WSIB to Lay Off Workers and Send Ontario Money to US Firm, Betraying Team Canada Tariff Fight

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--You can’t find bourbon on LCBO shelves and Premier Doug Ford has threatened to cut off the power supply to the United States, but the leadership at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is outsourcing work to an American firm while cutting Canadian jobs.

WSIB is poised to layoff 26 workers as they finalize a contract with the New York Stock Exchange listed American firm Iron Mountain which is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

“The whole country is working together to shore up our economy and protect Canadian jobs and families, except WSIB,” said Harry Goslin, President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1750 / the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU). “Money that comes from Canadian companies to pay for safety training and workplace insurance for Canadian workers should stay in Canada, period!”

Iron Mountain is being contracted to digitize and retrieve old cases, aimed at replacing 26 document management representatives. Some of those workers have been with WSIB for more than 25 years with impeccable track records and an intimate understanding of the system. Iron Mountain, meanwhile, has a laundry list of complaints against them in precisely this department.

The Better Business Bureau, Trustpilot, and Google Reviews all reveal a track record of delays, poor customer service, and the mishandling of information by Iron Mountain. Elon Musk recently launched Iron Mountain into the spotlight by complaining of their arcane data storage which is part of the suite of services they will now be responsible for at WSIB along with the digitization of hard copies of case files. If Iron Mountain’s history of delays repeats itself, that could have catastrophic consequences on injured Ontarian’s ability to receive the support they need and deserve.

“This company will never be able to match the turnaround or efficiency of doing this work inhouse. WSIB knows that and yet they’re putting workers out of jobs, imperilling our ability to support injured Ontarians, and funneling money out the door to a US firm,” said Goslin. WSIB also recently signed a contract worth millions of dollars with BetterUp, a professional coaching service based in Austin, Texas, despite many homegrown Canadian options. “The message from the Prime Minister and Premier on down has been clear: we’re all in this together to protect jobs and secure our economy. WSIB if funded entirely by Ontario employers. It is disrespectful to put those dollars into the hands of an American company during a trade war.”

CUPE 1750/OCEU met with WSIB several times to offer solutions that would have kept these jobs in house along with the revenue provided by Ontario employers. WSIB’s leadership, though, refused to explore alternatives to outsourcing to an American company.

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