Injured Workers Treated Unfairly

Over the years the stories of injured

workers, both on the job

and off, continue to astonish me.

We as workers in Ontario are entitled

to WSIB benefits yet when

an injury occurs at work the company deliberately

tries to deter us from collecting

benefits by either incorrectly filing a claim

or threatening the injured worker, scaring

them into coming back to work on light duty

when their medical practitioner has already

advised them to stay off work.

The company does this by telling the injured

worker that if they do not come back

to work and accept light duties then they

may not qualify for WSIB benefits. When an

injury occurs at work we are required to

have our doctors fill out a functional abilities

form (FAF). The key is to get this form

filled out correctly by your doctor. The WSIB

appeals specialist at CAW Local 222 advises

that doctors often support their patients in

the office but when the medical reports are

read, the doctor failed to put in writing the

necessary support to be off work. We are

only as strong as the doctor makes us in

these situations. When your FAF is filled out

and the doctor renders you only partially

disabled and you do not return to work your

claim may be denied.

Your claim may also be denied if there

is insufficient proof that the accident happened

at work. At this point the company

may refuse to accommodate you until you

can prove with a letter from your doctor that

you are 100 per cent capable of full duties.

Because your WSIB claim has been denied

the company will claim undue hardship

and say your injury didn’t happen at work

so they do not have to accommodate you.

Members have actually lost their jobs in the

past because of the above scenario and the

appeals procedure takes years, not months.

If you are out on an appeal for more than

two years you lose your seniority and no

longer work for Armada.

If you do injure yourself on the job be

sure to keep copies of all paperwork. Keep

copies for yourself and give copies to your

Union in case we have to fight on your behalf.

When you visit your doctor to have your

FAF filled out, be sure to mention that your

company has a history of using the system

against us to deny benefits and make sure

your doctor understands. If you feel you are

not capable and cannot immediately accept

light duties but after your condition changes

you will gladly accept light duties make

sure that the paperwork states this. It is not

advisable however to stay out longer than

necessary or against your doctor’s advice.

The reason for companies being so inconsiderate

and uncompassionate for injured

workers is strictly for one reason only.

Money! WSIB is an insurance much like

your home or auto insurance. The company

pays a premium each year in the hundreds

of thousands of dollars. The more claims

that go through, the higher the premiums

that the company pays.

Now this brings me to health and safety.

You would think that for this reason the

company would be

serious about health

and safety. But we

don’t even have a

full-time health and safety manager. Joint

health and safety meetings rarely happen on

a regular basis as per the Ministry of Labour

Employment Standards Act, even though we

have threatened with grievances and to call

the MOL to complain. For employees who

are injured outside work there are no disability

benefits available through work and

your only avenue is to file for employment

insurance disability benefits through the

government.

But be careful and remember that if your

injury or disability lasts longer than two

years you lose your seniority and will be out

of a job. When I first entered the workforce

there were numerous stories of workers

using the system to sit at home and collect

benefits for injuries that didn’t happen at

work or the person’s injuries were not as

severe as was documented. Or so-called

injured workers worked elsewhere on the

side under the table while collecting benefits

(WSIB fraud). It is because of this past

exploitation and abuse of the system that today’s

workers are now paying the price and

being denied benefits which they deserve

and need. If you are considering to attempt

to cheat the system somehow in order to

stay home and collect benefits I highly recommend

against doing so.

 

 

 

tom

worsley

ARMADA

TOOLWORKS

Unit Chairperson

 

 

Union Wants To Be Able To Fight For Rights Of All Armada Employees

At

 the time of writing this, tensions between the membership

and management appear to be on the rise due to increased

overtime and the membership being mandated for it. Let

me remind everyone that Ontario legislation states we can

be forced to work a maximum of 48 hours per week but

not more than eight hours per day. There is nothing we can do about

this short of changing the language in the Collective Agreement. But

it doesn’t mean we have to like it. Let’s hope management also understands

that we have lives outside Armada and when they force people

to work it hurts morale and in turn that hurts the company.

We are in the middle of a bit of a hiring spree as we begin to get ready

for more new business that will be arriving in September and in early

2013, with at least two larger 500 ton plastic machines which will have

arrived before you read this. Management has said they are having a

hard time finding temp agency employees who are qualified to be hired

on full time. I find this extremely hard to believe with over 140 temp

agency workers fully trained, some of whom worked here for years. In

recent weeks we have also witnessed several temps let go or laid off, as

they call it. Some of these people were actually full-timers at one time

who left and came back as temp agency employees yet they were let

go and do not qualify for full time re-employment. The exploitation of

temp agency workers or precarious workers is appalling. Unfortunately

it seems to be a sign of the times in Ontario manufacturing.

