{"id":14754,"date":"2023-02-16T10:14:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T15:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/csd-construction\/demands\/laccessibilite-a-lassurance-emploi\/"},"modified":"2023-05-02T09:50:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T13:50:41","slug":"reforming-access-to-employment-insurance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/csd-construction\/our-demands\/reforming-access-to-employment-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Reforming access to employment insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns section-top content-wrapper is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-transform:uppercase\">Reforming access to employment insurance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you know that only 40% of unemployed construction workers get benefits? But 100% are paying into EI! The current plan hurts construction workers. It&#8217;s time for a change. No doubt about it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Enhancing access to employment insurance<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you have a precarious or unusual job and don&#8217;t get enough hours to be eligible for EI benefits? It&#8217;s high time that the employment insurance structure caught up to the way we work now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CSD Construction is calling for hybrid eligibility conditions that would grant EI benefits to people who work either 420 hours or 12 weeks, whichever calculation method is more favourable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you work a lot of hours over a short timeframe? The hour-based calculation would be better for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you work part time? The weeks-based calculation would be better for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Putting an end to exclusions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Losing your job is incredibly stressful. So imagine how painful it is when a worker learns that they don&#8217;t qualify for EI. For the sake of fairness, we recommend limiting the exclusion to 6 weeks before granting EI benefits to people who are laid off or who voluntarily leave their job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Increase the duration of benefits to banish the &#8220;black hole&#8221;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The black hole is the time when an unemployed worker doesn&#8217;t receive EI benefits. It&#8217;s a stressful situation we want to avoid at all costs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unemployment rate in your region is what decides whether or not you&#8217;re eligible for EI. The lower the unemployment rate, the lower your benefits. This way of calculating penalizes seasonal workers and workers who live in areas with lower unemployment rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CSD Construction is fighting for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A benefit period of at least 35 weeks and up to 51 weeks depending on the number of hours or weeks worked<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A benefit amount that doesn&#8217;t depend on region unemployment rates, one that&#8217;s instead calculated based on the highest-paid 12 weeks of work during the reference period<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changes to special benefits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Seasonal workers, workers who have unusual jobs and workers who&#8217;ve taken maternity or parental leave don&#8217;t log enough hours during the reference period to be eligible for EI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So that all workers can be thoroughly protected, CSD Construction is calling for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Eliminating benefit categories so that everyone is eligible for EI benefits as soon as they&#8217;ve worked 420 hours or 12 weeks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Extending both the benefit period and the reference period so that workers, especially women, can get the payments they deserve if they lose their job during or after a parental leave.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re also calling for sickness benefits to be extended from 15 to 51 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Extending the reference and benefit periods in case of long-term collective disputes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>People who get laid off after a strike often don&#8217;t qualify for employment insurance benefits because they lost weeks of work during the labour conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Workers exercising their right to strike shouldn&#8217;t be penalized, so we&#8217;re working to get the benefit and reference periods extended by the number of weeks the conflict took so that workers can get the EI payments they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Increasing the income replacement rate<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s been since 1994 that EI benefits have provided you 55% of your average weekly income. This is one of the lowest rates in OECD countries. CSD Construction is calling for benefits of 60% of your income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Increasing the insurable earnings maximum<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>To make sure that workers who are going through a period of unemployment have decent income, we&#8217;re recommending that the insurable earnings maximum be increased. Right now the maximum is $60,300. We&#8217;re calling for it be raised to $76,500.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group cta-block has-black-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"has-text-align-center has-beige-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\">Get in touch with us<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button btn-full\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-green-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"\/en\/contact\/\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">Contact us<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group texture-vert-bg\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group section content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center has-beige-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\">Consult our demands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reforming access to employment insurance Did you know that only 40% of unemployed construction workers get benefits? But 100% are paying into EI! The current plan hurts construction workers. It&#8217;s time for a change. No doubt about it! Enhancing access to employment insurance Do you have a precarious or unusual job and don&#8217;t get enough [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":14744,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-no-wrapper.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14754","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15043,"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14754\/revisions\/15043"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csdconstruction.qc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}