WSIB Workers Face More Than Double the National Rates of Anxiety and Depression, Survey Finds
"The WSIB is a shining example of what not to be. We will hold the WSIB accountable for their failure to protect employee wellness," said Harry Goslin, President of OCEU. "I will not rest until we fix the very real and systemic workload problem. Once we do that, we will elevate services for all Ontario workers."
"Our members are tired of hearing the employer deny their lived experiences, and it's really impacting them," said Nicole Francis, Chief Steward for OCEU. "The results of the survey from last year are crystal clear, but WSIB management doesn't want to accept them because it ruins the image they are trying to project."
John Oudyk, Occupational Hygienist with OHCOW, remains optimistic despite the worsening results. "Most of the factors measured in the survey were quite negative, but the engagement scores were close to typical Canadian values. This suggests that, despite their negative experience, respondents have not completely disengaged, indicating they still have hope that their work situation can improve," he said.
Members of OCEU/CUPE 1750 have been on strike for over three weeks, after being sent home and locked out of their systems by the employer. Key bargaining issues remain, including dangerously high workloads that are severely impacting WSIB employees' mental health.
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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250614760341/en/
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For more information, please contact: Bill ChalupiakCUPE Communications Representativewchalupiak@cupe.ca 416-707-1401
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Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Justin Timberlake reveals ‘relentlessly debilitating' Lyme disease symptoms — Do you live in Ontario's high risk areas?
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A post shared by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) Notable Canadian celebrities who have shared their diagnosis with Lyme disease include Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber and Shania Twain. The blacklegged tick is known to transmit four tick-borne diseases — anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Lyme disease and Powassan virus — that are listed as Diseases of Public Health Significance by Public Health Ontario (PHO). Lyme disease occurs in stages. Symptoms can vary from person to person after being bitten by an infected blacklegged tick or western blacklegged tick. Signs and symptoms of each stage can overlap. 'In some people, Lyme disease may present in a later stage without a history of prior signs or symptoms,' the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) explains. Early signs and symptoms of Lyme disease can manifest as: The erythema migrans rash is the most commonly reported sign of Lyme disease. PHAC explains it's an expanding skin rash that usually starts at the site of the tick bite slowly expanding over several days. The rash can be circular or oval-shaped, looking like a target or bull's eye. It can go unnoticed if it's on dark skin or a part of the body that's hard to see. PHAC says some people might not develop a rash at all. The bull's-eye shape of this rash is a clear sign of Lyme disease. Later symptoms of Lyme disease can appear days to months after an infected tick bite and might manifest as: In very rare cases, death can occur due to the complications involving an infection of the heart. Lyme disease is a growing concern in Canada particularly in southern Ontario, which is considered one of a few hot spots for ticks. Tick populations continue to climb in Ontario, as well as other parts of Canada. This year is expected to follow the trend . The Public Health Agency of Canada has a tool where you can type in your postal code and it will tell you if you're located in a risk area for Lyme disease. Some risk areas include spots in Windsor, Whitby, Waterloo, Uxbridge, The Blue Mountains, Tay Valley, St. Catharines, Smiths Falls, Scugog, Richmond Hill, Rideau Lakes, Renfrew, Prince Edward County, Port Hope, Perth, Peel, Ottawa, Oshawa, Orillia, Oakville, Niagara Falls, Newmarket, Mississauga, Milton, Markham, Hamilton, Clarington, Caledon, Burlington, Brampton, Kawartha Lakes, Barrie, Ajax and more. Map of five areas known for risk to tick exposure in Canada. The number of human reported Lyme disease cases in Canada in 2024 was 5,239, according to preliminary data from the PHAC. That's a jump from the 4,785 cases reported in 2023 and 2,525 in 2022. For a matter of perspective, only 144 cases were reported in 2009. Out of the 4,785 cases in 2023, 1,865 were reported in Ontario, according to Public Health Ontario data. In Canada, Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi, which is spread through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks — also known as deer ticks — and western blacklegged ticks, according to the PHAC. The blacklegged tick, or deer tick as it is sometimes called, is the most common carrier of Lyme disease. Despite the established risk areas for ticks, Public Health Ontario said it's important for people to know they could encounter an infected blacklegged tick almost anywhere in Ontario , as blacklegged ticks feed on and are transported by migratory birds. Species of ticks can be found in most parts of Ontario — clustering along the north shores of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, according to PHO. This map depicts the estimated risk areas for Lyme disease in Ontario in 2024. Risk areas for Lyme disease in southern Ontario can be found along the north shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and on the south shore of Lake Huron, according to PHAC . In southeastern Ontario, risk areas can be found around Kingston in the St. Lawrence valley, extending northeast toward Ottawa. PHO data shows Lyme disease was reported in all but one health unit region in 2023. The highest concentration of reported cases in Ontario in 2013 was in the Ontario health unit catchment areas of Hastings Prince Edward Public Health and Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Public Health. In 2023, 84 people in Ontario were hospitalized for Lyme disease. PHO shows Lyme rates have been climbing for the last 10 years. Climate change is contributing to the spread of blacklegged ticks to new areas in Canada. Southern, western and southeastern Ontario, parts of Manitoba, southern Quebec and the Maritime provinces are known to be risk areas for ticks and Lyme disease exposure. Map of five areas known for risk to tick exposure in Canada. Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses can cause serious medical issues. Here are some proactive measures to take to avoid getting bitten by a tick. For more information on ticks , visit the Public Health Agency of Canada's website. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
