Friday, September 6, 2013

ONIWG Annual General Meeting & Conference

This was received by e-mail:

Sept. 5, 2013
 
Updated Notice of ONIWG Annual General Meeting and Conference - New Date

 
The Ontario Network of Injured Workers’ Groups (ONIWG) will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 30, 2013 in Toronto.   Business will include general elections for all executive board positions for the next three-year term.
 
In conjunction with the AGM, on October 31, November 1 & 2  ONIWG is partnering to hold the Meredith conference, No Half Measures.
 
Please mark your calendars!  Everyone is invited to attend.
 
Each member group of ONIWG is entitled to 2 delegates eligible to vote at the AGM.
 
Member groups are invited to nominate individuals for executive board positions in advance.
 
We are finalizing plans for these events and more details will follow.  For more information or to submit nominations contact ONIWG Secretary Steve Mantis by email at smantis@tbaytel.net

 


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

June 1st is Injured Workers Day & Chain of Shame!



This recently received by e-mail contains information you may be interested in:

Hello,

June 1st as you know is Injured Workers Day. In honour of the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Injured Worker’s Day on June 1st the Political Action Committee (PAC) of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Group (ONIWG) has begun construction of the WSIB Chain of Shame.

The purpose of the chain is to allow injured workers unable to attend at Queen's Park, Toronto due to financial or physical barriers to have their information printed on to a link in the Chain of Shame.  Given some injured worker’s barrier comes from fear of reprisal for example WSIB adjudicators or current employers, this chain is a vital opportunity to link injured workers to Injured Workers Day.
Please help the ONIWG PAC make THIS CHAIN as impacting as work place injuries are to injured workers. All we ask is that you distribute the enclosed Chain of Shame and June 1st Flyer within your
organization and your ally groups encouraging participation.

We hope to see you on June 1st.

ONIWG PAC

Jo-Anne Hearns
Chair

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Thank you, Taras Natyshak, MPP for Essex!

Thank you...
 
Taras Natyshak
 
...for what you
spoke about
regarding
INJURED WORKERS,
here
on this
 
(just click on the above Youtube video link, to watch it)
 


Monday, April 29, 2013

Day of Mourning, April 28, 2013...

Front page of The Windsor Star, Monday, April 29, 2013:

Day of Mourning urges more prevention

Workplace injuries too common, event told

Workplace injuries too common, event told
Ramiro Escoto carries a wreath as people march down Wyandotte Street East during the National Day of Mourning tribute Sunday.
Photograph by: Dax Melmer, The Windsor Star , The Windsor Star


Ramiro Escoto believes little has changed in the workplace or safety inspection monitoring since his son Takis was killed two years ago when hit by a front-end loader at a local construction site.
Escoto's workplace fatality was the last one in Windsor and Essex County, but injuries continue to be too numerous, said his father, who served as the honorary wreath carrier Sunday during a local tribute and march on the city's east end to mark the 29th Day of Mourning, which recognizes workers killed or injured on the job.
"Today is pretty emotional," Ramiro Escoto said. "It's only been two years since my son was killed."
Takis, 34, was said to be finished work, on his way to his vehicle with lunch box in hand, when he was struck and killed by the front-end loader backing up at a site in the 1200 block of McKay Avenue in June 2011.
In January, employer Coco Paving was hit with a $212,505 combined fine and surcharge after pleading guilty to one count of failing to carry out property safety measures. Provincial safety regulations prohibit operating a machine in reverse unless there's no practical alternative.
A date has not yet been set for a coroner's inquest that will look for recommendations to help prevent deaths like Ta-kis Escoto's.
His father said Sunday he still sees a lack of enforcement by the Ministry of Labour, "to prevent accidents and not just investigate after.
"We should get more (inspectors) in the field to check work sites. Accidents are more frequent now and it should be the other way around."
The WSIB paid out $2.85 billion in claims in 2011. Windsor and Essex County topped the province, with 139.9 allowed claims per 10,000 employed workers.
During a 10-year period starting in 2002, there were 687 men and 50 women across Ontario killed by workplace-related accidents.
Sunday's event at St. Augustine church in the 5100 block of Wyandotte Street East featured reflections from a number of local labour leaders and affected family members who have lost loved ones to workplace injuries.
"More and more, we are seeing the loss of limbs, the loss of lives," said Chris Taylor, president of CAW Local 200. "Today is a time to reflect and ask what can we do to put a stop to this around the world."
Many of the speakers reflected on this week's tragedy in Bangladesh that saw nearly 400 workers killed when an illegally constructed factory building collapsed. Many of those killed were employed at clothing factories within the building which supply garments at low prices in Canada and U.S.
"It begs the question to each of us on what the value of a $5 T-shirt really is," said local MPP Taras Natyshak (NDP-Essex). "Knowing so many lives are lost, is it worth it?"
The tribute was followed by a march led by Escoto involving nearly 200 from the church down to the riverfront where Windsor's monument to fallen workers is located. Red carnations were laid at the monument to honour the dead and injured.
Organizers of Sunday's tribute said it is important to remember those locally who have died or been seriously injured in the workplace.
"The numbers go up and down each year, but it's not getting better as a trend," said Tracey Edwards, chairwoman of the Day of Mourning committee.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Info for Attending the National Day of Mourning, April 28th

Here is information
you will need
to
attend the
National Day of Mourning
Sunday, April 28, 2013

We look forward to seeing you there!
 


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Join us for the National Day of Mourning, April 28th

Reposted with thanks to Joy Hamilton and The Windsor Star, for publishing on p. A6 Joy Hamilton's Letter to the Editor, which was the Letter of the Day.  To read the article online, please click on the following link:
http://www.windsorstar.com/health/right+safe+healthy+workplace/8280155/story.html

Our right to a safe and healthy workplace

Our right to a safe and healthy workplace
People wear masks to represent the workers killed on the job during last April's National Day of Mourning at Dieppe Park.
Photograph by: Dax Melmer, The Windsor Star , The Windsor Star


Sunday, April 28, 2013, marks the 29th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning, the day labour organizations around the world adopted to recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job.
Currently, more than 100 countries recognize April 28, although many refer to it as Workers' Memorial Day. The day is acknowledged by the International Labour Organization, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the American Federation of Labour.
The Workers Health and Safety Centre says workers deserve the highest quality occupational health and safety training and when they get the training they need - safer, healthier work follows. Furthermore, when workers don't get the training they need, workers remain vulnerable and tragedy often results.
Our community will come together on April 28 and march to the Injured Workers Monument to lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence. The monument is inscribed with the words "Fight for the Living, Mourn for the Dead."
It is a day to honour the dead and injured and also a day to remind us to protect the living. One day hardly seems enough to recognize workers killed or injured because of their job.
You have the right to a safe and healthy workplace.
JOY HAMILTON, Windsor Occupational Health Information Service (WOHIS), Windsor

Thursday, March 21, 2013