This year marks the fortieth 40th anniversary of Injured Workers Day (IWD). In solidarity with all those who have been hurt or made sick on the job, CUPE Ontario observes June 1st as a day to honour injured workers.
IWD is an occasion to underscore our demands for the measures and improvements that will make workplaces safer, as well as for better and more compassionate services for injured workers.
CUPE Ontario’s Injured Workers Advocacy Committee (IWAC) provides guidance to locals and injured workers as they fight for better conditions inside and outside the workplace. The IWAC urges all locals to bargain for better supports for workers when first injured and returning to work.
The Ford PCs have not made this easy. According to data from workers compensation boards across Canada, Ontario had the highest number of injury-related and occupational disease-related deaths. And these numbers are artificially low, thanks to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) practice of “deny first, then deal with the appeal.”
The WSIB was designed to provide a strong, reliable safety net for all injured workers, and CUPE Ontario has always campaigned fervently to expand access to it. But the WSIB is not keeping its promise to injured workers. For years, the Board has been run like a private insurance company, seeking to minimize claims and operate with a workforce that is overstretched and understaffed, even as workplace injuries increase.
This year’s IWD falls at the same time as contract negotiations between CUPE 1750, workers employed by the WSIB, and the Board.
In the countdown to its strike deadline, CUPE 1750 reminded us that we all deserve a WSIB that will serve and safeguard workers and that a reform at WSIB starts with investing in frontline service providers. CUPE Ontario applauds CUPE 1750 and urges all workers to support their fight.
However, just as important as insurance for injured workers is our duty to help protect workers from getting hurt in the first place.
Day to day, the rules for keeping workers safe are simple: follow workplace health and safety policies, don’t work short, don’t work injured, and don’t take on work that you believe to be dangerous.
Along with that guidance, we must never overlook the important role of strong, vibrant joint health and safety committees (JHSCs). They play a vital role in our defence against workplace injuries and in good return-to-work protocols for people who are recovering from injuries.
On this Injured Workers Day, let’s resolve to be activists for health and safety on the job. We must always be ready to use the full extent of the Occupational Health and Safety Act to protect ourselves, our fellow workers, and the public by
- refusing work that we believe is unsafe until an investigation finds otherwise;
- ensuring our role in decisions about what is safe in the workplace and how to report hazards;
- being informed about all hazards in the workplace and how to prevent them;
- being free from reprisal for enforcing our health and safety rights and legal health and safety provisions.
Just as we did on the Day of Mourning, we recall Mother Jones demand to “pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” IWD is our opportunity to re-commit to that call.
