Workers Take to Queen's Park on Injured Workers' Day to Protest WSIB Cuts

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 30, 2014) - Coming on the heels of two Toronto Star exposes about the WSIB's attempt to implement a series of highly regressive changes to the worker's compensation system, on Sunday June 1^st at 11:00am, injured workers and their allies will take to Queen's Park to continue their fightback against the damaging proposed changes.

Lambasted by private lawyers, doctors, legal clinics, and the Ontario Federation of Labour, as the most explicit attack on the rights of injured workers in the past 100 years, the WSIB's actions will result in thousands of workers being cut off of the employer-funded compensation system, and forced to rely on publicly-funded social assistance systems like Ontario Works and ODSP.

"Right now, the WSIB is irrationally obsessed with cutting its own costs, and the cuts are coming squarely on the backs of injured workers," says President of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers' Groups, Eugene Lefrancois. "But cutting workers' compensation just means that people who suffer workplace injuries will be plunged deeper into poverty and destitution. We won't allow that to happen, we are fighting back."

To kick off Sunday's Injured Workers' Day, the Women of Inspiration, a remarkable group of women who have been hurt at work and suffered long-term consequences, will be holding on overnight vigil on the Queen's Park lawn, starting at 7:00pm on May 31^st.

"Since our injuries, we've spent so many sleepless nights because of physical pain and emotional distress - but we're not suffering in silence," says Women of Inspiration member Maryam Nazemi. "We're going to take our sleeplessness straight to Queen's Park, and we won't back down until we see a just compensation system that protects all workers."