Our current Employment Insurance system is broken - Although it has a huge surplus - this surplus goes in to general government revenues and the surpluses of the last few years have been part and parcel of the low unemployment rates.
First - we must set a standard for the time between a person being laid off and their first cheque. With electronic submittal of separation papers and our employment records being tied to our Social Insurance number it should not take longer than 3 weeks (The standard waiting period + 1 week) to get a cheque in the hands of the newly unemployed. Currently a smooth application can take 6 weeks to get your cards and another 2 weeks to get a cheque. This forces the unemployed to dig in to savings or whip out the credit card to survive for 2 months.
Second - we must allow the unemployed to supplement their income to a percentage of their previous wage without clawbacks. 75% of previous income for the allowable weeks will encourage people to go and find temporary work - keep their bills paid and as a side benefit expose them to other work places and perhaps appreciate the fact that others are trying to survive on much lower wages. We could even go further as to allow their previous employers to offer supplements to the laid off workers to keep them available for a return to work. The autoworkers have an SUB plan that is allowed by EI where they get up to 70 or 80% of their pay during a temporary layoff. "This would not be mandatory and at the discretion of companies"
Third - EI offices need to become transition offices not peddlers of training programs that oversupply labour markets with workers that drive down wages and quality of employees (Truck drivers are a good example - the government will pay an exhorbitant price for your training and then you find out there are so many truck drivers out looking for work that the wages have dropped) - Online education for the unemployed and the employed wishing to upgrade should be at low cost or no cost and provide a home link or onsite link to the program with testing done at the EI office.
Fourth - Review the training and funding programs to see how much bang for the buck we are getting. Should red seal trades (Apprenticeships) allow for mature persons to get credit for life experience? - Example - many maintenance persons also do plumbing - electrical - hydraulics and yet even though they may be competent and have years of practice must start at the bottom of the ladder to get a licence. A test could easily be done that would show their knowledge and skill and give them a one or 2 year credit on their apprenticeship hours. The schooling would still be required but the licence could be had in 3 years at a higher wage rate.
Fifth - Allow people to transfer from one region of unemployment to sek work in another without having to reapply to the EI system because you moved out of a region. This will allow a mobile workforce that can keep wages stable in areas of low unemployment and not cause strains on the social costs of areas of high unemployment.
Sixth - Vacation pay should not be clawed back and should not affect the waiting period. It can be used as a financial bridge to when the EI cheques start coming.
Most of us pay in to this system and like most insurance plans it seems that they only want our premiums and put up roadblocks to paying out claims. If Harper or the Coalition want to make some cost effective economic stimulus this is a good place to start. It is self supporting, gives a little dignity to the unemployed and helps out the economy as this income is taxed and allows people to spend money and stay out of food banks and other social agencies. Banks and credit card companies can get paid still and offers the unemployed a legal and taxable source of income. :idea:
First - we must set a standard for the time between a person being laid off and their first cheque. With electronic submittal of separation papers and our employment records being tied to our Social Insurance number it should not take longer than 3 weeks (The standard waiting period + 1 week) to get a cheque in the hands of the newly unemployed. Currently a smooth application can take 6 weeks to get your cards and another 2 weeks to get a cheque. This forces the unemployed to dig in to savings or whip out the credit card to survive for 2 months.
Second - we must allow the unemployed to supplement their income to a percentage of their previous wage without clawbacks. 75% of previous income for the allowable weeks will encourage people to go and find temporary work - keep their bills paid and as a side benefit expose them to other work places and perhaps appreciate the fact that others are trying to survive on much lower wages. We could even go further as to allow their previous employers to offer supplements to the laid off workers to keep them available for a return to work. The autoworkers have an SUB plan that is allowed by EI where they get up to 70 or 80% of their pay during a temporary layoff. "This would not be mandatory and at the discretion of companies"
Third - EI offices need to become transition offices not peddlers of training programs that oversupply labour markets with workers that drive down wages and quality of employees (Truck drivers are a good example - the government will pay an exhorbitant price for your training and then you find out there are so many truck drivers out looking for work that the wages have dropped) - Online education for the unemployed and the employed wishing to upgrade should be at low cost or no cost and provide a home link or onsite link to the program with testing done at the EI office.
Fourth - Review the training and funding programs to see how much bang for the buck we are getting. Should red seal trades (Apprenticeships) allow for mature persons to get credit for life experience? - Example - many maintenance persons also do plumbing - electrical - hydraulics and yet even though they may be competent and have years of practice must start at the bottom of the ladder to get a licence. A test could easily be done that would show their knowledge and skill and give them a one or 2 year credit on their apprenticeship hours. The schooling would still be required but the licence could be had in 3 years at a higher wage rate.
Fifth - Allow people to transfer from one region of unemployment to sek work in another without having to reapply to the EI system because you moved out of a region. This will allow a mobile workforce that can keep wages stable in areas of low unemployment and not cause strains on the social costs of areas of high unemployment.
Sixth - Vacation pay should not be clawed back and should not affect the waiting period. It can be used as a financial bridge to when the EI cheques start coming.
Most of us pay in to this system and like most insurance plans it seems that they only want our premiums and put up roadblocks to paying out claims. If Harper or the Coalition want to make some cost effective economic stimulus this is a good place to start. It is self supporting, gives a little dignity to the unemployed and helps out the economy as this income is taxed and allows people to spend money and stay out of food banks and other social agencies. Banks and credit card companies can get paid still and offers the unemployed a legal and taxable source of income. :idea:
