Please see GJFA Coalition’s submission to the City of Toronto Budget Committee for this very important budget process. The final budget goes to City Council on February 14th.
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EI and COVID Lockdown Benefits – Resources for Eligible Workers
Who can apply for the new COVID Lockdown Benefit? Are there other Income Supports?
Here are just a few resources you may be eligible to access.
Federal COVID benefits have been extended to May 7, 2022.
EI Interprov Group
Fix EI and Extend CRB.
58 organizations including the Good Jobs for All Coalition are calling on the Federal Government to extend COVID Recovery Benefits and move quickly on permanent EI reforms. The attached Open Letter was sent to key Ministers and Opposition critics. Other groups are invited to forward the letter to their area MPs (Click here for MP email ‘contact’).
Climate Justice Forum
Join the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Good Jobs For All Coalition, and Working Green 2050 for a special forum – Climate Justice: What Should Canadian Just Transition Look Like? happening Wednesday, June 23 at 7:30 pm. During this 90-minute forum, Labour Council president Andria Babbington and special guests will discuss what a just transition for Canada looks like.
Featured Speakers:
- Merv King: Algonquin activist, coordinator of Injured Workers Program
- Steve Shallhorn: Working Green 2050
- Meg Gingrich: Assistant to National President, Steelworkers
EI Interprov Group
On April 8, 2021, the Good Jobs for All Coalition joined with 75 community and labour organizations from across Canada in signing on to a brief to the HUMA Parliamentary Committee for its study of EI. The brief “Employment Insurance for the 21st Century: How Do We Make E.I. Work for Workers?” was submitted by the Inter-provincial EI Working Group and makes 15 recommendations focused on:
- Better EI Financing,
- Better EI Access for More Workers,
- Better EI Benefits and
- Better Supports and Access to Justice for EI Claimants.
On April 22, Pam Frache of the Workers Action Centre spoke to the brief during the HUMA hearings (15:43:22 time mark).
National Statement on COVID Recovery and EI Benefits
Cross-Canada Statement Calls on Government to Extend Recovery and EI Benefits, and Make Lasting Reforms
COVID Hot Spots: COVID-19 Update [5]
This summer raised our awareness of COVID-19 hot spots in Toronto. Watch this Good Jobs For All video from a July 2020 forum for presentations that show the enormity of the issues facing racialized communities in Toronto as a result of the pandemic.
Thank you to Jennifer Yang (Toronto Star), Aleem Tharani (ATU 113), Nigel Barriffe (Urban Alliance Race Relations), Cheryl Prescod (Black Creek Community Health Centre) and Alejandra Ruis Vargas (ACORN) for participating in the panel discussion.
COVID-19 UPDATE [4]
The Transition – Post CERB Benefits and EI.
Take a look at this presentation about how the transition is expected to happen. It is a joint project of the GJFA EI Working Group and the Ontario Legal Aid Clinics EI Working Group.
A Job-Rich Transition to a Carbon Neutral Future For All
Good Jobs For All and Labour Council’s Climate Justice Network are pleased to invite you to a public online forum on a Job-Rich Transition to a Carbon Neutral Future For All. This will be a participatory event where you can help develop a labour-community perspective to shape our governments’ plans for a green economic recovery that works for everyone.
For more information and to register, please go to labourcouncil.ca/greenjobsforum
COVID-19 Update [3]
Building a New Unemployment Insurance System
Among other things, COVID-19 put a spotlight on long-standing shortcomings of Canada’s EI system. Good Jobs for All’s EI Working Group worked hard to address the immediate needs of workers affected by the health and economic crisis (see April 13 and March 9 postings).
Now, the Working Group has identified proposals for rebuilding EI in the immediate and longer term. These include:
- Waiving qualifying hours
- Eliminating disqualification for those who quit “voluntarily” during the pandemic
- Adjusting Work Sharing as a tool for a phased return to work
- EI and EI-CERB costs must be assigned to general revenues, not EI
- Many more elements
Please read Building a New Unemployment Insurance System for details.
Support the call for change! Write to your MP; the Hon. Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion; and to the Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Chair, Cabinet Committee on the federal response to the coronavirus (COVID-19).