Followup to letter of Nov. 23, 2023. ONIWG encourages the Minister to amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act provisions in Bill 149, Working for Workers Act Four, by increasing the percentage of of the Loss of Retirement so it is equal to the pre-accident Canada Pension Plan contributions.
Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups
127 Ravenwood Ave.
Thunder Bay, ON P7B 4H7
oniwgexec@gmail.com
www.injuredworkersonline.org
January 8, 2024
Hon. David Piccini
Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development
Via Email
Dear Minister Picinni,
I am following up from my letter of November 22, 2023 in regard to Bill 149, the Working for Workers Act. (letter attached)
In the earlier letter I drew your attention to the Loss of Retirement Income (LRI) provision in the WSIA and the opportunity to address this inequity in Bill 149. The LRI was designed to recognize the losses of contributions to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
Currently, contributions to CPP are 11.9% of gross income for all workers. The LRI is only 5% of 85% of net income. You can easily see that injured workers, especially those with a permanent, lifelong disability are losing out every month they are unemployed due to the work acquired disability and are becoming particularly vulnerable when turning 65 years old.
I encourage you to consider addressing this issue by amending Bill 149 by increasing the percentage of the LRI so is it equal to the pre-accident CPP contributions.
I would be pleased to meet with you and your staff to explore this issue in more detail. I am often available to meet virtually. I will be in Toronto on February 19 & 20 and would be please to meet in person.
Thanks for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Steve Mantis
Chair
Research Action Committee
ONIWG