Arm's Length E.I. Agency Not Good for Workers

2/27/2008

Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW/CAW) President Earle McCurdy condemned the federal Conservatives for writing off its $55 billion debt to the country’s unemployed, while at the same time setting up tax shelters for the rich.

Mr. McCurdy said this government has its priorities and values all mixed up. “It’s not the rich that need government to act for them, it’s everyone else,” said the Union leader.

Yesterday’s federal budget included an arms-length Crown Corporation-type structure to govern and manage the EI Account. Missing were the billions of dollars in surpluses owed to the EI Account by the federal government, he said. Instead of putting a repayment schedule in place, the federal Conservatives will hand over just $2 billion of the $57 billion that is owed to the EI fund to the new Crown Corporation, writing off the rest.

Mr. McCurdy said this arms-length governance model is also an attempt by the government to divert attention from the real problems with the country’s Employment Insurance Program.

“For years successive federal governments have been dependent on the surpluses in the EI Account to hand out tax cuts that mostly benefited the wealthy and to pay down the debt. Working people and the unemployed have witnessed a direct transfer in income from them to wealthy Canadians and corporations who have reaped the benefits of massive tax cuts,” he explained.

Just as troubling are the limits around how much EI premiums can be collected in any given year. The government has said that premiums can only increase by 15 cents a year per $100 of payroll. “What happens if we have an economic downturn? And how will we get improvements to the EI Program if they artificially restrict the collection of premiums?” asked the union leader.

“We want EI changes that benefit workers and their families, not changes that make it easier for the government to write off its debt to working people and the unemployed.”

Some of the changes proposed by FFAW/CAW include an increase in the benefit rate and reduced hours to qualify, making the program more accessible. Mr. McCurdy noted that a sustained campaign to get improvements to the EI Program has met with some success over the years, but those changes have mostly been introduced through pilot projects rather than through legislation. “We would like to see these changes become a permanent part of the EI Program so that working people are not constantly faced with the uncertainty that these improvements may disappear,” said Mr. McCurdy.

Some of the changes that workers are entitled to as a result of pilot projects are an extra five weeks of benefits in areas of higher unemployment, a fairer rate calculation formula, and the ability to earn more money while collecting EI.

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