MPP introduces new advocacy group urging Ford government to make changes to assist workers and family members trying to access WSIB benefits for occupational diseases.
A Niagara Falls MPP is pushing Premier Doug Ford to make some changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
Wayne Gates held a press conference earlier today to introduce the Occupational Disease Reform Alliance, an advocacy group consisting of occupational disease victims and family members.
The ODRA are asking the Ford government to make four changes, including granting entitlement for diseases that are more prevalent among workers than in the community, make reasonable standards for supporting workers who are sick, create a presumption of work-relatedness for some cancers, and require the WSIB to recognize diseases caused by exposure to numerous carcinogens at the same time.
"We have workers here from every corner of Ontario who are sick for no other reason than that they went to work to provide for their families. After decades of working for these employers they have been abandoned not only by these employers but by the workers’ compensation system that was supposed to provide for them," said Gates. "This group is large and diverse - it cannot be ignored."
Group representatives say they have fought the Ministry of Labour and WSIB in order to have their workplace diseases acknowledged and compensation owed to them provided.
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