I must say I am surprised to see the letter from MPP for
Sudbury Rick Bartolucci reminding everyone to remember workers
killed and injured on the job. Surprised because while
Bartolucci urges readers to pay tribute to those who have died,
suffered injury or experienced illness as a result of their
jobs, his actions and those of his government categorically do
not honour workers killed or injured on the job.
Occupational injury and death numbers are getting worse not
better. The Liberal government has done nothing to redress the
terrible cuts to Workers' Compensation (now called the
Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) done under the Tory
regime. Under the Tories, benefits were slashed and a poor
indexing system introduced, pensions were reduced, survivors
benefits to widows were reduced, and staff reduction of WSIB
staff continues.
The only thing the Liberals have done is change the chair of
the board for questionable accounting practices and expenses,
and set up the Fair Practices Commission, a commission who can
only investigate for fairness after a worker has been through
the torturous appeals process.
As T.S. Elliot wrote in The Hollow Men, "Between the idea
and the reality, between the motion and the act falls the
Shadow."
My point is that it is all nice and good to talk about honouring workers killed and injured daily, but actions speak louder than words and Bartolucci's actions do more to dishonour workers than honour them.
Peter Hudyman
, Sudbury