Injured-workers group in New Glasgow closed due to lack of funding

A injured-workers associationin New Glasgow, N.S.,closed its doors earlier this monthdue to a lack of funding, leaving hundreds of files in limbo.

Two staff members and one volunteer with thePictouCounty Injured Workers Association (PCIWA) were handling 637 cases before shutting down. The group's founder and president, Mary Lloyd, saidthe money it receives from the provincial Department of Labour isn't enough.

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"We're trying to operate an office with two staff people who are totally inadequately paid, with no benefits, no cost-of-living increase, no raises,"she said. "We had no choice but close the doors."

According to Lloyd, the Department of Labour gives the group $108,000 annually, 90 per centof which pays the salaries andrent for their office building in downtown New Glasgow. That leaves $10,000 to pay for office suppliesand mandatory travel, which Lloyd saidhas left them consistently in the red.

The tipping point

Expenses incurred in May stretched their budget to the breaking point, Lloyd said.She saidthe purchase of a new fax photocopier and two government-mandatedworktrips left the group with zero fundsand no choice but to close their doors.

Despite repeated requests to the Department of Labour for more funding, the province won't budge. "Bridge funding for PCIWA was in place through to June 30, 2016," spokesman Andrew Preeper said in an email to CBC News. "There has been no reduction in annual funding to PCIWA."

But the current funding isn't nearly enough, saidLloyd. "It's disheartening that the government is so uncaring about the injured workers in this province."

Out of funds, out of work

The association's two staff are now unemployed. Larry Maloney, himself an injured worker, served as the group's paralegal for a decade. Despite losing his job, he worries more about the clients that will be left behind.

"Where are they going to go?"

Besides legal assistance, the groupwas also helping the 637 injured workers with emotional support, social services, food banks, jobhuntingand health care.

That's all gone now. For injured workers likeMike Hasler, the news came as a shock.

"I actually didn't know it was closed,"he said. "I [saw]the sign saying it was closed and the first thing I said to myself was, 'Well, what am I going to do now?'"

Continuing to help

The Department of Labour says injured workers like Hasler have two options: the Workers' Advisers Program and The Office of the Worker Counsellor.

However, that first option is for appeals only, and the second office already deals with hundreds of caseshandled by only two staff.

For now, Lloyd saidher and Maloney will continue to answer inquiries on a volunteer basis.

"As frustrating as the work is because we're so understaffed and overworked, it's so rewarding to know that you've saved a family,"she said.

"That's why we do it, that's why we're still here, and that's why we will continue and try and advocate on behalf of workers."

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