Injured Workers Fighting for Their Dignity and Rights

Interview

- Peter Page, Executive Vice-President, Ontario Network of
Injured Workers Groups -

On the eve of Injured Workers' Day June 1, Workers' Forum spoke to Peter Page, the Executive Vice-President of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers' Groups (ONIWG) about the concerns and the work of the organization at this time and particularly its campaign "Workers' Comp Is a Right!"

Workers' Forum: What are the main issues you are bringing forward in the "Workers' Comp Is a Right" Campaign, as we approach Injured Workers' Day?

Peter Page: We began our "Workers' Comp Is a Right!" campaign in the fall of 2017. Our goal is to educate and mobilize the public about the right to workers' compensation, as well as to remind our politicians and employers about the historical compromise that led to the compensation system.

The historical compromise was a deal struck between the workers and the employers whereby we gave up our right to sue in exchange for compensation. Basically, if you are injured because of a workplace accident, you must receive compensation for as long as the disability lasts. In exchange, you give up your right to pursue litigation against your employer.

What is happening is that governments and employers are reneging on this deal. They are not holding up their end of the deal. Workers are still not allowed to sue but employers, government and the workers' compensation system are not providing the benefits for injured workers that they should.

At the moment, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) has a fully funded system, with almost $40 billion in their bank account and that is growing. There is more than enough money to provide for injured workers. Yet we continue to have our benefits cut through the Board's policy changes.

They create policies, which make it difficult for injured workers to receive compensation, such as "pre-existing conditions," or with things like deeming. Deeming continues to be an issue. Deeming is where the Board takes benefits away from a worker. The Board says either you go out and find a job whether it exists or not, or we will deduct off your present compensation benefits the minimum wage or more, such as whatever we deem you should be able to earn.

We have proof that a lot of injured workers do not return to the workforce. In fact they wind up on something other than workers' compensation such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Canada Pension Plan Disability, or income assistance. This is downloading the compensation, which is supposed to be assumed by the employers according to the historical compromise, onto the public treasury of Ontario.

Also, the Board is stalling on many outstanding issues of importance such as the General Electric workers in Peterborough who were exposed for decades to toxic chemicals; the mining workers in Northern Ontario who were forced to inhale MacIntyre Powder, which was supposed to prevent silicosis, but then they died of cancers or other occupational diseases; or many other occupational disease cases.

The Board says it is going to look into GE, review all the claims at GE, but at the end of the day it really does nothing. It allows a few claims to show that something is being done but the number of occupational diseases is increasing. The number of workers being poisoned in the workplace is increasing. The Board does not recognize this. It is protecting the employers and the government while workers are being killed, maimed and poisoned by their employers. The Board and others are now saying they are doing this to make "Ontario open for business," at the direct cost of the well-being and rights of workers. It is an attack not only on injured workers but on all workers and their rights.

Basically the Board is implementing policies designed to deny injured workers their benefits.

It is underfunding the Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA), which is a component of the workers' compensation system that is there to help injured workers navigate the bureaucracy of the system.

Injured workers now have to navigate the system by themselves. If they are not unionized they have to try to seek help and the waiting time for the OWA can be six, seven, eight months before it even looks at your case.

The WSIB is also making it harder for workers to appeal, to actually get a judgement. Some workers take five, six, seven, even eight years to receive a ruling from the WSIB. They often win their claim only partially, not fully.

It is all causing a backlog of injured workers who are not receiving the compensation benefits they deserve. And if they are not getting benefits, that money is going into the coffers of the WSIB.

WF: As part of its anti-social offensive against the people of Ontario, the Ford government is moving very fast in its attacks, some of which have a direct impact on injured workers.

PP: Yes. The Ford government has recently cut funding to Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) by 30 per cent. They are lawyers who do a lot of compensation case work. The Ford government has shamefully used immigration as an excuse to cut the funding of LAO saying that the money spent for defending immigrants' rights should be a federal issue and the federal government should pay for it, not the province of Ontario. Because of the cuts to the legal aid community, the lawyers are going to have to prioritize what they can do. They might say that they are going to do a minimal amount of compensation cases as they take too long; it takes up too much of their time. It will become another issue negatively affecting access to justice for injured workers.

The Ford government has cut the budget of the Ministry of Labour's Prevention Office, a $16 million cut. The government is also cutting the research part of the WSIB from $8.5 million last year to $6.8 million this year. This research is done by health and safety organizations or by Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) and is important for the health and safety of workers. The research is particularly important for migrant workers who have to deal with pesticides and various chemicals they use in the industries where they work.

Our rights were slowly eroded by the previous Liberal government and now the Ford government is doing it blatantly and very fast.

WF: What is the thrust of the "Workers' Comp Is a Right Campaign" at this time?

PP: The title of the campaign says it all. We have a right to compensation and a right to be able to live our lives in dignity and not in poverty. Because you went to work and got injured should not mean that you are forced into poverty. So many of our injured workers are being forced onto the welfare system. This means the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the employers are not meeting their social responsibilities either to injured workers or the public treasury. This is an attack on our rights and goes against the historical compromise that gave rise to the compensation system.

We are fighting all the points of attack upon injured workers I have mentioned. At the same time we are staying within a smaller framework rather than trying to fight every aspect. We are sticking to a few basic demands: "No cuts based on phantom jobs!"; "Listen to injured workers' receiving treatment from healthcare professionals!"; "Stop cutting benefits based on ‘pre-existing conditions'!"

We are demanding full compensation for injured workers. We are fighting for justice for all injured workers. We are working to hold the government and the WSIB to account by presenting the truth of what is happening. They have to change these policies that are detrimental to the workers, which may at some point be illegal.

Over the last year we visited many MPPs' offices across the province, over 70 MPPs in the fall alone. We continue to have meetings. Because of the new government, now we have to re-educate the new people in government because they all act as if they never heard of compensation before. None of the governments ever talk about workers' comp. They sometimes talk about labour issues but workers' comp seems to be a non-issue for them. We made the NDP see that it is an issue worthy of being brought up in the House of Commons.

We also work to make the general public aware of what is happening to the compensation system. It is a system you may never have to use and hopefully never have to use, but when you do have to access it, it is not going to be there so that you receive the benefits you need. We are making the general public aware that the compensation system has to be there for you in your time of need.

(Photos: WF, ONIWG)

This article was published in

Number 19 - May 23, 2019

Article Link:
Injured Workers Fighting for Their Dignity and Rights: Interview - Peter Page, Executive Vic

    

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