What's New > Employment Insurance benefits
FST supports Good Jobs for All Coalition's efforts to change Employment Insurance benefits
Over the past decade our Employment Insurance system was gradually weakened. It now provides coverage only for 6 months (half the coverage it did in the last recession) and because fewer workers qualify and benefit weeks are reduced, only 42% of our unemployed workers receive it at any given time.
As a member of the Good Jobs for All Coalition, we believe that a healthy unemployment insurance system is the most powerful of all economic stabilizers. In the recessions of the early '80s and '90s, UI prevented deeper, longer downturns and reduced the shock of job and GDP losses.
EI belongs to workers.
However, between 1994 and 2007 the Government diverted $54 billion from EI premiums towards other spending instead of using the money for programs benefiting workers who lost their jobs. We fund EI and we expect it to be there when we need it.
All workers who lose their job should get EI.
We urgently petition Parliament to introduce these changes to Employment Insurance
- 360 hours to qualify for EI benefits for all workers in all regions of Canada
- Increase benefit duration to 50 weeks in all regions, and
- Provide an additional year of “Special Extension” benefits if national unemployment exceeds 6.5% - paid from federal general revenues.
- Extend EI Part 1 benefits while a worker is in approved training.
- Increase benefits to at least 60% of normal earnings, using workers’ 12 best weeks, and raise the maximum. Suspend the allocation of severance pay.
- Eliminate the 2 week waiting period.
Take action now!
Participate in the Fix the EI demonstration on Monday, March 16th, 12:00 noon
at Service Canada office, 200 Scarborough Town Centre Court
Download and sign the petition (PDF format) and ask your friends and neighbours living in the same riding to sign it too. When you have 25 signatures from the same riding, send it to that riding's Member of Parliament.
If you present this petition to your federal Member of Parliament with a minimum 25 signatures, the MP is required to read it in the House of Commons. For MP info, type in your postal code at www.parl.gc.ca.
Post date: March 11, 2009
