Media - injured workers in the news

Find here press releases, photos, press clippings and commentary on media coverage of injured workers' issues.

August 17, 2010:
"Survivor of balcony tragedy suing firms, province" ⁄ David Rider (Toronto Star). "These were very new immigrants, not very knowledgeable, used as cheap labour and not told how to safely work on the 13th floor of a building," says lawyer filing for damages on behalf of sole survivor of the Dec. 24 accident, Dilshod Marupov, and the estate of Fayzullo Fazilov, one of the four workers who died. The suit also alleges inadequate oversight by the Ministry of labour.

August 16, 2010:
" Survivor of scaffolding collapse suing companies, province" ⁄ Natalie Stechyson (Globe and Mail). For Dilshod Marupov, sole survivor of a workplace accident in which he and four other workers fell 13 storeys while repairing an Etobicoke apartment balcony, the pain in his head, back and legs "makes life a daily battle...Pain is my life"

August 14, 2010:
"Charges laid in scaffolding accident that killed 4 workers" ⁄ Joseph Hall (Toronto Star). Ministry of Labour lays multiple charges against Metron Construction Corporation and Swing 'N' Scaff for a workplace accident that saw five workers plunge 13 storeys from an Etobicoke building balcony.

July 15, 2010:
Injured Worker Radio Show - Hamilton & District Injured Workers Group went to air this week! Catch the programme live on 93.3 CFMU every Tuesday at 9.30 a.m. To listen to past shows (beginning with 13.7.2010) click on the CFMU link, then on the Programming link, and select 9:00 on Tuesday/Morning File/Program Archives. The show follows the first half-hour of music.

To call the studio during the airing of the show, phone (905) 528-9888. Send stories, letters or poems to:
CFMU Radio Inc.
Rm B119
MUSC
1280 Main St. W.
Hamilton, ON L8S 4S4

June 25, 2010:
" Pilot program to determine if injured-worker clinic is needed " ⁄ Jodi Lundmark (tbnewswatch.com). Steve Mantis, from Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group, comments on the WSIB's one-year pilot program to provide local services with the opening of a new Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers (OHCOW).

June 1st, 2010:
Injured Workers' Day : Media kit - On Tuesday injured workers will gather at 11:00 a.m. with their families, unions and advocates, outside the Ontario Legislative Assembly buildings, as they have done every year since 1983 [read the history]. Last year a survey of injured workers revealed nearly 4 times the rate of poverty in Ontario. But injured workers' requests for improvements were rebuffed by new concerns alleging poverty of the WSIB. Cuts to pain killing medication, a review of the WSIB vocational rehabilitation program, statements by the new WSIB President and Deputy Minister of Labour all express sympathy for reducing compensation for the injured. Where does that come from?

For more information call Peter Page - Ontario Network of Injured Worker Groups (905) 818-3064 or Orlando Buonastella - IWC (416) 461-2411

March 17, 2010:
Hoggs' Hollow Tragedy - a key event in the improvement of Ontario's working conditions. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the deaths of five immigrant Italian workers digging a water main tunnel at York Mills & Yonge Sts, Toronto. Trapped underground and asphyxiated when their equipment caught fire, their deaths highlighted the exploitation of immigrant workers in the 1960's and the lack of workplace safety standards in construction.

March 8, 2010:
"Workplace death sparks changes " ⁄ Julius Melnitzer (Law Times - online). Article discusses Ontario's use of Bill C-45 to bring charges of criminal negligence causing death against a corporation following a fatal workplace accident in Sault Ste Maries last Spring. Passed in 2004, there have been only 2 criminal prosecutions since under the new legislation, however the controversy over the deaths of four construction workers in Toronto on Christmas Eve has focused public attention on workplace safety...

March 4, 2010:
Fortunato Rao interviews Peter Fonseca. The retired steelworker organizer, retired WCAT worker member and full-time labour news activist will have what is sure to be an interesting radio interview with the Labour Minister on Thursday March 4th at 8 p.m. Tune in to AM radio 1610 in Toronto or, if outside Toronto, catch it on Rogers digital channel 951 or online at http://www.sanlorenzo.ca.

December 24, 2009:
The tragic deaths of four construction workers in Toronto, and severe injuries of a fifth, drew attention to issues of workplace safety and inspection in the building trades.

