National Day of Mourning highlights gaps in protection for Ontario workers as CUPE Local 1750 calls for WSIB reforms

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On April 28, the National Day of Mourning, members of OCEU/CUPE Local 1750 are joining workers across Ontario to remember those who have been killed, injured, or have become ill on the job and to call for urgent improvements to the systems meant to protect them.

CUPE Local 1750 represents more than 3,800 workers at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA). This year, the union is marking the day not only in remembrance, but with a renewed push for reform through its campaign, aimed at strengthening protections for Ontario’s workers.

“Today is about remembrance, but it must also be about action,” said Harry Goslin, President of OCEU/CUPE Local 1750. “Every day, we see the consequences when workers aren’t properly protected — whether that’s on the job site or when they turn to the compensation system for help only to learn they are among one in four Ontario workers not covered.”

While the union acknowledges recent improvements announced by the provincial government, including increasing Loss of Earnings benefits from 85 to 90 per cent, potential changes to end benefit cut-offs at age 65, and extending coverage to privately operated residential care facilities, it says these steps fall short of what workers need.

“These changes show progress is possible,” said Goslin. “But the reality is that too many workers are still falling through the cracks, and the system itself is under strain.”

One in four workers in Ontario do not have WSIB coverage, leaving 1.56 million workers without access to compensation or support if they are injured at work. At the same time, frontline WSIB staff are facing a severe workload crisis with a recent survey showing that WSIB staff face the worst workload levels in Canada for two years in a row.

“That workload crisis has real consequences,” Goslin added. “When staff are stretched too thin, service suffers — the Ontarian’s we are here to serve pay the price.”

Through their Universal coverage campaign, the Union is calling on the provincial government to take concrete steps to fix the system and better protect workers, including:

• Expanding WSIB coverage to all workers in Ontario
• Ending age-based discrimination in benefits
• Restoring cuts to retirement and compensation benefits
• Increasing investment in workplace injury and illness prevention
• Ending the practice of deeming, which reduces benefits based on unrealistic job matches
• Holding employers accountable for suppressing injury claims
• Fully staffing the WSIB to ensure timely and effective service

“Ontario’s workers deserve a system that is there for them when they need it most,” said Goslin. “Our campaign is about protecting the people who too often get left behind — the injured, the ill, and those without coverage at all.”

On today’s Day of Mourning, Unions across the province urge government leaders, employers, and the public to honour workers not just with words, but with meaningful action.

“The best way to remember those we’ve lost is to fight for the living,” said Goslin. “No worker should be left unprotected, and no one should have to fight just to be treated fairly after a workplace injury.”

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