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© Copyright 1997 Maclean Hunter Publishing Ltd. The following article first appeared in the October
1997 edition of BENEFITS CANADA magazine.
Driving Change
At Ottawa's OC Transpo, one union helps relay the message that early return to work after injury is
better for everyone
By Caroline Nolan
Too often, unions are cited as being a great obstacle to implementing major changes in pension and benefits
plans across the country. The flip side, however, is that unions, working in co-operation with an employer,
can not only help members understand and accept necessary changes, but even drive it from the ground up.
This was the case at the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transportation, the public transportation authority in
Ottawa, Ont. better known as OC Transpo.
Paul Macdonell, president of Local 279, Amalgamated Transit Union, in Ottawa, (which has some 1,700 drivers
working for OC Transpo) says that they started working with public transportation on the issue of
disability management several years ago, by forming the Disabled Employees Review Committee to help get
their members back on the job.
They did this, says Macdonell, because they knew changes were coming: cutbacks in grants to municipalities
coupled with an aging workforce, and a limited number of jobs for its members. "The reality was we had to
make savings somewhere," says Macdonell. "Something had to give."
Disability management ended up smack in the middle of the bargaining table during a 24-day strike by the
Amalgamated Transit Union members last November and December. Among the 30-plus concessions, the union
accepted a proposal by OC Transpo to entrench a modified-work clause right in the collective agreement. The
clause stipulates that any member who is off on long-term disability will be provided with modified work
hours and positions as medically suitable. In other words, if a bus driver is involved with a serious
accident and is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, for instance and is unable to drive, the
company will provide a "work-hardening" program--say working half days in the garage, for instance--until
they recover enough to return to his or her original, full-time job.
"It gives our people a sense of security, but they have to come into work," says Macdonell of the program.
It also helps to keep up morale and self-confidence, adds the union president. The longer members are away
from work, the quicker the fear of such things as one's ability to do their job well, sets in.
The membership, says Macdonell has had to change the way it thinks about compensation. Part of getting out
the message, he says, has been to help members understand that if they can help curb disability costs, it
could save jobs.
"I think at one time, people thought of sick benefits as an absolute right," he explains. "Now, it's not
about sick benefits, but employment. We've gone from a wage-replacement program, to a job-replacement
program."
The union has also been involved in a number of other proactive initiatives. Members, for instance, helped
start OC Transpo's employee fitness centre five years ago.
The proactive approach
OC Transpo provides the space at no charge, and employees join for $1.25 per month (the fee is deducted
directly from their cheques). It has the usual weights and exercise bikes, but also offers courses, such as
ballet, at reduced rates to employees, many of whom also volunteer to run the facility, says Wayne
McKinnon, occupational health and safety officer for OC Transpo.
The fitness centre and modified work program certainly helps McKinnon do his job to get employees back on
the job. It also saves money. In 1996, he says, OC Transpo saw a 7% reduction in its occupational health
and disability costs.
"When employees stay at home, confined to their four walls, they start watching the soaps," he says,
explaining that the modified work program helps employees ease into the work routine again, even if they
have to start out with just a few hours a day.
As of Sept. 1, for instance, McKinnon says just 15 employees were receiving Workers' Compensation benefits
for occupational-related injuries. Of those, eight were on some sort of modified work program.
"If you have a 30-year-old, you could have a potential 30-year liability on your hands," says McKinnon of
why it is so important to re-integrate younger, injured employees back into the workforce.
OC Transpo works with its insurance carrier, Met Life, to fast-track employees into psychological or
psychiatric counselling. Using MetLife's standing appointments for such services, says McKinnon, he can get
someone into counselling within two weeks, at a time when there is typically a six-month wait for such
services in the capital city.
Working with the union isn't without its pitfalls, however. "We argue and we disagree," says McKinnon of
the relationship. "It's like a marriage."
At the end of day, however, it all comes down to why we're doing it, says McKinnon.
Over at the union house, Macdonell agrees, saying that all the stakeholders have to remember why the
disability benefits and modified work programs are so important: "It's about the employees," he says.
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