provided with an overwhelming volume of evidence which is impossible to ignore and promotes only one conclusion. By providing the commission with all the tools to do the job you guarantee the ability to hold them accountable for the job done.

Make your submission as detailed and specific as possible, demand full and complete disclosure of all WCB related information in order to provide factual evidence in support of your submission. If you are not provided with full disclosure make sure that that is clearly documented.

Copy your submission to the Premier, Deputy Premier, and Minister of Labour as well as your MLA and local media, or for that matter, if you like, to all MLA’s and media sources.

Co-operate with the commission, make your voice heard loud and clear and ensure that the facts are presented so that they cannot be ignored and that at the end of the day any failure to recognize and act on the obvious conclusions will be a guarantee of career suicide from the Premiers Office on down.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE FURTHER INFORMATION on this, or other issues concerning the Worker’s Compensation Board, or would like to contribute to the INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE DATA BASE you can communicate VIA E-MAIL TO: componet@smartt.com or MAILTO COMPONET PO Box 54237 Lonsdale West Postal Outlet, North Vancouver B.C. V7M 3L5, please include a self addressed stamped envelope when responding via mail.