Our Demand Is for a Just and Universal Employment Insurance RegimeFrance Simard is the Coordinator, Unemployment Action Movement, Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec Workers' Forum: New rules came into effect on September 26 concerning eligibility for employment insurance (EI) as well as the amount and duration of benefits. Can you summarize them for us? France Simard: First, there is a new rule that establishes a universal standard of 420 hours of work to qualify for benefits. This differs with the pre-pandemic period, when it varied according to the official unemployment rate in each region. This single 420-hour standard is to remain in effect for one year.
As for the benefit rate, those claiming EI between September 26 and November 20 are to receive a minimum benefit of $300 per week. As of November 21, the rate reverts back to the pre-pandemic calculation of 55 per cent of gross earnings, based on the best weeks worked by the claimant. The number of weeks worked taken into consideration will vary between 14 and 22. WF: What's your assessment of these measures? FS: The 420 hours as a universal standard is acceptable. We've been asking for a universal measure for all of Canada for years. We want it lowered but it's an improvement. We don't know what it will be after the year is over. We are currently in a transition period because the Liberals have promised to reform EI. It's hard to predict what will happen after this transition year. The government has initiated a consultation with regard to changing the regime. As part of the consultation, an online questionnaire was posted prior to the election and will remain there until October 8. After that, according to the government, there will be so-called targeted consultations. Whatever that means is anyone's guess. We don't want a phony consultation and the questionnaire is phony. We've been consulting for 20 years, presenting briefs. We want to work, to discuss concrete issues. We want nothing to do with a consultation used as a means to justify not carrying out the needed reform. We want to work on the basis of a working document with potential solutions. We believe that employers and workers, those who contribute financially to the regime, must be represented. This includes the unions as well as advocacy groups. We are the voice of a large number of claimants, who go through us. We know the problems on the ground. Consultation must take place at the national level as well as in the regions. The reality in the regions is not the same as in big cities. WF: Can you give examples of how the questionnaire is phony? FS: It's very biased. At the end of each section, those signing are asked if they're willing to pay more in EI contributions if this or that aspect of the regime is improved. No one is going to say yes. Moreover, with all the prejudice circulating right now, with regard to the regime supposedly being too generous, that it encourages people not to work, now is not the time for such a questionnaire. WF: Can you reiterate the main demands of MASSE (Autonomous and Solidarity Movement of the Unemployed) that the Unemployment Action Movement, Lac Saint-Jean is part of? FS: Our first demand is a single 350-hour eligibility threshold, or 13 weeks. The second is a benefit rate of at least 70 per cent of insurable earnings, based on the best 12 weeks worked. The third is a minimum threshold of 35 weeks of benefits, which, among other things, would eliminate the black hole for seasonal workers, that period of time when they are without income because their benefits have been exhausted but they have not yet gone back to their job. The fourth is the abolition of total EI exclusions for workers who voluntarily leave their job or are fired. The fifth is access to regular employment insurance benefits in the case of having lost one's job, irrespective of whether one received maternity and parental benefits. Women who have just given birth and lose their job while receiving benefits under the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), or immediately thereafter, are not entitled to EI. If they lose their job, it's not their fault. This is discrimination against parents, mostly women but men as well, because they also receive parental and paternity benefits. Our demand is for a just and universal employment insurance regime. (Translated from the original french by Workers' Forum)
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However,
the number of weeks of benefits a claimant is entitled to remains the
same as it was before the pandemic, based on the official unemployment
rate in the region where the claimant lives. [