Temporary measure would benefit 'long-tenured workers' if passed
The federal government is planning to introduce legislation to provide additional employment insurance benefits to “unemployed long-tenured workers” — which it defines as “individuals who have worked and paid EI premiums for a significant period of time and have previously made limited use of regular EI regular benefits.”
The legislation would provide up to 20 weeks of additional EI benefits to unemployed long-term workers, said Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.
“This is the right thing to do, and it is both fair and responsible,” she said. “It will help Canadians who have worked hard and paid EI premiums for many years and who now find themselves in need of a hand up.”
The new measure is designed to provide additional support to workers who have paid EI premiums for years and made limited use of the program, while they look for jobs in a recovering economy, the government said, adding the measure would be temporary.
Long-tenured workers
Under the government’s proposed legislation, a “long-tenured worker” is someone who meets the following criteria:
•has contributed to the EI program (paid at least 30 per cent of the annual maximum EI premiums) for at least seven out of 10 calendar years
•has received regular EI benefits for no more than 35 weeks in the last five years.
Length of benefit
The proposed legislation would extend regular benefits for eligible long-tenured workers by between five and 20 weeks, depending on the number of years they have worked and paid EI premiums.
The government estimates this temporary measure would benefit about 190,000 workers. The start date would be linked to when the bill comes into force, and payments of the extended benefits would continue until fall 2011.
According to published reports, the temporary measure is expected to cost Ottawa about $930 million.
The move comes as the political heat is being turned up in Ottawa. The Liberals have announced they will no longer support the minority Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The NDP has said it might be willing to work with the Conservatives and would consider government’s proposed legislation, though the changes falls short of what the NDP has demanded in the past — eliminating the two-week waiting period and paying EI to workers with as little as 360 hours of work.
“We are going to study it first and do what we said we would and that’s make this place (parliament) work,” NDP MP Paul Dewar told the Toronto Star.
The government could fall in a non-confidence vote as early as Friday, Sept. 18 — triggering the fourth federal election in the last five years — if the Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and the NDP vote against the Conservatives.