December 8-14, 2009:
L'Express (Toronto's French weekly) covers the 18th Annual Toronto Christmas demonstration by injured workers and the issues being raised. Read more...

November 16, 2009:
 "Work-related injuries are habitually underreported, G.A.O. says" ⁄ Steven Greenhouse (New York Times). The report for the U.S. Congress detailing widespread underreporting says failure to report by employers is driven by fear of increasing workers' compensation costs or losing contracts because of safety issues. Workers fail to report occupational injuries and illnesses, the report says, for fear of being fired or disciplined, or causing co-workers to lose rewards offered by safety incentive programs. [Full report]

November 8, 2009
 "Asbestos killing more Canadian than ever; like old landmines" ⁄ Canadian Press (OHS Canada). Article discusses the continual increase in the number of reported deaths from mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer that may take up to 40 years to emerge.

October 21-23, 2009:
 The hostage-taking by an injured worker of staff in Alberta's Workers' Compensation Board offices has drawn much reaction. While not condoning such acts of violence as a solution, the commentary has also addressed the issue of workers' despair and needed reforms to provincial workers' compensation systems:

  • The Current: "WCB Frustration" (CBC, Oct. 23 & Oct. 22) A call from the scene; Discussion featuring representatives from CIWA, WCAT and the B.C. Compensation Employees Union. Listen online or download the podcast.
  • "Hostage drama in Edmonton" (Toronto Star, Oct. 22) Report of the hostage-taking and the injured worker's frustrations with his claims handling.
  • "Edmonton hostage-taker surrenders" ⁄ Katherine O'Neill and Dawn Walton (Globe and Mail Online, Oct. 21) Includes many comments posted by injured workers.
  • "Violence in the Worker's Compensation System - Desperate Times for Injured Workers" (Watchdog on Science blog, Oct. 22)
    • "I am almost certain that every injured worker who has been mistreated by Worker's Compensation can empathize with the struggles that this man must have endured to make him act so desperately. But his desperate act was not the right choice and it doesn't help anyone. The way to solve the problem is not with violence but with unity...Injured workers around the world must show leadership and organize as a group..."

October 20, 2009:
"A new life of poverty" [Letter to the editor] ⁄ Steve Mantis (Chronicle Journal - Thunder Bay) An injured worker advocate highlights the heavy toll of a workplace injury or disease on the health and finances of Ontario families.

October 19, 2009:
A political fix for WSIB ⁄ Randy Hillier [blog]
Progressive Conservative MPP for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington addresses the "bureaucratic nightmare" of a regulatory and financial burden on employers and calls for workers to be covered by private insurance...

October 13-16, 2009:
Focus on eradicating poverty (Metronews.ca series) - as the UN International Day on the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 19) approaches, the daily commuter paper Metronews is taking a week-long look at poverty in the GTA. Follow the link to add your comments or own story about the poverty facing injured workers.

September 25, 2009:
Ombudsman again takes to task [Press release] the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities for inadequate monitoring to ensure colleges, publicly-funded and private, deliver the programs they promise for recognized vocational training that will allow meaningful employment. Reports:
"Too cool for school, too " (Sep. 2009)
"Too cool for school " (July 2009)

September 17-22, 2009:
Private career colleges investigation ⁄ Brett Popplewell and Diana Zlomislic (Toronto Star). Reporters uncover the facts on private colleges for skills training that take students' money and deliver substandard - or no - education, and the failure in government oversight.

September 3, 2009:
An armageddon approach by the CFIB? WSIB Chair responds to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business news release and letter to the Minister of Labour on the state of Board finances, calling them a complete distortion of the facts and sabre rattling to get media attention and scare their membership unnecessarily...[read full response in "For the record: Clarifications about CFIB's claims"]

August 23, 2009:
"WSIB has plenty of reserves" [Letter to the editor] ⁄ John McKinnon, Injured Workers Consultants (Toronto Star). Response disputes reports (see the article below) the Board is broke, noting employers have enjoyed a premium holiday for more than a decade - injured workers have not been so fortunate....

August 20, 2009:
"Cost of insuring Ontario workplaces to go up" ⁄ James Daw (Toronto Star). Impact of poor safety records in some industries and the Board's investment losses on employers' premiums ; WCB Chair Mahoney's response on funding shortfalls and injured workers' benefits.

