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POLITICS / Issues / Clothing Allowance  Current issues ... In December of 2005 the WSIB/WCB restored cuts to the clothing allowance first introduced in 1996. While appreciative of the policy revisions, fairness demands that  these changes be made retroactive. In its September 2006 submission to the Board, injured workers call for the full clothing to be restored back to the full amount as it was in 1995. Injured workers retroactivity brief (Sept 2006) [pdf] WSIB/WCB policy update on clothing allowance A ten-year campaign.... After raising the spectre of cuts to the clothing allowance in a 1995 package of measures to address the alleged "financial crisis", the WSIB/WCB announced the first cuts in their 1996 "Clothing allowance discussion paper". Again denying the back braces   damage clothing, later that year the Board revised its policy to introduce further cuts in the allowance. Bill 99 (1998) made injured workers more vulnerable by, for the first time, removing a dollar amount for the clothing allowance from legislation and leaving it to the discretion of the Board. As the impact of these cuts was felt, Toronto injured workers lobbied the Board hard to review its policies, resulting in the 1999 consultation paper. However the new policy, announced in July 1999, continued to provide only half the allowance for the canvass belt type brace with steel stays while acknowledging the Board was undertaking research to see if these softer braces did in fact cause major damage to clothing. Despite frequent representations from the injured worker community, clothing allowance cuts and and research became one more of the "slow boat" issues under WSIB/WCB review. Finally, in December 2005, the WSIB/WCB Board of Directors approved a revised clothing allowance policy, accepting that the camp corsets with steel stays can cause major damage to clothing and restoring eligibility for the full amount of the clothing allowance.