The Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU) says the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is cutting 466 positions across the province and closing its offices in Northern Ontario and west of the Greater Toronto Area, including the one in Guelph. “What they did is they brought everybody in for a video meeting and they told them their jobs were being made redundant, because they decided not to reopen locations across the province,” OCEU President Harry Goslin told CTV News. “They refused to take any questions and they walked away.” The union said the decision impacts employees in Sudbury, Windsor, Thunder Bay, St. Catharines, Guelph, Sault Ste. Marie, Kingston, North Bay and Timmins. The WSIB called it a “difficult business decision to consolidate” but offered employees the option to move to other locations. “The 466 people have extremely difficult decisions to make. Most of them are telling us that they will not be able to relocate to southern Ontario, and it’s largely because they have a spouse that already has a position in the city,” Goslin explained. “They’re worried about moving and their spouse finding a new position. They’re worried about, can they trust this employer anymore? Will they impact me again? WSIB will not make any assurances that their employment, if they relocate, will be protected for a period of time.” Goslin believes the decision stems from a hiring cap by the provincial government and a mandated return to the office. In Guelph, 36 employees lost their jobs. The WSIB said the Guelph location hadn’t offered in-person service since 2020, and the office was shuttered in 2021. “We expect the number of team members affected in Guelph to be minimal, as most have the option to commute to nearby locations. There are no impacts to team members in Waterloo,” the WSIB said in an email. “As we move to an in-office model, work will be done from offices in London, Hamilton, Waterloo, Mississauga, Toronto, North York, Scarborough and Ottawa.” Goslin claims the union was told 155 employees in Waterloo would be impacted within the year. “WSIB has chosen to abandon the north. They’ve chosen to abandon St. Catherines, abandon Guelph, abandon Windsor, and they’re going to abandon Waterloo in about a year’s time. We have 466 people affected now, but that will rise to 621 in a year’s time.” The WSIB had a different response when questioned by CTV News. “There are no impacts to team members in Waterloo,” their email said. The WSIB also claimed the change wouldn’t impact how people receive support, but Goslin fears that centralizing their offices in the GTA will result in a lack of proper assistance and unachievable workloads. “Worst workload in the nation [a] few years running. Anxiety and depression levels double the national average,” Goslin claimed. “So, you tell me, how can we do this work impacting hundreds of people? It’s not going to happen. People will have delays in getting their calls back. WSIB says, ‘Well, there might be a blip in workload.’ No kidding. It’ll be a long-term blip.” “Access to a nurse and access to return-to-work services are going to be centralized in areas that know nothing about the communities that they’re serving, or very little unless they have family in that area.” What will happen in Waterloo isn’t completely clear. Goslin pointed to other Crown corporations and agencies that have had the same return-to-office and hiring mandates but didn’t choose to permanently close locations. He hopes to speak with Premier Doug Ford and the Minister of Labour to change the WSIB’s plan.
