Injured workers and the labour movement
Principal Investigator: Robert Storey
Historical studies of the Ontario 1915 Workmen's Compensation Act highlight the important role played by the labour movement both in pressuring government to pass such legislation, and in shaping the final form of the Act. While there are no comparable studies of the role of trade unions over the past four decades, preliminary research points both to an ongoing involvement of trade unions in workmen's compensation issues via service to their membership, and to, at times, a decided hesitancy to actively embrace the political struggles of the injured workers movement.
This project seeks to investigate the evolution of the critical relationship between injured workers, injured workers organizations, and the Ontario labour movement. Materials for this project will be drawn from selected industrial and public sector unions and through in-depth interviews with union officials who have been/are involved in representing their members in claims with the workers' compensation board.
Research for this project will be carried out from 2007 to 2009 with results being published in the following year.
History & social/political movements
Phase 1 Projects
The injured workers' movement in Ontario 1900-2005
Medical science and practice within the Ontario Workers' Compensation Board, 1960-1995
Phase 2 Projects
Injured workers and the labour movement