June 8, 2009:
"Injured workers 4 times more likely to be poor: report" ⁄ Canadian HRReporter.com. Article notes recently released Poverty Report (Impacts of Workplace Injury) finds 45 per cent of injured workers in Ontario aren't receiving benefits from workers' compensation.

June 4, 2009:
"Injured workers continue fight for justice and dignity" ⁄ John Bonnar (Rabble.ca). Blog coverage of the events and speakers at the Injured Workers' Day rally at Queen's Park.

June 1, 2009:
Injured Workers' Day : 26th Anniversary
Every year on June 1st injured workers and labour activists gather at Queen's Park and other locations around the province to mark Injured Workers' Day on the anniversary of the day in 1983 when thousands came together to speak against the government's proposal to eliminate the permanent disability pension. This year, on the release of a study on the poverty of Ontario's injured workers, we call on the government to eliminate deeming, adjust workers' compensation to keep up with inflation; extend coverage to protect all workers; end the experience rating program that rewards employers who fail to report workplace injuries; restore the independence of the Appeals Tribunal.

Media kit:

April 24, 2009:
"Employers fire mothers-to-be: recession used as excuse for surge in pink slips" ⁄ Susan Pigg (Toronto Star). Article reports that human rights advocates are seeing an alarming rise in cases across the province of pregnant women being fired by employers claiming hard times as the cause. It goes on to note an increase also in complaints by fired injured workers facing the same discrimination.

April 2, 2009:
" A world of hurt: in workplace injury system, ill will on all sides" ⁄ Steven Greenhouse (New York Times). Author discusses mistrust between worker and employer; article explores the impact of reward programs and safety incentive programs, often used to cut down on the reporting of injuries and discourage workers from filing compensation claims.

March 31, 2009:
"A world of hurt: For injured workers, a costly legal swamp " ⁄ N. R. Kleinfeld & Steven Greenhouse (New York Times). A cautionary tale - in-depth look at dysfunction in New York state's workers' compensation system , widely recognized as the nation's most adversarial.

March 24, 2009:
Letter to the editor - Congratulations to Toronto Star investigative team - nominated for national newspaper awards for their series on workplace safety and the role of the WSIB

    We would like to congratulate the Toronto Star for its 10 National Awards nominations (March 20). In particular, as a legal aid clinic assisting injured workers free of charge, we would like to commend the work of David Bruser, Moira Welsh and Andrew Bailey. Their probe into workplace safety and the role of the WSIB has been greatly appreciated by injured workers, many of whom live in poverty after a life of loyal and dedicated work. Injured workers are dealing with a system that promised justice in return for taking away the right to sue the employer. Unfortunately, the Harris Government has left a legacy of poverty and stigma associated with injury, which makes our community feeling abandoned and discarded by the political process. The Star's probe into workers' compensation issues has shed new light on these "forgotten" lives. The "Star" can be proud of its long and enduring role in stimulating the social conscience of all Canadians. The ball is now in the court of the Ontario Government and the WSIB.

    Orlando Buonastella
    Injured workers Consultants Legal Clinic
    Representing Injured Workers Free of Charge since 1969

March 16, 2009:
"Silicosis as bad as ever" [Letter to the editor] ⁄ Moses C. Sheppard (Thunder Bay Chronicle). Writer provides statistics to show that, far from being eradicated, this industrial disease still needs to be brought under control.

March 4, 2009:
"Audit slams Ontario workplace safety rebates" ⁄ David Bruser (TheStar.com) Article notes Morneau Sobeco review for the WSIB confirms findings of the Toronto Star's investigative series, Working Wounded.

February 22, 2009:
The Silicosis Files : Everyone thought silicosis was a disease of the past - so why are miners being diagnosed with the disease today? Why is the Workers Safety Insurance Board casting doubt on their diagnoses? And why are politicians staying out of the fight? A CBC investigative report examines the struggles of lung miners to have their claims recognized and receive due compensation.

January 24, 2009:
"A jobs program that fails" ⁄ David Bruser (TheStar.com). Toronto Star investigates the Board's Labour Market Re-entry program and asks why does it cost more to retrain an injured worker to stock shelves than it would to send him to university for four years?

