TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 14, 2015) - Coming on the heels of two scandalous reports about the WSIB's interference in the medical care of injured workers, the Ontario Network of Injured Workers' Groups (ONIWG) and its supporters will rally outside the Ministry of Labour today at 11:00am, calling on the Ontario government to rein in a WSIB that has run out of control.
The recent revelations have been led by doctors who are seeing how the WSIB's single-minded focus on cutting benefits in order to cut its own costs is actually harming their patients' health. And to double down on the affront to injured workers, the WSIB has recently boasted that it plans to reduce employer premiums by $2 billion per year.
"The whole system is being hijacked by the rampant austerity agenda," said ONIWG President, Eugene Lefrancois. "People are losing their homes, their families, and their livelihoods as a result of the cuts at the WSIB. And now we see that the money being taken away from injured workers will flow directly into the coffers of employers - to the tune of $2 billion a year."
At today's rally, Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn is also expected to speak to a proposed legislative change that will give injured workers full cost of living adjustments to their benefits starting in 2018. While this is long-overdue and certainly welcome, serious questions still remain, and ONIWG will be seeking answers from the Minister.
"Cost of living is a pretty basic thing, but we've been demanding it for over 20 years," said Lefrancois. "What will be done to compensate the injured workers who have fallen so far behind since 1995? And at the end of the day, with the WSIB cutting everyone off compensation anyways, who will actually get to benefit from cost of living adjustments? That's the root of the issue, and we're going to make it clear today that as long as there are people trying to hijack our system, we will be there fighting back. And we will take back our system."
Contact Information:
416-333-9428
David Newberry
647-833-6722