CUPE: Doug Ford Hands $4 Billion to Bosses While Leaving Injured Workers in the Lurch
Article content
TORONTO — Ford's announcement that $4 billion in rebates will be paid out to Ontario employers is lauded as a positive step for Ontario, but this is a misdirection. WSIB is not taxpayer funded. Employers pay premiums to ensure that when workers get injured on the job, they have coverage to help them recover.
Article content
Article content
The fact is that successive Conservative and Liberal governments have eroded our workers' compensation system, limiting the scope of coverage and benefits. It is time to reverse this trend and expand coverage and benefits, prioritizing injured workers over rebates to employers.
Article content
Since 2017 the WSIB has through rate reductions and direct refunds given Ontario employers Over $8 Billion. $5.5 Billion in direct refunds since 2022. But workers get nothing. The $4 Billion refunding taking place in 2025 is not even tied to improving prevention and safety for workers. At a minimum the refund should be required to prevent layoffs during the Trade War with America.
Article content
Meanwhile, the workers at the WSIB are left with fewer resources than they need to provide the service the injured workers of Ontario deserve.
Article content
'Instead of handing billions back to the bosses, the Ford government should be looking to expand WSIB coverage to the over 1.56 million workers excluded from the WSIB,' said Harry Goslin, President of OCEU/CUPE 1750. '$4 billion could also be used to end hallway medicine, end the cuts to injured worker benefits and significantly improve accident prevention in Ontario.'
Article content
'WSIB refunds should come with a requirement to ensure Ontario jobs are protected during this trade war,' added Nicole Francis, Chief Steward of OCEU/CUPE 1750. 'Sadly, the government policy is based on the unrealistic hope that the $4 Billion gift will trickle down to protect Ontario workers.'
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
16 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Lately: Trump and Musk's bromance fallout, professors embracing AI and turning off GPS
Firstly, our apologies for mistakenly sending last week's e-mail earlier this morning. If you have feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send me an e-mail. 🥊 Trump and Musk's bromance implodes on social media 🤖 The universities embracing AI 📍 Why you should turn off GPS 👾 Switch 2 is finally out Usually, we don't witness messy, high-profile breakups in real-time. But when the two partners both own social media platforms – and have a penchant for posting their every thought and feeling – the drama unfolds in a remarkably public forum. The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump started earlier this week, when the world's richest man called the president's signature domestic policy bill a 'disgusting abomination.' It escalated on Thursday, when they began sparring back and forth on their respective platforms, X and Truth Social. Musk fired a barrage of insults, appearing to call for the president's impeachment and alleging that he is in the Epstein files, while Mr. Trump in turn threatened to strangle the business interests of the billionaire who was, until very recently, one of his most profitable political pals. The rift had immediate effects on Musk, with shares of Tesla plunging by roughly 15 per cent. But it also could have consequences for Trump's ability to spread his Make American Great Again agenda. 'The number one thing that keeps Trump's base on message, in line, obedient – it's Twitter,' said Florida political strategist Rick Wilson in an interview with Globe and Mail international correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe. If Musk adjusts X's algorithm 'and stops promoting Trump's content automatically, I think it starts to change the messaging environment for MAGA.' This week, two new projects that aim to make AI safer and more inclusive launched in Montreal. Famed AI researcher and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio is building a non-profit to develop safe AI systems that cannot deceive or harm humans. The organization, which has already raised close to US$30-million in philanthropic funding, is called LawZero – a reference to science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which stipulates that intelligent machines may not harm human beings. LawZero was incubated at Mila, the prestigious Montreal-based AI institute. On Monday, the first cohort of 21 Indigenous students from across Canada gathered at Mila to learn about AI as part of a new six-week program. Students will learn about the technology and pitch ideas about how AI can be used to benefit Indigenous communities. The program's long-term goal is to help forge a network of AI professionals across the country. Although Indigenous people in Canada make up 5 per cent of the population, they make up less than 1 per cent in the tech sector. Universities have been cautious about adopting new AI tools, often because they're worried about the possibility of rampant cheating. About 80 per cent of the more than 500 Ontario postsecondary students surveyed in a recent study said they had used generative AI, and about half were using it on a weekly basis, mostly for brainstorming and getting feedback on their writing. So rather than deny the inevitable, some Canadian schools are taking the view that AI should be integrated into the learning process. For example, some professors are encouraging their students to experiment with different large language models, while others have created AI teaching assistants to answer student questions. The Global Positioning System, a network of two dozen satellites that can instantly pinpoint your location, began as a U.S. military project in the 1970s. In 1983, after a Korean airliner accidentally