Saturday, June 1, 2024 marks the 41st anniversary of Injured Workers’ Day. This year, injured workers and advocates alike will gather across the province to commemorate the day. However, what exactly are they celebrating?
Ontario in 1983
On this date in 1983, Ontario was in the throes of long-standing Conservative leadership, having won every election from August 1943 to February 1985. The Workers’ Compensation Board, predecessor to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), was facing pressure from employers and government officials alike to lower costs. Unlike other benefits available to Ontarians, WSIB benefits are exclusively paid for by employers covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act (WSIA), then the Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA). This was done understanding that injuries to workers are a cost of doing business. The Ontario economy at that time was only beginning to recover from a recession that saw the unemployment rate rise to 12 percent and a 2.9 percent decline in GDP the year prior. Employers, as is standard, were looking for any excuse to cut costs. One easy resolution was to cut WCA benefits.
An attack on pensions
At that time, workers who had suffered permanent injuries or illnesses because of their workplace were entitled to pensions. Although these were rarely large amounts, whether a worker could return to work or not, the workers receiving a pension could rely on compensation for the rest of their lives.
The Board at that time was looking to eliminate pensions in exchange for a dual reward system. This decision stemmed from a 1980 report from Harvard Professor Paul Weiler (The Weiler Report). In his report, Weiler’s primary recommendation was to replace the pension with a dual compensation system (a lump sum payment for pain and suffering and a wage loss benefit for future losses). Although the basis of the benefit was identical—permanent impairment stemming from a work injury/illness—the amount would be drastically reduced. Injured workers were outraged by this proposal and reached out to MPP’s emphasizing the importance of the pension; however, no one listened to their concerns. The Davis government then drafted legislation using Weiler’s recommendations.
On the steps of Queen’s Park
On June 1, 1983, following pressure from injured workers and their allies, the Government’s standing committee had a public meeting at Queen’s Park for parties to bring their comments. Injured workers and allies came out in droves to voice their concerns. Due to the size of the crowd (3,000 people in attendance), the Committee was obliged to meet with workers on the front lawn of Queen’s Park. As a result of the pressure, the recommendations from the Weiler report regarding pensions were not included when the Workers’ Compensation Act was amended in 1985.
Using the momentum of June 1, injured workers would win numerous victories contained within the 1985 legislation. (e.g. creation of an independent tribunal—the predecessor of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal—and creation of the Industrial Disease Standard Panel) as well as after the legislation was enacted (e.g. pension indexation and recognition of chronic pain disability).
Modern landscape
The landscape today is vastly different. Today, workers neither receive the benefit of a pension, nor the future economic loss proposed in the Weiler Report. Today, injured workers fight for benefits against a system that is looking to pay any money remaining in its coffers to employers, instead of paying those workers who aren’t receiving just compensation.
For those workers who the Board considers unable to return to work, they are stuck earning 85 percent of their pre-injury net salary, thus brutally impacted by stagflation of a different kind. Although an election promise from the Ford government was to increase wage loss benefits from 85 to 90 percent, as it was prior to 1999, the government has done nothing to put pen to paper.
The fight continues for injured workers and the wider labour community to make their demands heard. In Toronto this year, workers will congregate on the lawn of Queen’s Park commemorating the original Injured Workers Day, but the day is also celebrated widely throughout the province. In memory of 1983, this year’s celebration looks to fight for a better tomorrow in yesterday’s shadow. Injured Workers’ Day is not only a commemoration of the continuance of pension awards, but the value of worker-led action and the power of a united voice.
Please attend the June 1 action at Queen’s Park on Saturday June 1, 2024 @ 11:00am. More information available here.
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