Alberta Bill 47, the Ensuring Safety and Red Tape Reduction Act 2020
No to Legalizing the Denial of Workers' Rights!
"Reducing red tape" and "defending workers' rights" have been the
mantra of the neo-liberal forces since the early nineties when they
started restructuring state arrangements to step up schemes to pay the
rich. The neo-liberal arrangements have been systematically smashing
arrangements established in the 20th century which, to a limited
extent, recognized workers' collective rights in exchange for labour
peace. Any collective right is seen as interfering with the interests
of big business to do what they please when they please and now that
private interests are directly controlling the state power, they rule
with impunity. Everyone knows it and working people en masse
categorically condemn the arrogance of a government such as the United
Conservative Party (UCP) government which does it because it can. How
to hold governments to account for their actions has, indeed, become
the matter of greatest concern.
The changes the government of Alberta is making to the Workers' Compensation Act in
Bill 47 are based on the outlook that workers are disposable, and that
"business decisions," not the rights of workers, should prevail. The
sole aim is to reduce employer premiums and obligations through denying
claims, reducing compensation,
introducing arbitrary measures to terminate benefits, and making it
harder for workers to make claims and appeal unjust decisions.
The government does not even try to hide the fact that the Workers'
Compensation Board Board of Governors (WCB - BoG) is a rubber stamp
and that it uses dictate to control all "independent" boards and
agencies and does so quite openly. The fact sheet issued by the
government states that Bill 47 will cut benefits to injured workers by
about $112 million a year plus a further $240 million through
reductions in cost of living adjustment (COLA). The estimated cuts
include "savings" from decisions which are the responsibility of the
WCB BoG which is said to represent the interests of "workers,
employers and the public."
Employer premiums reflect the rate and severity of workplace
accidents, and also the degree to which injured workers receive the
compensation that is their right in return for an agreement whereby
they will not sue their employer. It is the responsibility of any
government worthy of the name to uphold the rights of workers to
healthy and safe
workplaces, and to hold employers accountable. Safe workplaces require
the active participation of the workers in decision-making in all
aspects of their health and safety in the workplace. But the government
is blocking workers from participating in decision-making, depriving
workers of compensation when they are injured, and providing
employers with premium reductions as one of its pay-the-rich schemes.
This attack comes at a time when 28,000 workers across Canada have
filed WCB claims after getting COVID-19 at work, a number which likely
represents only a small fraction of those infected. Furthermore,
workers are actively fighting to control the COVID-19 pandemic by
demanding safety conditions at their places of work which will
control the spread of the disease and protect their own working
conditions. To legislate their working conditions based on the most
anti-human criteria and refuse to compensate them when they are
exhausted or injured or have their family lives turned upside is a
totally anti-democratic measure. It is unacceptable to humankind in the
21st century.
It shows that the main problem facing the workers' movement in Alberta,
as is the case across the country, is what to do when a government such
as the UCP government denies what belongs to them by right. Doing so in
the midst of the pandemic is all the more heinous. It will seriously
aggravate the conditions of impoverishment and suffering
into which they have been thrown, increasing the heavy burden of the
anti-social offensive on everyone's back.
 Prior to introducing Bill 47, the UCP government carried out a phony consultation from July 9 to August 14.[1]
The report of the consultation was issued on November 5, the same day
that Bill 47 was given first reading in the legislature. The report
stated, "Government priorities and input from red
tape reduction submissions and workers' compensation system agencies
informed a written submission guide." Notably absent is any mention of
the right to compensation, or the principles upon which the workers
compensation system is based.
The report states that 85 responses were received,
including 32 from "invited stakeholders" who were mainly employers, 49
from "other interested Albertans," reported as overwhelmingly
representing employers, and four submissions expressing support for
another submission. This contrasts with the broad participation in the
WCB Review
Panel which began in 2016 and issued its report in 2017, acknowledging
the "culture of denial" at WCB and the need for substantive change.[2]
The report states that "Stakeholders were most interested in four
topics: the maximum insurable earnings cap, the employer obligation to
reinstate, presumptive coverage for psychological injuries, and
accident fund surpluses", and notes the responses of employers and
workers. On each of these four topics, Bill 47 carries out the demands
of
employers, as well as on other demands.[3]
This issue of Workers' Forum reports on Bill 47. Workers' Forum congratulates
the Alberta working class for resolutely defending the rights of all in
the battles it is waging. Their fights reveal above all else that when
the aim of defending the rights of all is taken up, the ways and means
can and will be found to fulfil that aim. Notes 1. See "Alberta Government Intensifies Attacks on Workers' Rights: Join Mobilizations
Which
Defend the Rights of All!" and "Fraudulent Review of Workers' Compensation," Workers' Forum, August 20, 2020.
2. See "Justice for Injured Workers:
Compensation Is a Right! and Response to Alberta Workers' Compensation
Board Review Panel Recommendations," Workers' Forum, October 19, 2017.
3. See "Alberta Government, Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) Review, What We Heard," 2017.
This article was published in
Number 81 - December 1, 2020
Article Link:
Alberta Bill 47, the : No to Legalizing the Denial of Workers' Rights!
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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