In my 25 years on the shop floor I have

never seen such disrespect for a group of people with no protection

from a union and very few rights that they know of. This constant

attack on workers not only at Armada but all across Canada is precisely

why the Canadian Auto Workers Union and the Communications,

Energy and Paperworkers unions want to join forces.

On a brighter note, the company has told the committee in a

meeting that there are way too many temps, which is why they have

cleared a few out and are about to hire more full time. I have said

this in the past and I will say it again. I’m not against the temp workers.

But when management discriminates based on one’s disability I

want to be able to fight for them and not have my hands tied behind

my back.

There have been rumours lately that die cast could be contracted

out as early as September or early October with all die cast workers

bumping into other departments. On Aug. 10/12 the committee was

told in a meeting that this is not true and that we have the die cast

business for at least two more years and that they cannot find anyone

to take the business. We were also told that if a customer were to

come to Armada with more die cast business and it was viable they

would gladly accept it and bring in more die cast machines. Let’s

hope the latter is true.

In Solidarity.
W

armada uupdated web site

armada has updated thier web site check it out. http://www.armadatoolworks.com/ be patient its slow.

exploitation of temp agency workers or precarious workers

At the time of writing this tensions between the membership and management appear to be on the rise due to increased overtime and the membership being mandated for it. Let me remind everyone that the law states we can be forced to work a maximum of 48 hours per week but not more than 8 hours per day. There is nothing we can do about this short of changing the language in the collective agreement. But it doesn’t mean we have to like it. Let’s hope management also understands that we have lives outside Armada and when they force people to work it hurts moral and intern huts the company.

We are in the middle of a bit of a hiring spree as we begin to get ready for more new business that will be arriving in September and early 2013 with at least 2 larger 500 ton plastic machines which will have arrived before you read this. Management has said they are having a hard time finding temp agency employees who are qualified to be hired on full time. I find this extremely hard to believe with over 140 temp agency workers fully trained some of whom worked here for years. In recent weeks we have also witnessed several temps let go or laid off so they call it. Some of these people were actually full timers at one time who left and came back as temp agency employees yet they were let go and do not qualify for full time re employment. The exploitation of temp agency workers or precarious workers is appalling unfortunately it seems to be a sign of the times in Ontario manufacturing. Even GM has issues with the way their temp workers are being used. In my 25 years on the shop floor I have never seen such dis respect for a group of people with no protection from a union and very few rights that they know of. This constant attack on workers not only at Armada but all across Canada is precisely why the Canadian Auto Workers Union and the Communications Energy and Paper unions want to join forces. On a brighter note the company has told the committee in a meeting that there are way too many temps which is why they have cleared a few out and are about to hire more full time. I have said this in the past and I will say it again. I’m not against the temp workers. But when management discriminates based on one’s disability I want to be able to fight for them and not have my hands tied behind my back. There have been rumours lately that die cast could be contracted out as early as September or early October with all die cast workers bumping into other departments. On August 10 the committee was told in a meeting that this was not true and that they have the die cast business for at least 2 more years and that they cannot find anyone to take the business. We were also told that if a customer were to come to Armada with more die cast business and it was viable they would gladly except it and bring in more die cast machines. Let’s hope the latter is true.

In solidarity

Unions turn to new ideas to stay afloat | CTVNews

Unions turn to new ideas to stay afloat | CTVNews

New Union Project | CAW and CEP are exploring the possibility of building a new union together.

New Union Project | CAW and CEP are exploring the possibility of building a new union together.

Canadian taxpayers left holding the bag in London plant shutdown: Georgetti says Caterpillar should be forced to seek Canadian buyer | Canadian Labour Congress

Canadian taxpayers left holding the bag in London plant shutdown: Georgetti says Caterpillar should be forced to seek Canadian buyer Canadian Labour Congress

Wages And Jobs Going South.