«2008»

September 23, 2008:
"Firms with worker deaths to lose rebates: Star investigation prompts WSIB change" ⁄ David Bruser (TheStar.com). New policy denies cash rebates to companies in the year of a fatal accident.
Response:

    Dear Editors:
    Re: No cash for killer firms (Sept. 23) The Star's investigation of the WSIB's Experience Rating rebate program for employers is a valuable public service. The revelation that companies received millions of dollars in WSIB rebates for so called 'good safety records' at the same time as workers were killed in their employment was a loud call for action. To its credit, the WSIB has closed that particular loophole and employers will no longer get a safety rebate in the year of a fatal injury.
    I would encourage The Star to continue its examination of Experience Rating. The next year after a death in the workplace, the company will come back to the trough for more rebates. It will be business as usual until the Experience Rating program is scrapped. And what about the 3,000 apparently serious injuries including amputations, broken bones and third degree burns that The Star found to be reported to the WSIB as resulting in zero days lost? (Hiding Injuries Rewards Companies, 29 May 2008)

    As long as the WSIB rewards companies for not reporting lost time injuries, that is what they are going to do. When injuries are swept under the carpet and not properly counted, there is no investigation, no focus on prevention. The goal of a culture of safety is undermined. If you want to provide an incentive for companies to make their workplace safer, give the rebates to the companies that have made actual safety improvements in the workplace and don’t penalize the employers who accurately report workplace injuries. If you take action to make safer working conditions, you will ensure the safety of workers.

    John McKinnon
    Executive Director, Injured Workers' Consultants Community Legal Clinic

July 21, 2008:
" Labour Market Reentry - the ultimate captive student" ⁄ Jeff Rybak (Macleans OnCampus) discusses issues around retraining under the Board's LMR program and the deemed jobs that follow it. Check out the comments too.

June 29, 2008:
"Hiding injuries rewards companies: Star investigation reveals job safety numbers are underreported, cutting employer costs." ⁄ David Bruser (Toronto Star). Article finds the government's highly touted campaign to improve workplace safety is rewarding companies for hiding injuries and rushing the wounded back to work.

June 5-8, 2008:
Injured Workers' Day - "Injured workers' 25-year long battle: protesters demonstrated in front of Queen's park for their rights" ⁄ Letizia Tesi . (Tandem Online-Corriere Canadese) covers the annual June 1st rally.

May 23, 2008:
Letter to the editor: "WSIB policy penalizes employers who hire previously disabled" ⁄ Gary Robertson (Daily Commercial News. How experience rating can adversely affect construction employers who employ a worker with a pre-existing disability.

May 21, 2008:
"Update on the aftermath of the Dryden Mill incident" [audio]. CBC Radio Thunder Bay reporter Kellie Hudson continues to follow the impact of the exposure to brain toxins and the handling of workers' compensation claims by the Board.

May 10, 2008:
"Stress of fight to prove injury claim blamed for man's death" ⁄ Kate Hammer (Globe and Mail). Family raises issue of injured worker's treatment at the Board. According to advocacy groups, injured workers often suffer from depression and anxiety associated with the difficulties of filing a compensation claim.

May 8, 2008:
"NDP wants WSIB program scrapped" ⁄ David Bruser (Toronto Star). Incentive plan gives rebate to some companies that have been prosecuted for safety violations. The New Democratic Party has put forward a motion calling for an audit of the experience rating program.

April 29, 2008:
"Injured workers still face real struggles"⁄ Tom Cooper (Hamilton Spectator) As injured workers and their families gather on the national day of mourning many obstacles still confront them. While many struggle financially, some employers receive generous rebates under the experience rating program which, as Marion Endicott wrote 13 years ago, undermines "the basic principles on which the compensation system is built".

April 14, 2008:
"End worker harassment." [letter to the editor] (Toronto Star). In an effort to earn rewards and avoid penalties, employers lose no time in forcing workers back to work too soon, offering them meaningless jobs or attempting to discredit their injury claims...

For more information on experience rating, and why it matters [click here]

April 10, 2008:
"WSIB rebate embarrassing, premier says" (Toronto Star). Premier responds to yesterday's press conference at Queen's Park by injured worker groups and labour groups demanding faster action on the experience rating system.