UCSF doctor leads fight to restore wildfire health research grants cut by Trump order
SACRAMENTO — As smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted across North America and western U.S. states girded for their annual fire siege, Neeta Thakur was well into her search for ways to offset the damage of such fumes to people's health, especially among minority and low-income communities. For more than a decade, the UC San Francisco researcher relied on federal grants without incident. But Thakur, a doctor and a scientist, suddenly found herself leading the charge for public health science against President Donald Trump's political ideology. Thakur, 45, a pulmonologist who also is medical director of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Chest Clinic, is the lead plaintiff among six UC researchers who in June won a class-action preliminary injunction against the efforts of several federal agencies to carry out Trump's executive orders seeking to eliminate research grants deemed to focus on areas of diversity, equity and inclusion. The administration has filed a notice of appeal, and the outcome, whether or not she and her colleagues prevail, could influence both the future of academic research and the health of those she's spent her life trying to help. 'When this moment hit us, where science was really under attack and lives are at stake, it doesn't surprise me that she stepped up,' said Margot Kushel, who directs the UCSF Action Research Center for Health Equity and has known Thakur for more than a decade through their work at the center and San Francisco General, the public county hospital. 'We don't think our work should be political, to be honest,' Kushel said. 'Saving people's lives and making sure people don't die doesn't seem to me that it should be a partisan issue.' Thakur said that after the abrupt funding cuts, she and the other researchers 'felt pretty powerless and found that the class-action lawsuit was a way for us to join together and sort of take a stance.' The suit was filed independently by the researchers and allowed them to show the harm inflicted not just on their own work 'but more broadly on public health and public health research,' she said. Thakur's study, which received more than $1.3 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and was set to run through November, explores the impact of increased wildfire smoke on low-income communities and communities of color, populations that already experience heightened pollution and other environmental health disparities. The goal is to find ways to help residents limit their smoke exposure, Thakur said, adding that the results could help people no matter their circumstances. Preliminary findings show that smoke can trigger breathing emergencies among children days after exposure, knowledge that could lead to better treatment, and that smoke intensity may peak during just a few hours when protection is most needed, indicating the need for more precise and timely safety messaging. Thakur said her studies on health equity and health disparities saw growing federal support during the COVID pandemic and a national focus on racism spurred by the murder of George Floyd. The EPA had solicited the grant in 2021 for her and her team to research how climate change affects underserved communities. Trump, in one of several executive orders blocking federal funding for DEI programs, said they 'use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences' that he said have 'prioritized how people were born instead of what they were capable of doing.' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in March that, in cooperation with the Department of Government Efficiency, the administration had canceled more than 400 grants topping $2 billion 'to rein in wasteful federal spending.' The order by U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco temporarily blocking the grant terminations covered the EPA, as well as grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. Lin's ruling was not a nationwide injunction of the sort restricted by the U.S. Supreme Court in a June decision. The Trump administration agencies affected by the order have reinstated the UC grants as the lawsuit proceeds. The government filed a motion for a temporary stay on the order pending the outcome of its appeal, but a decision had not been issued as of publication. The EPA declined to comment on the judge's order blocking the attempted cancellation of the research funding, citing the ongoing litigation, and attorneys representing the government did not respond to requests for comment. Thakur defends the need for research that spotlights disadvantaged communities. Her interest in health equity stems from childhood experiences. The daughter of immigrants from India, with a physician and an engineer as parents, she grew up relatively well-off in a mixed-income neighborhood in Phoenix. While she prospered, however, she had friends who couldn't afford college or became pregnant as teenagers. 'I see my research being directed towards trying to understand how where you live and what you experience impacts your health,' Thakur said. When the grants were suspended in April, the researchers were unable to finish identifying ways to help protect communities from wildfire smoke. Thakur had to dismiss a student intern and dip into discretionary funds to pay her postdoctoral fellow. At least three research papers that could have directly affected public health were in danger of going unpublished without the funding, she said. The government reinstated her team's grants about three weeks after the judge's order, and Thakur is in the process of picking up the pieces. She's hopeful that researchers can publish two of the three studies they were working on. Thakur said she is now cautiously optimistic after experiencing 'a roller coaster of emotions.' Putting together a project and conducting the research takes years, she said, so 'to have all of that end suddenly, it brought me a range of emotions one thinks about when folks are experiencing grief. There's denial, anger.' But the Trump administration's actions have already sapped morale in the field. Rebecca Sugrue, Thakur's postdoctoral fellow and an expert in health equity and climate change, is rethinking her entire career path. 'I kind of came to the realization that all the expertise I had built up were the kind of things that were being deprioritized,' Sugrue said. She said she and other postdoctoral students and more junior members of the research team had even had discussions about leaving academia: ''Unstable' and 'uncertain' were words that were used a lot.' The lasting damage is not lost on Thakur. If the grants ultimately disappear, universities won't have the typical programs to train students or to support academic research, she said, adding that, 'I think there are concerns that the sort of divestment from science and research in these particular areas will cause generations of impact.'
