Thanks to the hard work of Unifor members, the federal government is planning changes to Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) system- but they’re not in place yet.

On September 24, all temporary measures that improved our access to EI were allowed to expire.

At the start of COVID, the federal government relaxed EI eligibility to improve access to emergency support for those most in need. Without these supports, it would have been much worse for workers and their families due to the COVID closures, lockdowns and layoffs.

An inaccessible and inadequate EI program is another disaster for workers who need access to EI now when the next crisis hits. That’s why we are demanding the federal government immediately extend the temporary EI measures and implement the following permanent changes:

• Expand EI access:
  • A 360-hour or 12-week qualifying rule with 50 weeks of income support
  • An end to harsh disqualification rules
  • Ensure migrant workers have access to EI
  • End misclassification, a practice where employers falsely label their employees as self-employed independent contractors to avoid paying their fair share of EI and CPP.
• Improve the weekly benefit rate and include a guaranteed weekly minimum
• Fund a new, annual federal government contribution to EI to help pay for improvements, provide adequate staffing with fair pay, and ensure EI acts as an effective economic stabilizer at times of crisis.

DELTA, B.C.—Workers at the Cascades casino in Delta became Unifor’s newest members after the B.C. Labour Board certified the unit on January 24, 2023.

“Unifor is very proud to welcome a new group of hospitality and gaming workers into our union, joining thousands of Unifor members in the sector. We thank the Cascades workers for choosing Unifor and I know they are eager to get started on having a say in improving their working conditions,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.

More than 200 workers employed as dealers, slot attendants, guest services workers, food and beverage servers, cashiers, and security guards have joined Unifor Local 114 and will now begin the process of bargaining their first collective agreement.

“We look forward to negotiating a first contract for workers at Cascades,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director. “Unifor has been aggressive in achieving industry-leading agreements across the gaming and hospitality sectors.”

Unifor Local 3000 members at the Parq Casino and Resort are currently in bargaining to adjust wages to reflect Metro Vancouver’s high cost of living.

Unifor represents more than 22,000 workers in gaming and hospitality across the country. Gaming sector workers suffered some of the longest lay-offs during closures resulting from pandemic safety regulations.

“We will do everything in our power to protect our members working in the media sector,” said Unifor’s National President Lana Payne. “Journalists and media workers often put their lives on the line to provide fact-based reporting to the public and they deserve respect, not constantly worrying when the next axe in the newsroom will drop.”

Workers became aware of Postmedia’s new measures from an internal memo sent hours before a town hall meeting on Zoom Wednesday afternoon. The memo outlined the cost-cutting over the coming months as a part of its overall debt-reduction plan.

In October, Postmedia stopped printing Monday editions of nine major dailies – Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Sun, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, The Province Edmonton Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun and Montreal Gazette – citing news consumption habits of readers, needs of advertisers and rising costs of producing and delivering a printed product.

“This is a massive hit to local news,” said Randy Kitt, Director of Unifor’s Media Sector. “The media sector – with barebones newsrooms and constant cost-cutting – needs more stability, not less. We need more support and legislation from the federal government to support journalists and news organizations, so they can keep telling quality, fact-based stories of Canadians.”

Earlier this month, Postmedia unveiled its latest revenue report, which stated a net loss of $15.9 million during the quarter ending in Nov. 30, 2022, compared to $4.4 million in the same period the year before.

The media chain also bought Brunswick News Inc. from J.D. Irving in late March 2022 for $7.5 million, which included BNI’s daily and weekly newspapers, digital properties and parcel delivery business.

Unifor represents more than 10,000 media workers, including journalists in the broadcast and print news industry.