Thank you.
I am the co-chair of the EI working group, and I also teach at Ryerson University as a full-time Unifor Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy.
Good Jobs for All is a Toronto-based coalition comprising over 30 community, youth, environment, faith, and labour organizations. We came together in 2008, during the global financial crisis, with the key objectives to affirm the values of a truly just society, healthy communities, sustainable economy, strong public services, and decent work for all.
I want to speak to the EI issues, as well as to three good jobs measures.
Welcome to Toronto, where only one in every five unemployed workers in July 2016 was receiving EI benefits. Welcome to Toronto, where the youth unemployment rate is higher than the national average, and where the unemployment rate among indigenous youth is 25%, and among black youth close to 30%. That's according to the study of the Toronto CivicAction alliance. Only 49% of people with disabilities have jobs, when they are only different and not less.
In a study released this past Monday on the health impact of precarious employment on racialized immigrant and refugee women, we found that 75% of racialized refugee and immigrant women are in some sort of precarious employment: part-time, casual on-call, or temp agency work.
Welcome to Toronto, where three-quarters of city families cannot afford licensed day care. That's in a study released by U of T this week as well.
I want to go into the recommendations. On EI benefits improvement, I commend the government for removing the eligibility criterion of 910 hours for new claimants. That's a relief, but our coalition continues to urge the government to lower the hours requirement to 360.
We need substantive and meaningful change to the EI system, not just tinkering with the damage that has been done by the previous government. For the upcoming 2017 budget, we ask the government to expedite the review that was promised in the EI election platform and address the rampant problems in service delivery and in the appeals mechanism, experienced especially by marginalized and vulnerable workers within the city. The election platform was aptly called “Employment Insurance That Strengthens Our Economy and Works for Canadians”. We want to see that coming through as soon as possible.
Moving into the good jobs measures, it's important that we talk about the visions of investing in good jobs for all. Part of underscoring “for all” is saying that when there are good jobs and there is a good, green economy, it shouldn't be only for a few, but we should make sure that all vulnerable, equity-seeking groups have access to employment as well.
Our first recommendation is investing in people for a just transition. Studies have shown, repeatedly, that education pays off. With the Prime Minister's commitment to transition our economy from reliance on fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy, we would like to see the government use the EI training funds to provide workplace training and upgrade workers who are currently working. That could be done quite efficiently through some of the labour training agreements.
Then there is training for those laid-off workers who have been replaced by technology. For example, in an earlier presentation, you heard about the driver-less automobiles. These are going to be replacing a lot of truck drivers. In Fort McMurray, for example, they would replace over 700 truck drivers who hold stable union jobs.
Part of that is using EI money for the transition, to help workers upgrade and deliver their skills, getting them out ahead of the emerging labour market transformations due to climate change, technology, and the low-carbon economy.
The other piece is investing in social and public infrastructure. We need a national—