Mission Insurable

Honestly, if I were being paid to do nothing, nothing is exactly what I’d be doing. I’d welcome a something-for-nothing job. Bring it on. I am a former federal government employee. Okay, insert your laughter here. I retired early, in 1996. I wanted to go back to school. I had a dream-plan for myself. But, that’s another story. The department I worked for was always busy. Some days I would interview 20 or more people who were looking for work, applying for benefits, looking for employees or were seeking skills upgrading. Oh, there were days when things were a bit slow, usually during the good weather months, and those were the days we reviewed and updated client files. We called employers. We helped clients with resumes and ran interference between our clients and other income support agencies. I won’t complain about the rate of pay. It was more than I’d ever made with other employers and the benefits were just fine. Some folks made more than we did, many didn’t. It was hard, stressful work and, because my co-workers and I lived in the community we served, we saw many of our clients outside of the office. We knew how hard those folks worked. We knew who they worked for and how much they were paid. We heard the good, the bad and the ugly about their work environments. We knew their kids. And, we heard just how difficult it was to live on “the dole” when they were out of work.

Unemployment benefits never were an incentive to “not work.” The payout was only sixty-six per cent of the worker’s usual pay and Revenue Canada took their share right off the top. As a busy federal office in a small community, we were often told to be mindful of how bad it would look to our clients if we didn’t do our job as quickly and as efficiently as possible. We did the best we could with the tools we had. We were frontline workers who represented the federal government. Often we were left holding the bag when programs were cut. We had to gently suggest another source of assistance when insurance benefits ran out. Sometimes we had to suggest a client reduce their career expectations. It was hard to tell someone who had worked hard for years and paid their Unemployment Insurance premiums that their benefits were limited in duration and, of course, much lower than what their job had paid them, and benefits were non-existent. Yet, many decisions regarding programs and benefits were made by directors who didn’t have any “in-your-face,” firsthand experience with the people affected by their “save the public dollars” schemes. It wasn’t easy back then and I’m sure, for the folks who still work in that office and people looking for a little help, it hasn’t changed much.

So, with a promise to workers and employers to lower Employment Insurance contribution rates, Stephen Harper sashayed into office in 2006. We, the public, were told all about the great, big EI fund surplus and maybe it was time to lower the contributions. So, in 2008, Harper and his politicians masterminded a brand spanking new agency: the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board. An agency created to set the EI premium rates each year. An agency created to manage Employment Insurance Fund. An agency created to invest the surplus contribution funds. (N.B. Since 1990 the Employment Insurance is not a federally funded program. It is a program funded through employer and employee contributions.) With the contributions collected from employers and employees, The Agency had created a nice little job for themselves. The Agency has had over four years to “pitter-patter.” This is a federal government agency that has been outfitted with all of the best toys, and I’m guessing the EI fund paid those bills. This is an agency with all of the technologically advanced bells and whistles. An agency where three and a half million dollars was spent on offices, furniture, fixtures, staff, operating and managements budgets and, of course, smart-suits to tell everyone what to do, when to do it and how to get from here to there. Agency consultants were hired with money from that fund to write the vision and outline the mission for The Agency.

Today, the EI program has a deficit of $9 billion. Over the years, since 2008, there hasn’t been a surplus. The Agency forgot to increase the contribution rate to keep up with the unemployment rate during the recession. We all knew about the recession and the increase in unemployment but, The Agency must have forgotten to find a communications consultant. Prior to the recession there had been a huge surplus in the “employer/employee”- funded program. At the beginning of 2008 there was still money in that fund to manage and invest, and there were rates to be set.

According to the Agency Chairperson, David Brown, “We haven’t had to do nearly as much as our original mandate intended us to do. So we’ve slowed down on some of our development activities until it is clear that we are going to be able to do some of the things that we will be asked in the future.” Well, let me tell you, as a former federal employee, if The Agency were sitting in front of me trying to collect Unemployment Insurance benefits (which is exactly what they are doing), they would have been cut off before the first payments were made. They haven’t done their job. Many of them have lucrative “day jobs” that might disqualify them from receiving benefits. The money they take from the EI fund is money meant to help the unemployed find work. The Agency is a system abuser. Their Obligation was to set the rates, manage the fund and invest the surplus. The Agency only has the Right to exist if they fulfill their obligations. If you’ve collected UI/EI, you know all about Rights and Obligations.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca