Statement from Danny Cavanagh, President of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, on Pilot Project 24 the Recent Employment Insurance Changes
We cautiously welcome the federal government’s implementation of Pilot Project 24: Changes to Employment Insurance in Response to U.S. Trade Tariffs. While these modifications offer some positive effects for our province’s EI regions, they may not go far enough in addressing the challenges workers face in Nova Scotia. Even though the new changes to EI offer some benefits to seasonal workers, mainly through shorter qualifying hours and extended benefit periods in some regions, they do not address systemic issues like the “black hole” periods. More reforms are needed to support seasonal workers during their off-season unemployment.
How we estimate the changes will have varying impacts across our three EI regions:
Halifax Region
The increase in the reference rate from 5.2% to 7.1% will reduce the number of insurable hours required to qualify for EI. This change, along with potentially more extended benefit periods and more favourable calculations based on fewer best weeks, represents a substantial improvement for workers in this region.
Western Nova Scotia
With the unemployment rate increasing from 7.0% to 8.0%, workers in this region will see moderately reduced qualifying hours, somewhat longer potential benefit periods, and benefits calculated using fewer best weeks. These adjustments should provide some relief to workers facing unemployment.
Eastern Nova Scotia
The slight increase from 10.5% to 11.5% in the unemployment rate for this region will result in minor improvements. Workers will see slightly reduced qualifying hours, marginally extended potential benefit periods, and a slight reduction in the best weeks used for benefit calculations.
While these changes are a step in the right direction, we must emphasize that they may not fully address the needs of workers affected by economic disruptions. The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour calls on the government to ensure that additional funding beyond the estimated $6.5 million in EI dollars is directed towards keeping workers on payrolls rather than benefiting corporate interests and shareholders. We urge the federal government to consider more sweeping reforms to the EI system. These should include improving access by reducing qualifying hours, increasing benefit duration, and raising benefit levels to a minimum of 60% of earnings using workers’ 12 best weeks would be much better. As we work through these challenging times, the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour remains committed to advocating a complete modernization of Employment Insurance and will continue to fight for improvements that address the realities of workers and our evolving economy to ensure no worker is left behind.
Here is a link to EI work-sharing programs to date by the Federal Government — https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/work-sharing.html