April 9, 2008:
Injured workers groups and OFL call for end to employer incentive program (Toronto Star). Press conference scheduled as the Board's response is questioned. [Press release]

April 5, 2008:
Experience rating exposed...."When companies get rewarded for mistakes"
Another article in Toronto Star's series "Working wounded" looks at flaws in the workers' compensation system.

Responses:

April 2, 2008:
WCB Chair Steve Mahoney speaks about employer rebates, the Board's controversial advertising, injuries rates, benefit indexation, costs ... on TVO's "The Agenda" [Video]

March 11, 2008:
"Risky workplaces face cash penalties" (Toronto Star). The Board announces a review of the experience rating program and immediate moratorium on rebates for companies responsible for a workplace fatality.

February 16, 2008:
Toronto Star publishes first in a series of reports [Working Wounded] from its investigation into workplace illness and injury
In "Board shields unsafe job sites" the article looks at how occupational health and safety can be compromised under the current experience rating system that rewards companies for reporting low lost-time claims.

«2007»

December 11, 2007:
16th Annual Injured Worker Christmas Demo
Injured workers, unions and advocates bring their issues to the new Minister of Labour, Brad Duguid, and WCB/WSIB Chair, Steve Mahoney. Speakers emphasize the 4 key demands:

  • The elimination of "Deeming" and "Determining"
  • Full, permanent Cost-of-living
  • The elimination of Experience Rating
  • Coverage for all workers

[Flyer ‌ Photos | Audio (Radio4all.net)]
Click on links under "Download" (Windows Media Player) or "Play" (Realplayer)
Photos and audio courtesy of John Bonnar ⁄ Toronto Social Justice Magazine

October 2, 2007:
Injured workers betrayed by broken promises - rally on deeming
The Minister of Labour Steve Peters amended the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act with a clear written commitment that his changes would eliminate "deeming" - this practice of reducing our benefits because the Board imagines us to have phantom wages from jobs we can't get hired into, forces us onto welfare and into poverty. He promised but he didn't deliver...
[ONIWG/OFL press release]

June 1, 2007:
Injured Workers' Day - media coverage from around the province

May 28, 2007:
Injured Workers' Day (June 1, 2007) - Minister of Labour commits to abolishing phantom jobs for injured workers - will the WSIB do it?
On the 23rd anniversary of Injured Workers' Day, the WSIB is urged to follow through the Minister's intent to address injured workers' poverty with the necessary policy changes to eliminate deeming.
[ONIWG press release]

March 19, 2007:
Vigil at Queen's Park, Toronto, 12 noon - 2 p.m. : Injured workers want an end to poverty
Workers who have been permanently disabled as the result of a workplace injury or disease are falling further into poverty while MPPs give themselves a 25% raise...A 2005 research report by Street Health surveyed homeless people in Toronto and found that workplace injuries played a role in becoming disabled for 57% of working participants....
[Media advisory ‌ Street Health report ‌ 2007 Injured workers' cost of living facts & figures]

January 15, 2007:
"Out of sync" - a CBC News investigation into how workplace safety inspections are failing to cover the modern workplace environment. Despite the significant number of injury claims, safety inspections do not properly address non-traditional environments such as health care facilities, educational institutions and offices, and fail to recognize the needs of shift-workers. Audio clips discuss chronic stress and dangers to healthcare workers, including comments by Robert Storey.

«2006»

December 7, 2006:
Dignity - not poverty! 15th Annual Injured Worker Christmas Demonstration
Photos and video from the demo outside the Toronto offices of the Ministry of Labour - courtesy of John Bonner.

November 20, 2006:
Ontario Network of Injured Workers' Groups ⁄ Ontario Federation of Labour press conference

Injured workers demand McGuinty live up to his election campaign promise to protect worker benefits from inflation. 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.
[press release ‌fact sheets

Sept. 23, 2006
Remembering Carol McGregor - champion of injured workers' rights and dear colleague
[IWC news release]

April 24, 2006
Dying for a Job (CBC series) - Today's program of the CBC's ongoing investigation on workplace safety follows the case of injured worker Halima Tato over ten months as she tries to get her compensation claim recognized by the Board and deals with the chronic pain and depression resulting from her accident. Her story also is an example of the pressures companies in Ontario feel, and place on workers, to return to work quickly to avoid lost-time injury claims. As Halima's legal representative, IWC's Marion Endicott explains, the Board's experience rating system gives Ontario businesses a financial incentive to do just this.