Allot of grumbling has gone on over the past year about the miniscule wage increases that we managed to squeeze out of Armada management at our last round of negotiations. In fact the only good thing that can be said is that we actually got wage increases and gave up nothing. Yes we are at the lower end of the totem pole when it comes to wages but in my opinion our low wages are the only thing keeping us going right now. Take a look at the lock out in London for example between Electro-Motive and the CAW. They were given an ultimatum take a 55% wage reduction or we close the plant and move it the united states were wages are 50% lower. These people were making $35/hr which would bring them down to approximately $16/hr if they accepted the companies demands. Corporations are using us pitting worker against worker saying to us that if you won't work for $16/hr someone else will. When I look back at all the new work we have secured in the last year I can't help but wonder how many unionized plastics plants we out bid to get the contracts because we are working for less than $16/hr and they couldn't compete with Armada's offer. We are almost guaranteed employment for the next 2 years unless something extreme transpires. How many more unions this year are going to have to make the tough choice between wage cuts or walking the picket line. Remember this before you complain about increases that we did get when others around us are being forced to take wage cuts or walk the picket line with the threat of loosing their jobs altogether to employees in the United States who will work for less. The only thing giving us a competitive edge against our brothers and sisters in the United States for the last 20 years was our low Canadian dollar. Now that we are at par with the US dollar it is no longer as profitable For large corporations to do business in Canada paying Canadian workers more than workers in the USA. They don't care that we cannot afford to put gas in our vehicles. They don't care that we cannot pay our bills and they do not care that we have little to no savings for retirement. The only thing they care about is the bottom line. Only time will tell how bad things really get but if the first week of this new year is a preview of whats to come 2012 is not looking good for manufacturing jobs here in Ontario. We should feel fortunate that we have 2 years before we head back to the bargaining table.

Check out CAW Outraged at Closure Announcement at Electro-Motive in London | Canadian Auto Workers | CAW

Check out CAW Outraged at Closure Announcement at Electro-Motive in London | Canadian Auto Workers | CAW

Electro-Motive plant shut by U.S. owner

The company that owns the locked-out Electro-Motive plant in London, Ont., has decided to close the plant permanently.
Progress Rail Services Corp., a subsidiary of U.S. construction equipment conglomerate Caterpillar, announced "it is regrettable that it has become necessary to close production operations at the London facility," in a release on Friday.
The company locked out 450 workers from the facility on Jan. 1. Costs were the main factor in the dispute, with the company pushing certain employees to take a 50 per cent pay cut.
"The cost structure of the operation was not sustainable and efforts to negotiate a new, competitive collective agreement were not successful," the release said.

Acrimonious dispute

The company said it is in the process of notifying employees of the decision.
Politicians in Ottawa were quick to react to the move, with high-profile Liberal MP Ralph Goodale suggesting Ottawa needs to "get the best out of what is now a very bad situation."
"The government owes the workers here a substantial amount because … there were particular incentives and advantages offered to this company and the net result is that 450 jobs have been lost," Goodale said.
On the governing Conservative side, Shelly Glover, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance, said, "We do sympathize with those who have lost their jobs, but we are creating jobs."
The closure has sent shockwaves through the organized labour movement across Canada.
Rick Laporte is the president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 444, which represents nearly 5,000 unionized Chrysler employees in Windsor, Ont., about a 90-minute drive west of London.
"This is something that is certainly new to us in the labour movement. Here's a company that just made billions of dollars in profits — record profits," Laporte said.
"There is no reason to do what they did. They just arbitrarily decided, 'That's it, we're going to do what we're going to do,' which is crazy. Even more disturbing that the government sits on the sidelines and absolutely does nothing."
CAW President Ken Lewenza called the decision a "callous move," and blamed the federal government for failing to require that companies commit to Canadian jobs when making corporate takeovers.

'The cost structure of the operation was not sustainable.'—Progress Rail's press statement

"The Stephen Harper government is entirely in the pocket of the corporate elite and has shown absolute disregard for Canadian workers and their families," said Lewenza.
"I am disgusted at this government and its indifference towards the suffering of workers and the unemployed. The Harper government was elected by Canadians, but only seems able to represent multinational corporations."
Caterpillar revealed Jan. 26 it had record-high sales and a profit of nearly $5 billion US last year, up 83 per cent from $2.7 billion US in 2010. Profit per share was $7.40 US, up 78 per cent.
The move comes as Electro-Motive is preparing to host a jobs fair in Muncie, Ind., this weekend. Progress's website is advertising several open positions at the Indiana facility.
"The jobs will require specific skills/experience in welding, mechanical, electrical and/or general parts assembly for locomotives, as well as painting of locomotives," the website says.
Union locals in the London area had long feared Progress intended to move the locomotive manufacturing to a facility in the United States.
On Wednesday, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill into law enacting so-called right-to-work legislation that effectively bans mandatory union membership.