Thunder Bay MPP says WSIB outsourcing jobs to American company

A northwestern Ontario MPP says the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has handed work over to an American firm.

Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Lise Vaugeois told the Ontario Legislature that it has led to job loss.

“Twenty-six people working for the WSIB in document management, WSIB is an organization under your control, have lost their unionized jobs that have now been handed over to the American company, Iron Mountain,” says Vaugeois.

Similar claims were made by the Ontario Compensation Employees Union during this summer’s strike.

The union cited an internal message that indicated a trial program, allowing contracted healthcare providers to contact employers to discuss an injured worker’s case.

“WSIB management is notorious for repressing claims at the expense of injured workers, for spending millions of dollars on training junkets in the US, and now for sending Canadian work to an American corporation,” says Vaugeois

“How can you say you are protecting jobs when organizations under your direct control are farming out good jobs to American corporations?” she asked of the Labour Minister David Piccini.

Piccini did not address the allegations at WSIB, but insists the government is standing up to protect jobs in Ontario.

“We included in our procurement by Ontario provisions. We included provisions that support Ontario workers. When it came to ensuring that we create jobs here on this side, we created a low-tax environment that encouraged investment that actually gets men and women to work,” says Piccini.

The Labour Minister adds that they are creating the climate to attract world-class manufacturing investments that help get people to work.