Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is laying off hundreds of workers and closing 10 offices across the province, a move the union representing the affected employees says could touch as many as 620 people. The board, known as the WSIB, delivered the news to staff on Wednesday, setting off what the union described as a wave of stress and uncertainty for workers and their families.
The union that represents WSIB staff said hundreds of its members were handed layoff notices the same day the office closures were announced. According to the union's figures, the reductions could affect up to 10 per cent of the agency's total workforce, making it one of the most significant staffing shake-ups the compensation board has faced in recent memory.
The union provided a list of the 10 locations slated to shut down. The WSIB offices in Kingston, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Windsor, Guelph and Waterloo are all set to close, according to that list, concentrating the impact heavily on northern and mid-sized Ontario communities that have long hosted the agency's regional operations.
The union said there will be some opportunities for affected workers to relocate in order to keep their jobs, but it cautioned that the timeline to make such a decision is very tight. It is also not clear how many positions will actually be available for those who are willing to move, leaving many employees uncertain about whether relocation is a realistic option for their households.
Harry Goslin, president of the Ontario Compensation Employees Union, also known as CUPE Local 1750, said the announcement has created a great deal of anxiety for families now weighing whether to uproot their lives on short notice. He framed the closures as a difficult and stressful moment for members who may have to choose between moving their families or losing their livelihoods.
For its part, the WSIB said it is always working to modernize its operations, and that the changes are part of an effort to consolidate its claims and accounts management functions. The board presented the restructuring as part of a broader push to streamline how it handles the work of processing claims and managing employer accounts across Ontario.
When asked for specific numbers on how many employees will ultimately be affected and how many locations will close, the WSIB did not answer the question directly, according to CBC News. That lack of a firm figure from the agency itself has left the union's estimate of up to 620 workers as the clearest public measure of the potential scale of the cuts.
The layoffs and closures land at a politically sensitive moment for a provincial agency whose mandate is to support injured workers and manage workplace insurance claims. With regional offices in communities from Kingston to Thunder Bay on the closure list, local leaders and employees are now waiting for further detail on how the consolidation will be carried out and what it will mean for service in the affected regions.