Last week the Shelburne County Coast Guard reported, “A protest about new Employment Insurance rules will be held in Bridgewater on Friday, April 19. Protestors will meet at the Tim Horton’s in the Eastside Plaza at 11:30 a.m. and march to South Shore-St. Margaret MP Gerald Keddy’s office to protest the changes to EI.”
The article also noted, “Last month, labour groups held public forums across the South Shore, including one in Shelburne on the federal government’s cuts and changes to Employment Insurance. At those forums, speakers said seasonal workers were being unfairly targeted by the changes, slated to take effect in January. Among other things, the changes will force frequent claimants to search for work as far as an hour’s drive from their homes. That work can pay up to 30 per cent less than what they earned in their previous jobs. There are also changes that would require people to keep a six-year record of their job searches.”
In an earlier report, the newspaper had noted that the forums were held in communities along with the South Shore, including in Liverpool, Bridgewater, Chester Basin and Shelburne.
South Shore Now added, “Labour groups have been on the offensive lately, hosting a number of community meetings and calling on people to take action with letter-writing campaigns, rallies or even peaceful takeovers of MPs’ offices in order to convince the Harper government to reverse employment insurance reforms that came into effect earlier this year.”
For more, please read:
Workers’ Rights Week: Take Action Against Austerity and EI Cuts
UPDATE: Protest against Harper’s attack on EI to take place in Montreal on April 27
NEWS: Harper’s changes to EI discriminatory against women
