The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is moving ahead in eliminating hundreds of good, community-supporting jobs and services across Ontario.

Over 700 jobs in regional and Northern communities are being eliminated. The changes affect workers in North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Kingston, St. Catharines, Windsor, Guelph and Waterloo.

These are stable, community-supporting jobs held by experienced workers who understand the local context of the communities they serve. Many have spent decades working with local industries, employers, health-care providers and injured workers, building knowledge of local health-care systems, rehabilitation networks and return-to-work supports.

That knowledge and expertise matters. Especially when injured workers need it most.

WSIB cuts won't save Ontarians a cent.

The WSIB is funded by employer premiums, not taxpayers, and since 2018 has returned more than $21.5 billion to employers in savings. Workers and communities deserve a clear explanation of why these cuts are necessary and how they will improve services or outcomes for injured workers.

Instead, the WSIB is adding insult to injury: eliminating hundreds of jobs, closing local offices and centralizing work with no plan to maintain service levels.

The WSIB still hasn’t publicly answered some basic questions:

• How will injured workers continue to receive the same level of service?

• How will remaining employees manage larger workloads?

• How will decades of local knowledge and expertise be preserved?

• What will these changes mean for claims, health-care access and return-to-work plans?

• What will the loss of hundreds of good jobs mean for communities across Ontario?

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We are calling on the WSIB and the government to halt the planned office closures and job cuts and provide clear answers about how these changes will affect workers, communities and the services Ontarians rely on.

Add your name and join us in calling on the WSIB and the government to halt these changes and support affected workers, injured workers across the province and regional and Northern communities.