Labour leaders want WSIB chair fired over 'death' rebates

Companies prosecuted for worker fatalities awarded safety rebates

"The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and other groups are demanding that Steve Mahoney be fired as chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) over revelations that the province has paid safety rebates to companies prosecuted for the death of workers on the job."

Toronto (11 April 2008) - The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) and other groups are demanding that Steve Mahoney be fired as chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) over revelations that the province has paid safety rebates to companies prosecuted for the death of workers on the job.

The Toronto Star has reported that "safety rebates" have been paid out by one provincial program to some of the same companies that had been prosecuted by another arm of the government as a result of workplace fatalities. In many cases the rebates were higher than penalties imposed for the deaths.

OFL president Wayne Samuelson says he was stunned to hear Mahoney say he was unaware of the problem with the rebate program.

"This is an issue we have been raising with the board for over a decade," he wrote in the letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty. "Surely the chair and the entire board of directors were aware of the serious deficiencies ... and the resulting injuries and deaths that have been sustained by workers while rewarding employers with lavish rebates."

The letter was also signed by Steve Mantis of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups and Marion Endicott from the Injured Workers' Consultants Legal Clinic. The leaders are calling for an end to the rebate program and the appointment of an new WSIB board of directors.

On March 10, after the newspaper first raised questions about the rebates, Mahoney announced a review of the program, and declared a moratorium on payouts.

"I was absolutely not aware that at the same time as the ministry was levelling fines against companies, that they were receiving rebates from us. It is very recent that I was made aware of that," he said this week.

He expressed disappointment at the calls for his resignation but the labour groups were not swayed.

"In scores of meetings we have raised this issue ..." the labour leaders said in their letter to McGuinty. "The chair of the board has been aggressively defending the experience rating system since being appointed. For him to suggest at any time that he did not know this was going on does not ring true."

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