Rally just the beginning of EI campaign, unions say

Thousands gather to protest against plan to reform employment insurance for seasonal workers

The demonstrations Saturday by thousands of Quebecers across the province to protest against proposed reforms to federal employment insurance were just the beginning, not simply a one-time venting, said union organizers.

In Montreal, a large crowd braved heavy morning snow and made its way along René Lévesque Blvd. from Complexe Guy Favreau to the CBC building, waving placards and banners denouncing “the sacking” of the insurance system.

Thousands more came out in regions where those reforms would affect traditionally seasonal workers.

Yves Ouellet, general manager of FTQ Construction, called the reforms “disgraceful.”

“The role of government should be to enrich the population, not to impoverish it,” he said.

Changes to the insurance scheme include a requirement for regularly unemployed workers to accept a 30-per-cent cut in salary and travel 100 kilometres for a new job.

Steven Blaney, federal minister of veterans affairs and MP for LévisBellechasse, said in a television interview “it could be more advantageous” for regularly laid-off employees to find work at a lesser salary for several months and return to their specialty work in season.

“Why do they object to workers having more money in their pockets?” Blaney asked.

Jean-Claude Rocheleau, president of the Alliance québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son, said he hoped Ottawa was not “under the illusion” that the protests would end.

AQTIS represents about 4,200 employees like sound and lighting technicians, camera operators and postproduction people in Quebec’s TV and film industry, many of whom work on contracts with unpredictable schedules, said Rocheleau.

“In film, people are laid off at the end of a shoot, and people wait — anxiously — for the next one. So they place themselves on availability. If you force these people to find a job that pays 70 per cent of their salary that’s not even in their field and 100 kilometres away ... it will end up forcing them to abandon this industry. If you’re not by the phone at the instant they call you for a new shoot that starts tomorrow morning or in two days, you’ve lost out. I think the Harper government has not taken into account the reality of the sector for artists.”

Rocheleau called the Montreal demonstration “a big success,” adding a letter-writing campaign to Quebec MPs is also underway.

Blaney accused opposition politicians of scare tactics, which Rocheleau said was “a bit insulting. We understand our reality better than he does.”

Several union spokespeople said the provisions would affect not only seasonal workers in Quebec and the Maritimes, where forestry workers and fishermen have long supplemented their seasonal work with insurance benefits, but Canadians in general.

André Frappier, a spokesman for Québec solidaire, accused the Harper government of trying to lower wages in Canada across the board at the behest of industry.

“This does not concern only Quebecers or seasonal workers,” Frappier said. “Canadians across the country should understand this carries wide-ranging implications for them as well. Even for people across Canada with stable jobs, it will put huge pressure on their wages. It’s a global pressure, and it’s unfortunate other Canadians don’t realize that. They’ll have to work for much less, too.”

“And it will have a disastrous effect on the economy for the regions in particular,” Frappier added.

“For places like the Îles de la Madeleine, to take the worst-case scenario (where most people subsist almost entirely on seasonal fishing), residents will simply have to move away. There are no other jobs, so people will have to uproot and leave. And it will kill the tourism industry for places like that.”

The measures would make it much harder for people turned down for employment insurance benefits to contest their exclusion, Frappier said.

Bloc Québécois leader Daniel Paillé said it “makes no sense” for professionals to be forced to take major cuts in salary for a long period every year.

Several speakers invoked the theme of human dignity, arguing it’s no one’s choice to work seasonally and that people concerned should not be punished for their circumstances.

“People with year-round jobs are very lucky,” said Rocheleau.