INJURED WORKERS DEMAND McGUINTY LIVE UP TO HIS PROMISE TO PROTECT WORKER BENEFITS FROM INFLATION
(TORONTO) - Winners and Losers. That's the state of the workers'
compensation system in Ontario. The clear winners are the employers
who have received a windfall benefit of a 24.7% rollback in their cost
for workers' compensation coverage in the last ten years
The losers have been injured workers who have seen the cost of living rise
23.1% in the last ten years. Injured workers have only received an
increase of 2.8% in compensation in that time. The value of their
benefits has been decreased in purchasing power by more than 20%. Only
injured workers have been expected to tighten their belts and get by
with less.
"Employers are getting a bargain paying 1984 prices
while the workers who are injured are forced to live in poverty
because their compensation is not adjusted for inflation," says the
Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG).
"While
employers are still protected from being sued, workers are being
denied or thrown off compensation in an increasingly adversarial
system. Welfare, food banks, depression and family breakdown are
hallmarks of a system gone wrong."
Injured workers are calling
for the full restoration of cost-of-living protection. "It's simple,
it's viable. It's what fairness demands," injured workers say.
At a news conference today at Queen's Park the Ontario Network
of Injured Workers Groups and the Ontario Federation of Labour called
on Premier Dalton McGuinty to live up to his election campaign
promise. He stated in a letter dated April 4, 2003 to OFL President
Wayne Samuelson: "… Injured workers and their dependents should not
have to rely on their pensions being topped up by welfare payments ….
We are also studying an approach to introduce a fair inflation factor
to protect worker benefits from inflation."
Injured workers say the time is now. No more excuses. Injured
workers demand new legislation now.