Newsweek
5 hours ago
- Newsweek
Early Warning Signs For MS Discovered—Appear 15 Years Before Main Symptoms
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Warning signs for multiple sclerosis (MS) could emerge more than a decade before the first classical symptoms occur—offering hope for earlier detection and better patient outcomes. This is the finding of researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC), who have analyzed the health records of more than 12,000 people in the Canadian province and challenged assumptions about when the disease really begins. They discovered those living with MS—a chronic condition affecting the brain and spinal cord—began using healthcare services at elevated rates 15 years before their first 'typical' MS symptoms appeared. While MS affects people differently, symptoms often include feeling extremely tired, problems with your eyes or vision, numbness or a tingling feeling in different parts of the body, feeling off balance, muscle cramps and concentration/memory problems. "MS can be difficult to recognize as many of the earliest signs—like fatigue, headache, pain and mental health concerns—can be quite general and easily mistaken for other conditions," said paper author and UBC neurology professor Helen Tremlett in a statement. "Our findings dramatically shift the timeline for when these early warning signs are thought to begin, potentially opening the door to opportunities for earlier detection and intervention." Female doctor is taking the blood pressure of a young adult female patient during a medical consultation. Female doctor is taking the blood pressure of a young adult female patient during a medical consultation. Antonio_Diaz/Getty Images The study offers a clear picture to date of how patients engage with a range of healthcare providers in the years leading up to a MS diagnosis as they search for answers to "ill-defined" medical challenges. Diagnosis for the condition typically requires imaging (MRI) signals and a specific clinical presentation. The study tracked physician visits in the 25 years leading up to the onset of a patient's MS symptoms, as determined by a neurologist through detailed medical history and clinical assessments. Most previous studies have only examined trends in the five to 10 years leading up to a patient's first "demyelinating event" (the loss or damage of the myelin sheath, a protective covering surrounding nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord) such as vision problems. Bruce Bebo, Executive Vice President of Research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, told Newsweek, "This is an impressive study by a world-class research team offering important new insights into the earliest manifestations of MS. "The ability to identify people at high risk for MS could trigger enhanced monitoring and subsequent identification of people in the earliest stage of disease. Treatment of MS at this earliest stage would likely result in significantly improved outcomes." The researchers revealed that, compared to the general population, people with MS had a steady build-up of healthcare engagement over 15 years with different types of doctor visits increasing at particular points. Some 15 years before symptom onset, patient visits to general practice physicians increased, as did visits to any physician for symptoms like fatigue, pain, dizziness and mental health conditions. At 12 years before, visits to a psychiatrist increased. Three to five years before diagnosis, emergency medicine and radiology visits increased. And one year before, physician visits across multiple specialties peaked, including neurology, emergency medicine and radiology. "These patterns suggest that MS has a long and complex prodromal phase—where something is happening beneath the surface but hasn't yet declared itself as MS," said paper author and UBC postdoctoral fellow Marta Ruiz-Algueró in a statement. "We're only now starting to understand what these early warning signs are, with mental health-related issues appearing to be among the earliest indicators." The study follows previous work by Tremlett and her team to characterize the early stages of MS, known as the 'prodromal phase', where subtle signs or other symptoms occur before the onset of more typical symptoms. These periods are well established in other neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease, where mood changes, sleep disturbances and constipation often arise years before the more familiar motor symptoms like tremors and stiffness. While the researchers point out the vast majority of people who experience general symptoms like fatigue and headaches won't go on to develop MS, they say recognizing and characterising the MS prodrome could one day help accelerate diagnosis and improve outcomes for patients. "By identifying these earlier red flags, we may eventually be able to intervene sooner—whether that's through monitoring, support or preventive strategies," said Dr. Tremlett. "It opens new avenues for research into early biomarkers, lifestyle factors and other potential triggers that may be at play during this previously overlooked phase of the disease." Could we use these early signs to reduce risk of MS developing? Bebo said: "It is likely that the central nervous system is already affected at this early stage of the disease, making true prevention unlikely. However, initiating treatment with a disease-modifying therapy at this point could halt disease progression." However, he added, "Many consider the onset of MS begins when autoreactive immune cells gain access to the central nervous system and start causing damage. "If we can identify the very earliest changes in the immune system prior to entry into the central nervous system and prevent these cells from getting access to the brain and spinal cord, it might be possible to prevent MS." Do you have a tip on a health story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about MS? Let us know via health@ Reference Ruiz-Algueró, M., Zhu, F., Chertcoff, A., Zhao, Y., Marrie, R. A., & Tremlett, H. (2025). Health Care Use Before Multiple Sclerosis Symptom Onset. JAMA Network Open, 8(8).
