Prime Minister Stephen Harper is putting the squeeze on many jobless Canadians who are collecting employment insurance benefits, in a bid to push more of them back into the workforce.
The Conservatives are tightening the rules to “connect Canadians with available jobs,” because they believe too many are sitting at home collecting pogey in areas where jobs are going begging or being filled by foreign workers. Claimants will now be required to accept lower-paying jobs, or jobs they may not want, or face being cut off. They’ll be expected to canvass for jobs “every day they receive benefits.” And they may have to commute up to an hour.
This is the fallout from the uproar Harper sparked by ramming a bill through Parliament that gutted safeguards for jobless workers in the Employment Insurance Act without spelling out what would replace them. As it turns out, the benefits squeeze is less harsh than many had feared. But it still targets many people who are down on their luck.
An unemployed auto mechanic from Halifax won’t be forced to accept work cleaning office buildings in Calgary, under new rules rolled out Thursday by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley. That was a concern that the Tories fed with their talk of a crackdown. But that mechanic may still wind up pumping gas at significantly less than her old wage, and perhaps an hour’s drive out of town.
New Democrat MP Peggy Nash sees this as “scapegoating” the jobless. She’s concerned that this is only the first shoe to be dropped. And she fears the overall impact will be to drive down wages. These are legitimate concerns. The opposition wants the Tories to strip the EI Act changes from Bill C-38, the budget implementation bill, and put them in a separate bill so that MPs and senators can give them the scrutiny they deserve before they take effect early next year. Harper should heed that request.
As things stand, regular EI benefits cover up to 55 per cent of former salary to a maximum of $485 a week, for up to 45 weeks. Last year 850,000 people relied on the program.
Until now the EI Act, which Parliament had approved, required people to make a “reasonable” effort to find work. They also had to accept “suitable employment.” But they could refuse jobs that paid poorly, or had worse working conditions. No longer. C-38 weakens those protections. Cabinet will now decide what is suitable and reasonable, by way of regulations. Parliament won’t have a say.
Under the new scheme frequent EI claimants — typically seasonal workers who amount to about 6 in 10 of those who use the program — will no longer be able to hold out for something akin to their old jobs, at roughly the same wage. Instead they will have to accept “similar” work at as little as 80 per cent of their previous wage during the first seven weeks they get benefits. After that they must take “any work they are qualified to perform,” possibly at 70 per cent of what they used to make.
Less frequent users will fare a bit better. They can hold out for jobs “within their usual occupation” and at 90 per cent of their old wage for 18 weeks. After that they must accept “similar” jobs at 80 per cent.
These changes are not a draconian crackdown, but neither are they minor tweaks to one of Canada’s major social programs. They have been brought in with scant consultation by a government whose finance minister has said that “any job is a good job.” They may force some people to accept jobs that don’t make the best use of their knowledge and skills. And their effects on the economy are hard to gauge.
This deserves much more study. The Tories are eager to stamp their vision on social programs, but they did not campaign on making people wait longer for Old Age Security benefits, or squeezing the jobless. Things might have turned out differently, if they had been upfront about those goals.
Original Article
Source: the star
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