Injured Workers Information Picket at WSIB: Compensation, Not Victimization!

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 18, 2013) - On June 21, for the second time this month, injured workers will gather publicly to call for justice from the WSIB. They will hold an information picket at noon outside the WSIB's head office, 200 Front Street, protesting a compensation system that is supposed to support injured workers, but instead impoverishes them.

As the picket unfolds outside, Ontario Federation of Labour representatives will be inside, holding a summit with the WSIB's senior administration, to discuss the workers' compensation crisis.

Between 2009 and 2010, the WSIB reported a 50% increase in claims denials. By September 2011, it reported $631 million in reduced benefits costs compared to 2010. Hypocritically, while injured workers suffer from this austerity agenda, WSIB President and CEO David Marshall receives a $400,000 bonus for cutting costs, and employers receive tens of millions of dollars in rebates annually from the WSIB.

"We're tired of being trampled on while employers and senior administrators line their pockets," says Bright Lights member Basil Boolis. "So we're going to make ourselves heard."

To help send their message, injured workers will unveil the Golden Axe, symbolizing the attempts to hack away at workers' compensation. They will also bring the Chain of Shame, which links workers together in solidarity as they struggle for a just compensation system.

"A workplace injury shouldn't cause poverty," says Boolis. "But with the WSIB betraying its mandate, that's what's happening. It's our job to save the system; full justice for injured workers means a healthier Ontario for all."