New Poll: Ford’s WSIB Cuts Flop With the Public

By nearly 3-to-1 margin, the people of Ontario want WSIB money spent on improving compensation to injured workers and expanding coverage to workers currently excluded

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New public opinion research conducted by Abacus Data for CUPE Ontario should be a wakeup call for Premier Doug Ford that his Conservative government’s benefits-for-bosses approach is out of touch with the people of Ontario.

Just last month, the Ford government announced another $160 million to bosses from the Workers’ Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) – the latest in Ford’s $21 billion legacy of the biggest theft from injured workers in Ontario history.

The WSIB is funded through employer premiums, not general government revenues from taxes. Since 2017, 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 if they’re injured or become ill on the job.

Asked whether the WSIB surplus should be “used to support injured workers, by improving services and benefits and extending coverage to workers who are currently excluded” or “returned to the employers who paid the premiums that created it [the surplus], through more rebates and lower premiums,” nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents chose improving compensation to workers. Less than one quarter (24%) approve of rebates and premium breaks for bosses.

While more than enough resources exist and the money has been collected to adequately fund the WSIB’s operations well into the future, the Ford government has done nothing to stop WSIB management (which it appoints) from slashing more than 700 Ontario jobs.

Another question in this survey asked whether the WSIB’s closure of nine regional offices across Ontario this fall is consistent with a promise made by the Ford Conservative government in August to “keep fighting to protect your job, your paycheque and the opportunities your family is counting on.”

Almost half (48%) of survey respondents say the Ford government’s actions are inconsistent with that promise.

“If you’re the government, there’s no real constituency for this decision,” said David Colletto, founder, chair and CEO of Abacus Data. “Very few Ontarians strongly support these closures, and on the surplus, people across party lines are pretty clear they want that money going to injured workers, not back to employers.”

“Insulting. That’s the only way to describe laying off the people who deliver services to injured workers, increasing the workload on the few remaining WSIB workers, and then pretending that reducing WSIB resources is improving the system,” said Harry Goslin, president of Ontario Compensation Employees’ Union (OCEU)/CUPE Local 1750.

“When Ontario’s injured workers struggle to get the support they need and face avoidable delays, the Ford Conservative government’s decisions have real consequences for people and their families. Doug Ford’s WSIB layoffs are unnecessary, and they make already difficult times worse for workers hurt on the job.”

“The workplace injury compensation system in Canada’s richest province should be judged by how well it supports injured workers, not by how little it can let bosses get away with paying in compensation,” observed Yolanda McClean, president of CUPE Ontario. “The Ford government has the power to show it’s serious about putting workers first. So Premier Ford must reverse these needless WSIB 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.”

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