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October 6, 2021 - No. 92
Perfunctory Consultation on Employment Insurance Reform
Reform Must Be Based on the Demands
of Workers and Their Organizations   
• Our Demand Is for a Just and Universal Employment Insurance Regime
- Interview, France Simard
Ontario
• "Rise Up for Long-Term Care" Rallies Call for Government Action to Protect Seniors in Care
Perfunctory Consultation on Employment Insurance Reform
In
a press briefing, September 1, 2021, during the federal election,
activists for the rights of the unemployed spoke to the kind of changes
needed to the Employment Insurance system.
A
perfunctory federal government consultation on Employment Insurance
(EI) reform, described as the modernization of the EI
regime, concerns all Canadian workers. It was launched in August
2021, shortly before the federal
election was called and began with an online questionnaire which now
closes on October 8. However, far from
modernizing the EI regime in a manner which favours the working people,
the premise of the reform is the needs of the labour market. This is
not an acceptable basis for reforming the EI system in a way that
benefits workers and society.
The goal of Employment Insurance should not be to adapt workers and
the EI system to the vagaries of the labour market, but to protect
workers by providing a decent Canadian standard income to those who
have been victimized by it. The labour market is an instrument in the
hands of global private interests competing with each other for
maximum profits at the expense of national, regional and local
economies. It treats workers as disposable. Keeping EI eligibility and
benefits conditional on contributing to this "labour market" means that
the massive exclusion of unemployed workers from the Employment
Insurance system will continue.
The statement announcing the consultation, signed by the Minister of
Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion and two
commissioners of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, confirms
this. It reads: "It is in the shared interest of workers, employers and
the Government of Canada to revitalize and modernize
Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) system so that it can respond to the
changing nature of work, and truly complement the needs of the current
labour market."
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has, amongst other things,
dramatically demonstrated the failure of the EI system to protect
workers in crisis situations.
A socially acceptable EI system reform must have as its starting
point the long-standing demands of workers and their organizations, in
particular the organizations working in defence of the unemployed,
whose aim is precisely to ensure humane living conditions for all
unemployed workers when they are thrown out of production.
Workers' Forum calls on all concerned, organized and
unorganized, to speak out against this reform and demand that EI meet
the needs of working people not private interests for whom workers are
disposable. In this issue, Workers' Forum is publishing an
interview with the Coordinator of the Unemployment Action Movement
in Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec, which provides information on the current EI
rules and reiterates the demands put forward by the movement in defence
of the rights of the unemployed.
- Interview, France Simard -
France 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.
 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. [At
the height of the pandemic, a minimum unemployment rate of 13.1 per
cent was attributed to all EI economic regions and claimants could
receive up to a maximum 50 weeks of benefits -- Editor]
For example, someone who only worked the minimum 420 hours is now going
to be entitled to 14 weeks of benefits, and that number may vary
depending on the unemployment rate in the region where they reside. And
the number of weeks of benefits can reach a maximum of 45 weeks.
Again, the hours worked and the unemployment rate in the area are taken
into consideration.
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.
Ontario
Queen's Park, October 4, 2021
Rallies were held in 18 Ontario cities, including at Queen's Park on
October 4, the first day of the fall sitting of the Ontario Provincial
Legislature. Organized by the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), the aim
of the "Rise Up for Long-Term Care" rallies was to publicly highlight
the lack of any action by the Ford government to protect seniors
living in long-term care (LTC) facilities. People who participated,
mainly at the constituency offices of Conservative MPPs, denounced the
callous disregard of the Ford government for the lives of seniors living in
LTC facilities and their loved ones which has been brought into sharp
focus by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Close
to 4,000 Ontario seniors have died of COVID-19 in LTC homes, the
majority in homes operated for profit by private owners. Numerous
reports, a public inquiry and actions by workers and their unions and
families of seniors have highlighted the terrible conditions in many of
the LTC homes, including severe staff shortages, lack of
protective equipment for workers, cuts to care and meal programs and
overall neglect.
In the face of all the evidence, the Ford government has done
absolutely nothing to protect seniors and workers and improve
conditions. The Ford government has instead strengthened the hand of
the private owners, enabling them to continue exploiting the workers
and compromising the security, well-being and health of the workers and
their
residents. Speakers at the action at Queen's Park and others across the
province were united in calling for the defeat of the Ford
Conservatives at the next provincial election on June 2, 2022. Health
care workers, union representatives and leaders of the OHC spoke out on
the track record of the Ford government. Some quoted Premier Ford's
public statement when news of mounting deaths hit the headlines in the
early days of the pandemic, that he would place an "iron ring" around
LTC homes to protect the vulnerable seniors
living there. As it turns out, one speaker said, the only "iron ring"
Ford placed was one that protected the "vultures" who own and run these
facilities to squeeze out maximum profits on the backs of the workers,
residents and their families. They cited Bill 218 which was rushed
through the legislature last fall which indemnifies long-term care
homes against lawsuits for negligence resulting in harm and death in
the COVID-19 pandemic, making it more difficult for families to seek
justice for their loved ones who died or were harmed in other ways.
Furthermore, to add insult to injury, these same companies are now
being given 30-year extensions on their operating licenses which allow
them to continue to operate with impunity. Because of the low wages and
terrible working conditions, it is reported that at least 30 per cent
of personal support workers are planning to leave their jobs,
which will further degrade the quality of care for residents.
 At
Queen's Park, Natalie Mehra, the Executive Director of the OHC, and
others, denounced the empty promises, lies and smoke-and-mirrors
tactics aimed at bamboozling the public into believing that action is
being taken to address the serious crisis in long-term care. She noted
that there has been no monitoring of any sort of the running of
these facilities to ensure a consistent level of care. In fact since
the Ford government came to power it has abandoned inspections
altogether and enabled the owners of privately run homes to monitor
themselves with disastrous results. Not a single owner has been held to
account, she pointed out.
One of the speakers at the Queen's Park rally, Dr. Vivian
Stamatopoulos, an LTC researcher and advocate, stated "When are we
going to get a lick of justice? The Ford government is spitting on the
graves of the people who died."
The families have not given up and many continue to seek justice
through lawsuits against the government. Lawyer Melissa Miller who
represents many families whose loved ones died in the LTC homes
during the pandemic said that she has reviewed countless documents and
reports calling for reforms in the manner in which LTC
facilities are run in Ontario but absolutely nothing has been done.
A number of speakers at the rally at Queen's Park denounced the
government's plan to continue to expand private long-term care capacity
and to look at the recruitment of temporary foreign workers with little
training to work as personal support workers and in other jobs. The
plan was announced by Minister of Long Term Care Rod Phillips
on August 12 in the name of alleviating the crisis in LTC homes.
The rallies expressed the determination of the OHC, unions
representing LTC workers, family members and support groups to continue
the fight for an end to private-for-profit care and for a publicly
funded and publicly run long-term care system in Ontario that is
adequately staffed so that seniors can live with dignity, safety and
security. 
(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)
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