Repeat claimants to qualify for less EI cash

OTTAWA -- The Harper Conservatives came under fire Thursday after introducing new rules that would force the jobless seeking employment insurance to take lower-paying jobs -- for some, in unrelated occupations.

The changes to the employment insurance program will affect all jobless Canadians who apply for benefits, but will hit hardest repeat claimants such as seasonal workers.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said the intent of the changes is to get Canadians off EI and on to jobs for which they are qualified. But the opposition parties and labour advocates said the government has gone too far, accusing the Tories of seeking to bring down wages to please their business constituency.

"What we heard today is the minister scapegoating unemployed Canadians," said NDP critic Peggy Nash.

She pointed out currently only 40 per cent of Canada's 1.4 million officially unemployed receive benefits.

The changes, expected to take effect next year, would create new regulations spelling out what types of work the unemployed must be willing to accept and the effort they must make to find a job. If they don't meet the new requirements, they may get cut off or not qualify in the first place.

The new regulations create three categories of unemployed with a sliding scale of expectations for jobs they must accept.

-- Long-tenured workers, mostly employed over the past seven to 10 years, can refuse a job outside their usual occupation that doesn't pay at least 90 per cent of their previous hourly wage.

But only for so long. After 18 weeks on benefits, they must lower their sights and accept any offer in a "similar occupation" within their industry that pays at least 80 per cent of their previous scale.

-- Frequent EI claimants, who have been on the system at least three times for a total of 60 weeks over the past five years, will be expected to take a similar job that pays at least 80 per cent of their previous wage rate from the beginning. After six weeks, claimants will have to take any job for which they are qualified, even if it is not in the same field, at 70 per cent of the previous pay.

-- "Occasional claimants" must accept work paying at least 90 per cent of their previous scale in the first six weeks, 80 per cent in the next 12 weeks and 70 per cent after 18 weeks on benefits. This in-between category -- representing about 58 per cent of claimants -- is made up of those who do not fit within the work history of the previous two and can include young and new workers with up to six years of steady employment who have never collected EI.

In most circumstances, Canadians will need to accept an available job that is within an hour's commute of home -- longer in some places, such as big cities, where average commutes are longer.

"These changes are not about forcing people to accept work outside their own area nor about taking jobs for which they are not suited," Finley said.

Business groups generally applauded the measures, but labour spokesmen labelled them draconian and likely to drive wages down, and force some unemployed onto provincial welfare rolls.

Earle McCurdy of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union said the government appears set on even further marginalizing seasonal workers, such as fishermen on the Atlantic coast.

"It's clearly designed to make third-class citizens out of seasonal workers," he said.

Newfoundland Premier Kathy Dunderdale, a Conservative, said the new rules appear to make little sense for some workers in remote areas.

"In a province where we don't have public transportation, if you were working a minimum-wage job and you have to travel 40 miles away... to work at another $10-an-hour job, is that sensible? Is that prudent?" she asked.

Liberal critic Rodger Cuzner foresaw another problem -- that appeals of decisions against workers will be handled by "a handful of political appointees based in Ottawa" and no longer by experts on local circumstances.

"EI is a crucial part of our social safety net," he said. "Changes of this magnitude should be enshrined in legislation, not made hastily on the back of a napkin."

The changes affect how government officials will judge whether someone who is unemployed has made a reasonable effort to find work.

To get benefits, Canadians will need to prove they are looking for work, including keeping a record of their search activities. The government said it will email recipients two "job alerts" a day, informing them of openings.

Officials couldn't say how much the new rules will save the system.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 25, 2012 A17