The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Unifor, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the Interprovincial EI Working Group are demanding urgent improvements to Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) system, as workers face economic hardship due to tariffs from the United States. This EI roadmap has been endorsed by over 100 organizations and unions across the country.
“Our current EI system simply won’t cut it for the crisis that’s coming,” said CUPE National President Mark Hancock. “The federal government is putting hundreds of thousands of workers at risk if they fail to implement these changes.”
“We’re calling on all parties to immediately strengthen Canada’s social safety net and provide support to working people,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
CUPE, Unifor, the CLC and the Interprovincial EI Working Group are proposing measures that would make it much easier for workers to access EI and improve the benefits they receive. Key proposals would boost workers’ access to EI including for those in precarious jobs. A minimum benefit would be established as well as higher maximum earnings to ensure workers can live in dignity.
“We need to ensure all workers, especially those in precarious jobs, have the support they need,” said Mary Gellatly, co-chair of the Interprovincial EI working group. “These changes are needed for all industries and all workers across Canada, so no one is left behind.”
“Urgent changes are needed short term, but we also need the comprehensive EI reform that ensures lasting protections for workers into the future,” said Bea Bruske, President of the CLC.
EI needs radical reform to put working people first
Employment Insurance was won through workers’ struggles during the Great Depression, when unemployed workers in BC came out of the relief camps and arrived in Vancouver to demand good jobs and wages. Attacked by police, employers and right-wing governments, they decided to march on Ottawa in the historic On-to-Ottawa Trek that mobilized the support of millions of workers across Canada for Unemployment Insurance. UI, or EI as it’s known today, was won through the mass action of workers across the country.
In the 1990s the Liberal government raided the Unemployment Insurance Fund and used it to provide Canada’s biggest corporations with billions in tax cuts. The government also provided corporations with contribution holidays, though workers contributions continued.
Today more than 60 percent of workers who contribute to EI are ineligible to receive benefits. For those that do qualify, the benefits – just 55 percent of previous earnings – are too low to survive on for any length of time. Furthermore, the duration of benefits is too short to carry workers through periods of long-term unemployment, as many are facing now.
We need EI reform that makes it accessible to all the unemployed workers, including first-time job seekers, at 90 percent of previous earnings for the full duration of unemployment. EI should be non-contributory and a right for all workers. It should be paid for out of corporate taxes, which need to be substantially increased to recover billions in tax cuts and tax loopholes.
We need other measures to put a floor under working people. These should include a substantial increase in pensions, a $25 minimum wage, and a livable guaranteed annual income (not a subsistence income) for those unable to work.
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