{"id":1607,"date":"2013-01-08T16:05:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T21:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/?p=1607"},"modified":"2013-01-08T16:05:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T21:05:14","slug":"harpers-axe-meets-employment-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/?p=1607","title":{"rendered":"Harper's axe meets employment insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

It seems that the Harper government isn\u2019t done attacking our members. Last Sunday, some contentious changes to our nation\u2019s employment insurance took effect.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press reports<\/a> that the unemployed will \u201cface stricter, more complex rules for keeping their benefits.\u201d These changes will be especially detrimental to many of our members whose work is seasonal.<\/p>\n

According to Service Canada<\/a>, frequent claimants (those who have had three or more claims or who have received over 60 weeks in benefits over the past five years) may be forced to accept up to a 30% wage cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very worried about our members at Parks Canada. Last year, the Harper government cut the hours and seasons for many of our members. Now, with these changes to EI, they\u2019re kicking them while they\u2019re down,\u201d said National President Doug Marshall.<\/p>\n

Marshall isn\u2019t alone in his concern. The Globe and Mail recently reported<\/a> that Atlantic Premiers also believe that these changes are an attack on season workers:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who they most seem to be targeting are actually people who are in seasonal jobs. Like, that is not an abuse. That is part of rural culture of Canada,\u201d [Nova Scotia\u2019s NDP Premier Darrell] Dexter said. \u201cIf they see that as a problem then they essentially see the culture of rural Canada as a problem.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regional Assistant Vice-President Mike LeBlanc protested the changes to EI last Friday along with President of Local 60284 Rh\u00e9al Vautour. LeBlanc said the very frigid weather didn\u2019t deter more than 400 people from protesting Conservative MP Robert Goguen\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cEI has always been there for me, but it won\u2019t be there anymore because I\u2019ll be deemed a repeat user,\u201d said LeBlanc who works as a seasonal worker in New Brunswick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to work. I don\u2019t want to be on EI, but there\u2019s no work,\u201d added LeBlanc. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re going to get hit hard by changes to the very social safety net that\u2019s supposed to keep us afloat.\u201d<\/p>\n

LeBlanc said he\u2019s concerned about what this means for Atlantic Canada. New Brunswick’s unemployment rate recently surged to 11.6% in October. In Miramichi, the unemployment rate hovered near 20% last April.<\/p>\n

LeBlanc also fears the change to EI may force many New Brunswickers to look elsewhere for work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to live in New Brunswick. We love our province.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rh\u00e9al Vautour and Mike LeBlanc at the "scrap the EI changes" rally in front of Conservative MP Robert Goguen's office in Moncton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems that the Harper government isn\u2019t done attacking our members. Last Sunday, some contentious changes to our nation\u2019s employment insurance took effect. The Canadian Press reports that the unemployed will \u201cface stricter, more complex rules for keeping their benefits.\u201d These changes will be especially detrimental to many of our members whose work is seasonal. … <\/p>\n

>> “Harper's axe meets employment insurance”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,17,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unesen.ca\/press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}