For those forced into poverty by work-related injury or illness, the government’s announcement that WSIB, instead of restoring decades of cutsto injured workers, are simply handing 2.5 billion dollars to employers is shocking…
Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group
thunderbayinjuredworkers.com
tbiwsg@gmail.com
(807) 622-8897
November 21, 2024
Media Release: Premier Ford announces $2.5 Billion WSIB rebate to business. What about the thousands of injured workers in poverty?
Every year in the lead up to the holiday season, countless Ontarians look forward to gathering with their family and friends to share food, presents, and good company.
For those forced into poverty by work injury or illness and related disabilities, comfort and joy is not so easy to come by. Decades of cuts to injured worker benefits through practices like deeming (pretending an injured worker has a job that they cannot get, and cutting their benefits), massive denial rates (especially in psychological injuries and occupational illness), cuts to healthcare, and ignoring the diagnoses and advice of injured worker’s actual treating doctors have left many permanently injured and ill workers in financial and emotional ruin.
These practices have created massive surpluses for the WSIB. Heading into a potential spring election, injured workers had begun to hope that some of their decimated benefits may be restored with all of the extra money the Compensation Board brags about having in their bank.
Imagine our shock today, then, when WSIB announced that instead of restoring decades of cuts to injured workers, they are simply handing 2.5 BILLION DOLLARS to the very employers who have left us injured, ill, and poor.
Study after study show that permanently injured and ill workers face poverty, stigma, and a cascading set of health effects that can cause people to lose their homes, their families, and the lives they once knew. Instead of addressing this known problem, the WSIB has chosen to make wealthy employers $2.5 billion wealthier as they head into 2025. Shame on them.
For more information, contact Steve Mantis at smantis@tbaytel.net or 807-767-9633 or Eugene Lefrancois at 807-767-7827 or Janet Paterson, President, Ontario Network of Injured Workers Group at 807-472-6910.
Government media release – https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1005375/ontario-returning-over-25-billion-to-workers-and-businesses-through-fee-reductions-and-wsib-rebates
Download TBIWSG media release: Premier Ford announces $2.5 billion WSIB rebate to business