Harper, Parliament Must Fix EI Immediately

    360 Hours Must Be Qualifying Threshold for EI Benefits in All Regions

    TORONTO, March 5 /CNW/ - On Thursday, the Good Jobs for All Coalition -
an alliance of more than 35 community, labour and student groups representing
people throughout the Greater Toronto Area - demonstrated outside of an
Employment Insurance (EI) office in Toronto.
    The demonstration was held to remind the Harper government and all
Members of Parliament that thousands of families are suffering because nothing
has been done to ensure that more of the unemployed are getting the
unemployment insurance benefits they paid for. Unemployed workers from various
industries and areas in greater Toronto participated in the rally.

    QUOTES:

    "Only about one-third of the unemployed workers in Ontario can get EI
benefits," said Winnie Ng, Co-chair of the Good Jobs for All Coalition and
Chair of the Progressive Moulded Products Workers' Action Centre. "The number
is much lower in the Greater Toronto Area and even worse for women. This is
unacceptable and MPs need to push the government to lower the qualifying hours
requirement to 360 right now so more people get benefits."
    "The economic situation is worsening by the day and it's time for this
federal government to take the shortcomings of EI seriously," said Ken
Lewenza, President of the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW). "Extending the
benefits period for the few who already qualify is insufficient. More people
must be made eligible by setting the qualifying hours at 360 and benefits
should be restored to at least 60 per cent of the best 12 weeks of earnings."
    "Six out of 10 unemployed women across Canada can't get EI benefits,"
said Marie Clarke-Walker, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour
Congress (CLC). "Our message to Parliament is: unless EI eligibility
requirements are fixed, women and other vulnerable workers will bear the brunt
of this recession with no safety net."
    "There are tens of thousands of EI applications and current government
policy leaves us no choice but to turn most of them down," said Alan Lennon,
Senior Representative for Ontario, Canadian Employment and Immigration Union
(CEIU), the union that represents government employees swamped with the
overwhelming number of EI applications that are now being filed by unemployed
workers. "We want to help unemployed Canadians get the insurance they've paid
for so we join the call for this Minority Parliament to take action and fix EI
now."

    QUICK FACTS:

    -   In January, community members and labour representatives sent a pre-
        budget message to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty about the urgent need
        to repair the EI program. The Harper government ignored the call for
        reasonable improvements to the program despite prominent economists'
        endorsement of the Good Jobs For All Coalition's primary
        recommendations.

    -   A healthy unemployment insurance system is the most powerful economic
        stabiliser. In the recessions of the early 1980s and 90s, UI
        prevented deeper, longer downturns and reduced the shock of job and
        GDP losses.

    -   There is now a much weaker UI system under the current rules of the
        Employment Insurance program. EI provides only half the coverage that
        UI provided during the last recession because fewer workers qualify
        and benefits have been reduced.

    -   According to Statistics Canada, in November 2008 there were 441,130
        Canadians receiving EI regular benefits out of 1,125,900 unemployed
        Canadians, for a coverage rate of 39.2%, or approximately four out of
        ten unemployed workers.

    -   Since 1989, the federal government has not contributed to the EI
        account. Successive government have borrowed more than $54 billion
        from the so-called "surplus" of EI premiums paid by workers and
        employers. It is now time for unemployed workers to be repaid with
        federal government contributions to EI.

    -   Recent job losses in the GTA include: Progressive Moulded Products in
        Vaughan (more than 2,400 jobs lost), Canac Kitchens in Thornhill
        (1,000 jobs lost), Magna International in Newmarket and Aurora (850
        jobs lost), Fenwick Automotive in Toronto (800 jobs lost), Emcon
        Technologies in Concord (150 jobs lost), Dayco in North York (120
        jobs lost), Telespectrum call centre in Don Mills (100 jobs lost),
        Kik Industries in Vaughan (70 jobs lost), National Rubber Industries
        in Davenport (50 jobs lost), Valspar in Scarborough (35 jobs lost).

    -   In November 2008, the Good Jobs For All Coalition's Good Jobs Summit
        was attended by a diverse group of more than 1,000 workers, students,
        environmentalists, social justice advocates, youth, city councillors,
        MPPs, MPs and community members from the GTA. The campaign to fix EI
        is an effort of this important community-labour alliance.

For further information: Ken Marciniec, Communications Coordinator, Good
Jobs for All Coalition, (416) 803-6066 (cell),
communications@goodjobscoalition.ca; or John Cartwright, President, Toronto &
York Region Labour Council, (416) 999-5663 (cell)