New WSIB premium cuts are a further insult while layoffs harm services for injured workers

Just announced: $160 million to bosses is the latest in Premier Doug Ford’s $21 billion legacy of biggest theft from injured workers in Ontario history

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Workers at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) are shocked at the Ontario government’s decision to further reduce WSIB premium rates for bosses while injured workers continue to face the consequences of long-standing cuts to their compensation and WSIB’s own employees face needless layoffs.

“Let’s be clear about who is paying the price for these anti-worker decisions,” said Harry Goslin, president of Ontario Compensation Employees’ Union (OCEU)/CUPE Local 1750. “Injured workers have lived with cuts to their compensation for years, and now the government is celebrating another round of handing money back to bosses instead of putting that money toward the people who the WSIB exists to serve. This money should be going to injured workers, restoring compensation levels, and ensuring people can live with dignity while recovering from a workplace injury or coping with a lifelong illness.”

OCEU/CUPE Local 1750 is also continuing to sound the alarm about the impact of staffing reductions at the WSIB. With hundreds of workers facing layoffs and 10 regional locations closing, fewer staff are being asked to do more in an increasingly unsafe workplace while injured workers in all industries across Ontario suffer from the resulting substantial negative service impacts.

“It’s just insulting to cut the people who deliver services to injured workers, increase the pressure on the WSIB workers who remain, and then pretend that reducing resources is the same thing as improving the system,” said Goslin. “When Ontario’s injured workers face delays or struggle to get the support they need, this government’s decisions have real consequences for the lives of those workers and their families. Ford’s WSIB layoffs are unnecessary, and they make an already difficult situation worse.”

“The Ford government’s latest WSIB press release says that investing in workers creates stability for families and communities, but actions speak louder than words,” said Goslin. “So, we’re reminding premier Ford that this principle needs to apply to all workers, including the WSIB employees facing layoffs and the injured workers who depend on them to be there to provide support. Approving more premium evasion by bosses while cutting staff and leaving injured workers without adequate compensation is the message Doug Ford delivered this week and it’s wrong.”

“Ontario’s workplace injury compensation system should be judged by how well it supports injured workers, not by how little it can let bosses get away with paying in compensation,” concluded Goslin. “The Ford government has the power to show it’s serious about putting workers first. So Premier Ford must reverse these needless layoffs, cancel the latest cash back to bosses, and invest in the people and services that make this compensation system work for workers injured on the job.”

Quick facts:

• The Ford Conservatives’ announcement that average WSIB premium rates will drop from $1.23 to $1.18 per $100 of insurable payroll in 2027 means another $160 million giveaway to bosses. But while the government celebrates lower business obligations, injured workers are still waiting for the compensation and supports they need.
• The WSIB is funded through employer premiums, not general government revenues from taxes.
• Since 2018, when the Ford Conservative government first took power, the WSIB has let bosses off the hook for about $21.5 billion through rebates and lower premiums. At the same time, about 1.56 million Ontario workers, almost one in five, are not covered by the WSIB.
• According to data from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, compensation paid to injured workers in Ontario is the second lowest of all 10 provinces and 38% below the Canadian national average.
• Prior to December 2021, it was illegal for the WSIB to misuse operational surpluses by issuing payouts to bosses; premiums collected by the WSIB had to be invested in supports for workers injured on the job. Then, three years before Donald Trump was elected for a second term, the Ford government changed the law to permit direct cash rebates to bosses as part of the first in its series of Orwellian named “Working for Workers” bills.

kl/cope491