Bill C-12 Employment Insurance Act : reduced benefits and diminished entitlements of the workforce in non-standard forms of employment

On July 1, 1996, the federal government introduced Bill-C12, the new Employment Insurance (EI) legislation claiming that one purpose is to extend coverage to those who were excluded from UI. This includes the labour force in non-standard forms of employment (those in part-time, temporary, seasonal and ' just-in-time' employment also referred to as the precariously employed). This project concludes that contrary to the proclamation, the new EI legislation is designed to exclude from benefits the very labour force the government contended to extend coverage to. The EI guidelines defeat the very purpose of extension of coverage to this workforce by imposing strict eligibility criteria and increased entry requirements. It increases the qualifying period by 233% from what it was under UI and it introduces a penalty for repeat-use of the program. The new fixed averaging formula used to determine the level of benefits as well as weeks of benefits and the new-re-entrant requirement of 910 hours end up either excluding many of the precariously employed from benefits or reducing their benefit levels and benefit weeks. ... Arguing from a Structural Marxist point of view, this study concludes that the main purpose of the reform is to weaken the safety net for the jobless and thereby increase the vulnerability of the working class in general to the hazards of the market place at a time when unemployment is high. The relative accessibility of the old program, with its income replacement of 55% of insured earnings and the duration of benefits, was believed to loosen the cash/work nexus by way of de-commodifying labour power. The reform, therefore, is designed to rid the program of these perceived or actual effects and to strengthen the actuarial principle. As a result, the new EI program curtails benefits and entitlements for workers it forces the working class back into the wage-capital labour relations as soon as possible. It does this by diminishing the capacity of the program to immunize the working clas