United Steelworkers members and widows of members in Sudbury are lobbying for changes to Ontario’s pension legislation. Their concern is that the current legislation is unclear regarding Workplace Safety and Insurance Board pensions for widows who have lost their spouses to occupational diseases.
The dispute centres on the wording of section 48(3) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. The section states, “If a deceased worker is survived by a spouse … the spouse is entitled to be paid, by periodic payments, 40% of the deceased worker’s net average earnings.”
“Net average earnings” is the phrase in question.
J.P. Mrochek, a compensation officer with United Steelworkers Local 6500, told the Sudbury Star that normally, a surviving spouse would receive a pension based on the deceased worker’s income if he or she were still in the workplace. However, some employers have argued the term “net average earnings” refers to the worker’s current earnings, and a company pension does not count as earnings because it is not money in exchange for work.
Sudbury MPP Rick Barotlucci and Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas have both expressed support for amending the legislation.