Injured workers demand answers from McGuinty

Posted Aug 25, 2011 By Janice Thiessen

---

EMC News - Across Ontario outraged injured workers visited London, Ottawa, Mississauga, Scarborough, Beamsville and Thunder Bay to address their local MPP representatives on the underfunding of WSIB benefits.

President of Ottawa District Labour Council (ODLC) Sean McKenny with his group of injured workers and supporters visited Premier Dalton McGuinty's office demanding answers.

"We want to impress upon him the importance of providing workers with benefits and to be able to put food on the table.

"When a worker is injured it doesn't just impact him but his entire family.

"Benefits have increased very little over the years and don't cover the cost of living," he said.

According to Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) fact sheets distributed during the protest, the percentage change in inflation compared to benefits has left workers with 20 per cent less than they received in 1996.

"Workers on compensation are kept on the bottom. It doesn't make sense. Employers pay a percentage, so it's not costing them.

"The government has circumvented putting money towards workers compensation, putting it into other areas," McKenny said.

McKenny and his group remained on site throughout the day without any confirmation of a meeting from the Premiere.

They were told by the Premier's staff that McGuinty was in cabinet and he would follow up with the group.

"Becoming injured at work brings on a significant change in a person's life, for some their life is changed forever. I want to see people talking about it.

"Public officials profess to have best interest of people at heart but enough is enough."

Within McKenny's group several of the injured workers were more than open about their struggles with WSIB.

"I was injured at my workplace," said Ian Lloy.

"My wife has a heart and lung condition and now has to endure undue stress to work to support the entire family, we have three kids in their teens."

"We are at risk of loosing everything, I went from $20 an hour to $8 an hour, which is only $16,000 a year. My wife has to take 18 medications a day.

"She has bad coughing fits and a cyst on her heart.

"There are some days I think she is going to die."

Lloy said he is hoping for a change but it's a faint hope. "It's part and parcel, it's industries being supported on the backs of the workers. It's a draconian government. I don't expect Dalton to care. I'm hoping his voted out."

Lloy said he and his family are in survival mode, living one day at a time making it extremely difficult for them emotionally. Lloy explained he was one of the workers affected by the mechanization of the machining industry, so he went back to college to train for something else in an effort to move forward. He was injured on his newly acquired job three times but the last injury was too much to continue.

"I was disillusioned about the system. I was brought up with a good, strong work ethic and continued working after my first injuries with modified duties.

"The most important lesson I've learned through my experiences is to never make the mistake of pushing myself ever again, there is no safety net."

Injured workers at the Premiere's office spoke about the problems of having a privately funded group like WSIB that pushes them to their publicly funded pensions for financial support.

"(WSIB) is escaping their financial responsibilities," said injured worker Margery Wardle. "They are following the private insurance model. Any other benefits we can apply for through the government are deducted from a WSIB claim. They are forcing injured workers into poverty."

The concept of "deeming" was brought to light in the OFL fact sheets, demonstrated in a case example how the injured worker is inevitably forced into social assistance. In the case example an injured worker cannot return to his old work where he made $18 and hour and from WSIB receives limited retraining education for an inappropriate type of job given his injury. He is deemed he can make $12 an hour at this new job and by those figures the worker receives 85 per cent of the difference between pre and post accident earnings. In the example it works out to $5 an hour, $175 a week, $752 a month reducing his earnings so much, he has to go on social assistance.

According to the OFL fact sheet, "in 2009 there were 6,883 families on social assistance in Ontario because their workers' compensations benefits were below the 'welfare line.'"

Injured worker Marie Susan Cardill said she has been looped around the system too many times with her reoccurring injuries because they are treated like new claims. She is forced to go through the application process from the beginning each time. "I'm told to work through the pain. I've contacted the Ministry of Labour but got nowhere. There are talks of a class action lawsuit against WSIB."

Some have said that comparatively Ontario is falling behind other provinces in covering the workforce. According to the 2009 Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, "As of 2007, the percentage of the workforce covered by the system in Ontario was 72.6%, as compared to Alberta at 89.7%, B.C. at 93.1%, and Quebec at 93.4%."

"The chair of WSIB makes $300,000 a year, the injustice is glaring. WSIB is acting like a private insurance company but should be for the social benefit of the workers," said injured worker Ed Taylor. "They are denying benefits with fervor and now the tax payer is paying for their own benefits."

jthiessen@theemc.ca




blog comments powered by Disqus