WSIB is cutting more than 550 jobs and closing 10 regional offices. For injured workers already facing pain and uncertainty, it means losing the experienced local support they count on.
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What’s happening?
The WSIB plans to close offices in:
Thunder Bay, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins, Kingston, Windsor, Guelph, St. Catharines, Waterloo
In total, over 566 employees have been told their jobs will end, taking stable, family supporting jobs out of communities across Ontario.
But these communities are not just losing jobs. Injured workers are losing the local knowledge and experience of the people who help them navigate the system when their lives have been turned upside down.
Instead of protecting that support, WSIB is cutting hundreds of experienced employees.
That is adding insult to injury.
Experience injured workers depend on
Many of the affected employees have spent decades working with local industries, employers, health-care providers and injured workers.
They understand:
- Where workers can find treatment and rehabilitation
- Which services are available in the region
- The realities of local workplaces and industries
- The challenges of returning to work after an injury
- How far some workers must travel to receive care
- That local knowledge matters. It can shape how a claim is handled and help an injured worker find the right path back to work.
Once this experience is gone, it will be difficult to get back.
These cuts are a choice
WSIB has linked these job losses to Ontario’s return to office requirements. But bringing employees back to the workplace does not require WSIB to close regional offices or eliminate the people who work from them.
The real issue is not the buildings. It’s the loss of skilled employees and the regional knowledge they bring to injured workers’ claims.
These closures are not unavoidable. WSIB is choosing to make them.
The numbers don’t add up
WSIB is not funded by taxpayers but by employers. And since 2018, WSIB has provided more than $21.5 billion back in rebates to employers. Showcasing a healthy budget while making decisions that do not improve service or outcomes for injured workers. The WSIB has failed to explain why it must cut hundreds of jobs.
It has also not explained:
- How injured workers will continue to receive the same level of service
- How remaining employees will manage larger workloads
- How decades of local knowledge will be preserved
- What these cuts will mean for claims and return to work plans
- What the loss of hundreds of good jobs will mean for local communities
Injured workers are already dealing with pain, stress and uncertainty. They should not have to pay the price for cuts WSIB has failed to justify.
That is adding insult to injury.