THUNDER BAY — Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) employees held rolling strikes across Ontario last week, including in Thunder Bay on Friday, in protest of deteriorating workplace conditions and stalled contract negotiations.
Locally, a group of approximately 65 to 70 protesters, some travelling from as far as Kenora, gathered outside the WSIB offices on Balmoral Street. The demonstration was part of a broader wave of coordinated action led by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents approximately 3,600 WSIB employees province-wide.
WSIB itself serves more than 325,000 employers (clients) across Ontario. Workers say that with no collective agreement since March, both staff and the injured workers they support are beginning to feel the strain.
In Northern Ontario, CUPE represents about 71 bargaining unit members. This region covers the northwestern catchment area stretching from Wawa to the Manitoba border. Under a new work-from-home model, workers in Northern Ontario are not only supporting local clients but are also managing WSIB claims from across the province including Toronto and London.
“We've reached our breaking point,” said Fiona McKenna, a return to work specialist based in Thunder Bay.
“We are dedicated to our jobs. We are working as hard as we can. But we are not able to sustain this pace, and we don't have the resources to provide the level of service we’ve delivered in the past, given the increasing workload and lack of support.”
Staff warn that the breakdown in negotiations is putting the integrity of Ontario’s workplace compensation system at risk.
“We want a collective agreement that reflects fair wages and the professional skills we bring to our roles,” McKenna said.
“We’re asking the employer to stop eroding employment-related benefits and diluting career advancement opportunities. Our goal is to protect our workforce and settle this dispute quickly, because it's up to us to support injured workers in Ontario, and we love the work that we do.”
The protest also drew attention to an escalating mental health crisis among WSIB workers. Staff cite overwhelming caseloads and persistent understaffing as major sources of stress.
“We’ve heard about long wait times, but what people don’t realize is that before the strike, case managers were facing 40 to 50 calls a day,” McKenna said.
“It’s impossible to manage that volume and still do the work we’re supposed to do. There just aren’t enough resources, and the complexity of the cases keeps growing.”