wandered into restricted Soviet airspace and was shot down, Ronald Reagan announced that GPS would be made available for limited civilian use. In 2000, Bill Clinton lifted the remaining restrictions, kick-starting our current reliance. In an excerpt from his latest book The Explorer's Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map, author (and Globe columnist) Alex Hutchinson explains how having a navigational tool in our hands at all times has changed how we construct the world around us. I relate to this. Last summer I ditched my iPhone for two weeks as part of a digital detox and was amazed how fulfilling it was to navigate without my iPhone. Sure, while I was visiting New York I got lost a couple of times. But I also felt I was taking in my surroundings more than I do when my eyes are glued to Google Maps. Days-long 'dark retreats' are the newest spiritual conquest for tech elites (WIRED) These companies are requiring workers to use the tech (The Washington Post) Tech giants in the Gulf are building super-apps to dominate digital life (Rest of World) Nintendo Switch 2, $629 At suburban malls and game stores across Canada, diehard video-game fans camped out on Thursday to snag the Switch 2, the follow-up to Nintendo's best-selling console of all time. Nintendo teased the new Switch back in January and had to delay its preorders after U.S. President Donald Trump issued 24-per-cent tariffs on Japan, where the company is based, and 46-per-cent tariffs on Vietnam, where the majority of the consoles are manufactured. Nintendo was able to launch the device within Trump's 90-day pause on tariffs and said it wouldn't raise the price. However, if you missed out on the preorder and your local store is sold out, you may have to pay even more. Resellers are already auctioning off consoles on eBay. Mountainhead, the new film from Succession screenwriter Jesse Armstrong out now on Crave, deftly skewers the tech-bro class. The film follows the story of a fictional social media platform called Traam, which is used by billions around the world, after it introduces new AI features without any content moderation, leading to the creation of real-time deepfakes that spark violent conflicts around the globe. As the world descends into chaos, the founder of Traam, along with three of his fellow tech bros, retreat to a luxurious mountain cabin for the weekend. In a review, The Globe's screens reporter J. Kelly Nestruck said, 'Armstrong's screwball dialogue in this film is as enjoyable – and unquotable in this newspaper – as Succession's at its most absurd.'
National Post
27 minutes ago
- National Post
As separatist talk simmers in Alberta and Quebec, Canadians say breaking up will be hard to do: poll
Against a backdrop of fresh talk of Alberta separation and the constant spectre of Quebec's sovereignty movement, a new national opinion poll found that most Canadians say breaking up will be hard to do. Article content A large majority of respondents nationally said any secession by one province would require negotiation with all provinces and must be supported by a clear majority of voters in the province, and most said separation cannot be a unilateral decision, and it should require approval by the federal House of Commons. Article content Article content Article content A national opinion survey, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and provided to Postmedia, was designed to probe Canadians attitudes about the process for separation, rather than their views on separation itself, and what should follow a successful provincial leave referendum. Article content Article content 'The bottom line is that Canadians across the country envision the process as much more complex than a simple majority vote on a referendum question,' said Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies. Article content Public discussion about Alberta separating from Canada drew more mainstream attention in May, after the federal election returned the Liberal Party to government and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tabled provincial legislation to make it easier for Albertans to trigger a referendum on the province leaving the rest of Canada. Smith said she would hold such a referendum if a citizen petition called for it. Article content Article content Separatists in Quebec hope the renewed discourse on separation will boost their long-standing desire for independent statehood, which twice went to provincial referendum which failed to support sovereignty, in 1980 and 1995. The Parti Québécois plans another provincial sovereignty referendum in the years ahead. Article content That creates plenty of secessionist talk and debate, but it has been 30 years since Canada has seen an actual separation referendum. Article content 'Many Canadians of voting age and, of course, most immigrants didn't experience the last referendum 30 years ago, but there is a growing consensus that the rest of the country would want a say in the process and secession would not be simple,' said Jedwab. Article content The poll asked 1,537 people across Canada a series of questions on the mechanism of a possible separation. Article content Article content A majority of Canadians said any referendum question regarding provincial separation from Canada must be unambiguous, with 59 per cent of respondents agreeing with that, with only 11 per cent disagreeing, and 30 per cent saying they don't know or declined to answer.
CBC
32 minutes ago
- CBC
What is a duty to consult — and how will it affect Bill 5?
The Ontario government's controversial Bill 5 was passed with no consultation with First Nations, whose treaty lands are likely to be affected. Metro Morning spoke with an Anishinaabe scholar at the University of Toronto about the difference between a duty to consult and the "free, prior and informed consent" of First Nations leaders.
