Injured workers in Windsor and across the province need better compensation, protesters in front of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board building said Tuesday.

Carrying signs bearing messages such as End the Injustice, about 35 people gathered at 2485 Ouellette Ave. to demand that the Ontario government improve how it treats workers who've been injured on the job or suffer an occupational disease.

"The government has been slow to respond," said Rolly Marentette, chairman of the Injured Workers Coalition of CAW Local 444. "We're saying that time is running out. We have to do something, because a lot of injured workers now are facing a lot of poverty,"

To address the cost of living, the province increased compensation for injured workers by 2.5 per cent in July. There will be further increases of 2.5 per cent in January, and in January of 2009.

But Marentette said those increases are insufficient compared to the rise of inflationa.

"It doesn't recognize the losses that we've had. There's no way we can catch up at 2.5 per cent. It's impossible. We're always going to be behind the 8-ball."

Marentette pointed out that the McGuinty government raised MPP salaries by 25 per cent in December 2006. "What's fair for them should be fair for injured workers," Marentette said.

Injured worker Tom Noble, 60, said it's especially difficult for people like him during the holiday season. "I've got depression and anxiety, I've got all kinds of problems," Noble said. "It's hard. Money today, by the time I pay my bills, there ain't no money. And that's not the way it should be."

Noble said he used to work for a forging company, and he suffered job-related permanent back and neck injuries in 1976 and again in 1980. Since then, he said, it's been a constant struggle with the compensation board to get coverage of living expenses as simple as proper footwear.