The National Council of Unemployed Workers (NCUW) and the Conseil du Patronat du Québec (CPQ) are joining forces to call for a reform of Employment Insurance (EI).
“The simple fact of seeing the names of our two organizations associated in the same sentence may seem unusual,” said Pierre Céré, spokesperson for the NCUW. “It is indeed a rare convergence, but we both consider that democracy is an exercise that requires channels for understanding our differences, without having to deny them. Today we are proposing not only such a dialogue, but a shared vision supporting the project of a reform of the EI program”.
The NCUW and the CPQ are putting forward three balancing principles that should guide the federal government in its necessary reform of employment insurance:
– Ensuring better protection for workers – There is a need to make eligibility requirements more flexible and simpler in order to increase accessibility and coverage and, in general, to improve the protections provided, while paying particular attention to seasonal work as well as self-employment and gig work.
– EI as a training opportunity – Solutions to labour challenges include investments in digital infrastructure, enhanced EI benefits for those who voluntarily participate in training, and increased support for employers who want to support their employees with skill shortages.
– Restore social partnership in EI funding – We favour a funding formula for the EI fund that involves a return to federal financial participation to ease the burden on both workers and employers.
A joint op-ed, published in French in Le Devoir is available here: http://www.lecnc.com/blog/2022/04/01/reforme-de-lassurance-emploi-les-voix-sunissent/
“We believe that the time has come to reform Employment Insurance so that it regains its primary vocation: insurance for unemployed workers and a system that supports workers and employers in their quest for a workforce that can aspire to a better quality of life. Society as a whole will benefit from that,” concludes the statement signed by the representatives of the two organizations, Pierre Céré and Karl Blackburn.