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"If Canada had a modern industrial strategy, we wouldn't be having this conversation. We'd be talking about how to put people to work in sustainable, decent jobs, not being forced to take whatever is left at the end of the day." - James Clancy, NUPGE National President.
Ottawa (29 May 2012) - On the heels of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's comments about upcoming changes to Employment Insurance (EI) saying, "there's no such thing as a bad job," Diane Finlay, Minister for Human Resources, announced new EI regulations that will negatively impact workers across the country.
Workers will now be divided into three different categories: long-tenured workers, frequent claimants and occasional claimants. Depending on the category, unemployed workers may have to broaden their geographic search area, accept lower wages and accept different work outside their area of expertise.
The government is also working on revising its definition of what "suitable work" means.
The changes are scheduled to be in place by early 2013.
At the same time as these changes were announced, the Canadian Press learned the government has stopped providing Statistics Canada "key and current information about how much federal money is flowing to each of the provinces for EI claimants."
"The lack of transparency and accountability is outrageous when it comes to this Conservative government," says James Clancy, National President of the 340-000 member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). "On one hand, Harper says the EI changes aren't about cutting costs but on the other hand, they're refusing to provide any way to monitor how much money is being spent on the program."
The changes will have a dramatic affect on those regularly laid off from seasonal jobs or who are facing downsizing due to austerity measures. With the economic growth in the private sector not rebounding as quickly as the government had hoped and the massive layoffs ahead across the public sector, these changes to EI do nothing to improve the lives of those unemployed or working seasonal industries.
"If Canada had a modern industrial strategy, we wouldn't be having this conversation. We'd be talking about how to put people to work in sustainable, decent jobs, not being forced to take whatever is left at the end of th day," continued Clancy. "This is just shifting the burden onto the backs of workers to make up for the Conservatives' lack of vision."
More information:
Canadians for a Modern Industrial Strategy working to end hands-off approach to job creation
Canadians for a modern industrial strategy
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE