Disenfranchised workers must get the fair treatment that they deserve

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

On Saturday, May 28^th, injured worker advocates held an online election forum to highlight the plight of injured workers in Ontario.

Injured Workers Action for Justice and Justice for Migrant Workers organized the forum. Both organizations have one thing in common, a dedication to holding the government accountable and to making sure migrant and other disenfranchised workers get the fair treatment that they deserve.

On the table for a much-needed discussion was a list of grievances that needed urgent attention. Here are some of the issues that were presented.

• Injured workers who raised questions regarding the WSIB’s recent multi-billion-dollar rebates as part of the new legislation.
• The draconian practice of cutting off benefits through the practice of deeming and the discriminatory treatment that migrant workers face under Ontario’s WSIB system.
• Asking the politicians to support abolishing this distribution to employers, restoring the injured workers’ compensation cuts, and wanting to know how they would implement this?

As it stands now injured workers are seeing WSIB providing massive rebates to employers at the expense of injured workers’ compensation cuts and eligible claims denials (50% cuts from 2010 – 2017).

The surplus is currently valued at $6.1 billion. The rebates to employers are valued at over $1.5 billion and in addition to almost 50% of employers’ WSIB premium reduction in the last 4 years $2.4 billion.

“Injured workers continue to be given the raw deal by compensation that hands out rewards to bosses and punishes workers for being sick or injured. Enough is enough. We demand a system that uplifts workers and does not further entrench our lives into poverty,” said Chris Ramsaroop, a representative for the workers from Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW).

I spoke to IWA4J Injured Workers Action for Justice organizer Sanghun Mun about this troubling matter and his concerns, but before we go further, it is important to note that the forum featured NDP candidate Eric Depoe who is running in Hastings-Lennox and Addington, and Green Party candidate Niki Ward who is running in Toronto Centre, however, both the Conservatives and Liberals continue to hide from public scrutiny by not attending this critically important forum.

“I think the meeting was good,” Mun said, “We had over 70 attendees from all over Ontario.” Mun said the meeting was two hours long in which the plight of injured and migrant workers was highlighted, and the floor was then opened up for questions.

Both NDP and The Green Party representatives agreed to make suitable adjustments, however, Mun said, “They still don’t have a good understanding on where the money comes from, and the impact on these workers, but both Candidates agreed to abolish such a system, which is good.”

Mun describes a sad situation where even though a worker is injured and gets a doctor’s sick document, he can still be deemed eligible to work in Ontario, therefore, relieving him of his benefits. “This system is called deeming,” Mun said.

“Do you know what happens to migrant and undocumented workers when they get injured? The employer just sends them back to their country without any benefits,” he said.

“There is research showing almost 50% of permanently injured workers are living in poverty, no home, no family, no compensation, and are strung out on drugs too.”

Something has to be done.