Seasonal workers wait for EI answers
ST. JOHN'S — There's not a lot of options for people who used to work in the St. Anthony Seafoods plant in the town on the tip of the northern peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Trudy Byrne told SaltWire Network in mid-July that job opportunities in the area, which has also seen a slowdown in tourism and other business sectors, are few and far between.
Byrne, who is one of about 100 workers who depended on the local fish plant for seasonal employment, says there's not much for an unemployed plant worker to turn to in this town.
Byrne and her colleagues were impacted not only by COVID-19, but by the province's Fish Processing Licencing Board which held off on a decision that would have allowed Royal Greenland Ltd. to take ownership of the plant in that town.
“There is no work in St. Anthony,” said Byrne. “Anxiety is just through the roof for everyone.”
Like most towns in this region, the fishing industry is the main income for many individuals.
And shrimp is one of the main species processed.
Workers at the Ocean Choice International plant in Port au Choix were scheduled to start work this week, once the shrimp fishing boats landed their first catches for the season.
Still, there's no guarantee that this year's shrimp season will provide enough hours of work at the plant for all workers to qualify for Employment Insurance benefits.
Last week Ottawa announced an aid package for fish harvesters, for those who can show they had a 25 per cent drop in their annual income due to COVID-19.
Every fish harvester that meets that criteria will get a lump-sum payment of about $6,000 in September, and the possibility of another $4,000 lump-sum next year on a review of their 2020 income tax files.
Even those fish harvesters who are already collecting or are eligible to file for EI benefits will still receive the lump-sum payments.
That package, however, is being handled through DFO, not Human Resources Development Canada, which oversees the EI benefits program.
Ottawa is still trying to figure out how to deal with seasonal workers who, because of the pandemic, did not get enough hours of work to qualify for benefits.
The Fish Food and Allied Workers union and others have proposed a couple of scenarios for seasonal workers under the EI program.
They have suggested the federal government extend EI claims of seasonal workers from 2019 into 2020-21. Another suggestion is to reduce the rules regarding hours of work and number of weeks of work needed to ensure seasonal workers can collect EI benefits from their 2020 season of work at a level comparable to 2018 and 2019 seasons.
SaltWire Network posed several questions to Human Resources Development Canada last week, asking whether the department was working on a plan for seasonal workers and whether a solution would require legislative changes to the Employment Insurance Act.
The department's response, through its media relations office, was vague.
The official answer is this: “The Government of Canada is continuing to take significant and decisive action to support Canadians and protect jobs during the ongoing global COVID19 pandemic. As announced by the prime minister on July 31, the government will begin transitioning workers who still rely on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to Employment Insurance (EI) at the end of August and will be introducing a new suite of benefits to support workers, including those who are unable to return to work because of COVID-19 and who do not qualify for EI.
“The government will have more details to share in the coming weeks. Follow Canada. ca to obtain the latest information.”
For Trudy Byrne and other seasonal workers, that answer is no answer at all.
As the weeks tick away and summer heads to fall, then winter, Byrne said they need a clear answer sooner rather than later.
St. John's East NDP MP Jack Harris has raised the issue of plant workers in the House of Commons since the pandemic began.
He says the simple solution for Ottawa would be to apply the 2019 EI benefits for seasonal workers for 2020.
“They should use that as the standard,” he said. "Otherwise thousands of them are going to be affected by lower hours.”
Harris said the issue of EI extends beyond plant workers. He notes tourism workers and substitute teachers, who did not get enough hours in classrooms to qualify for benefits as they normally would.
“There's a lot of people who are going to have a lot of trouble having income this fall.”
Harris said the NDP, “Is going to keep pushing this in the House. We need to see the action on this.”
The House of Commons has a couple of sittings planned for this month, today and on Aug. 24.
However, there is no indication the issue of seasonal workers will be discussed in these next two sittings.