The union representing thousands of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board employees is blasting the government agency for using automation to handle a backlog of claims during a strike that has now lasted three weeks.
The Ontario Compensation Employees Union, which is affiliated with CUPE, said the WSIB sent an internal memo to staff on Monday announcing temporary measures to allow more workplace injury claims to be “auto-allowed.” These include claims involving delayed reporting, gradual onset injuries or pre-existing conditions.
“These changes are a short-term measure and will be turned off once we’ve worked through the backlog,” the memo read, but noted the WSIB is anticipating more reconsiderations and objections.
More than 3,000 union members have been on picket lines since May 22, after talks between union executives and the WSIB over a new collective agreement broke down, with disputes centering on wage increases and a heavy workload that the union says has strained employees’ mental health and contributed to high internal turnover.
Harry Goslin, president of OCEU/CUPE Local 1750, said the automation will apply to “complex claims” that were previously subject to human review — a move that could lead to both incorrect denials and approvals.
“All of it will have to be cleaned up when workers come back to their jobs. It’s going to be a total nightmare,” Goslin said.
Goslin added that union members are saddened by the strike’s impact on injured workers and the growing backlog of claims, which he described as “inevitable” because the WSIB has “locked out” striking employees — despite the union’s initial plan to alternate between picket line duties and reporting to work.
While the WSIB used the word “backlog” in its internal memo, it insisted in a statement to the Star that “there is no backlog to register claims,” noting that the agency has registered more than 11,000 new claims and issued over 60,000 payments to injured workers since the strike began.
“We don’t want to miss anybody who should be prioritized, who needs access to health care right now, or who needs their income in place right now,” said Aaron Lazarus, vice-president of communications at the WSIB, explaining the move to automate some claim approvals.
The rationale did not convince one 54-year-old woman who receives WSIB benefits the Star spoke to. The woman, who asked not to be named out of fears her claim will be affected for speaking publicly, said she has received support from a WSIB caseworker and nurse through some hardest days of her life since suffering back injuries three years ago at work.
The woman said she needs her nurse’s consent to proceed with an urgent medical appointment, but has lost contact with WSIB staff since the strike began.
“The injury already turned my life upside down,” she said. “Now with the strike, even the little bit of stability I had is slipping away.”
The woman said the automation process won’t work for her case because the “humanity aspect” can’t be replaced by a computer, and nobody knows her file like her caseworker does.
She added that she used to receive after-hours calls from her caseworker, and she hopes the hardworking WSIB employees are treated fairly.
Goslin said the union hopes to meet with WSIB representatives on Tuesday to discuss the employer’s proposal provided the day before and resolve the issues by the end of this week.
The main issue in dispute remains the workload, he said. The union is urging the employer to start by covering employees’ work during their vacations rather than letting tasks pile up until they return.
Lazarus stated that the company has provided wage increases exceeding inflation and plans to enhance the joint workload committee by adding new resources to improve workload management.
