Ontario Federation of Labour denies misspending, defends training
Last month at Queen’s Park, MPP Randy Hillier told the legislature the province’s WSIB had given the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) more than $12 million over the past decade to help employees and employers navigate the compensation system through its Occupational Disability Response Team (ODRT) fund — but its effectiveness is tepid at best.
Hillier pooled his information from a 2014 KPMG audit and subsequent freedom of information documents requested by his office.
"The purpose of this (fund) is not to prevent accidents but to provide information and assistance to people who have a claim, in their dealings with the WSIB," Hillier said in an interview. "You can also look at it this way: We’re already paying many, many people at the WSIB to do exactly that."
According to the FOI documents obtained by Hillier’s office, some of the grant money given to the OFL was earmarked for gym memberships, car and mileage allowances, and a $44,000-training session at Bayview Wildwood Resort in the Muskoka area.
Hillier said more accountability and value are necessary. He alleged the fund was applied inappropriately.
"More accountability and to uphold the agreement, that would be a nice place to start," he said. "If this is to help injured workers navigate the WSIB, that has to be questioned as well. Why would the WSIB have to go to an outside third party, to give them money, so that they can be trained on how to tell people how to deal with the WSIB on an injury claim? You can’t square that circle."
Back in 2014, KPMG released an audit into the WSIB’s grants and research program, which determined that from 2009 to 2012, there was little value for money from overall strategy and governance perspectives.
KPMG concluded the program lacked a comprehensive strategy aligned with the WSIB’s objectives and did not have a formalized governance and management structure in place to effectively oversee a comprehensive research and grants strategy and achievement of intended results. KPMG recommended the board develop its strategy and management structure, and changes are slated for 2016.
What the audit has to do with the OFL is beyond its president Sid Ryan, who debunked Hillier’s claim the federation is "living high on the hog" as nonsense.
The gym memberships are part of a health and wellness provision under the collective agreement between the OFL and its employees, Ryan explained, adding that the training sessions held in Muskoka are reasonably priced — $130 for double occupancy rooms, $170 for single occupancy, with meals provided.
Through the ODRT — which received on average $800,000 per year for the past two decades — the OFL provides workplace disability prevention training and advisory support when it comes to the compensation board, something Ryan likened to traversing a labyrinth.
"Roughly speaking, over the last number of years, we reckon we’ve trained about 20,000 to 22,000 activists, who are basically fully trained now, to represent people in almost a paralegal way in front of the WSIB, whether it be the tribunals or in the workplace," he said.
"If you know anything about the workers’ compensation system, it is incredibly — it is extremely complicated to navigate. It’s not easy."
WSIB shake-up
In 2010, the WSIB announced certain improvements could be made to its grants program, according to Christine Arnott, spokesperson for the board.
That included a "value for money" audit on its grants and research program in 2012.
"The value for money audit concluded that the grants program did exhibit value and produced notable results at the individual research project or grant-funded activity level," Arnott explained.
"It also acknowledged that improvements to some elements of the program could be made, including overall strategy and governance."
As such, a new grants program will be launched in 2016, with 2015 designated as a transition year.
Though details of the new rubric are forthcoming, Arnott said the new policy has been designed to ensure alignment with the WSIB’s objective strategy, meet business needs and have measurable results.
According to the board’s grants policy document posted on its website, the WSIB will "actively manage grants to ensure compliance with the grant agreement, including adherence to the budget and ongoing relevance of the grant for the WSIB."
