Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the committee for the invitation to speak with you today on behalf of our 225,000 members across Canada. No one is untouched by this global pandemic, and the steelworker members are no different. Our union’s members work in every sector of the economy, from front-line health care workers to industrial and manufacturing workers, miners, security guards and university workers. Each of these sectors has been affected in different ways, from mass layoffs for some to a desperate scramble for necessary PPE for our members on the front lines.
If the committee is aiming to determine how well our federal government has done to help all Canadians cope with this pandemic, I can say the government is off to a good start, but more needs to be done. Governments must apply basic principles of fairness to ensure that Canadian workers are supported through this crisis and beyond.
First, we need to work with employers to save and create jobs, but the focus should be on the lives of individual Canadian workers and their families. We may all be in this together, but we are not in it equally.
Second, temporary fixes must be changed into longer-term reforms, such as income supports to supplement EI, dramatic reforms to elder care, universal public pharmacare and universal public child care.
Let’s look first at the Canada emergency response benefit, CERB. In our view, it is still the case that too many Canadians are excluded, including the long-term unemployed, those who were forced to resign from their job because of COVID and those who do not meet the income threshold. If this crisis drags on, as it appears it will, support measures will need to remain in place. No one should be allowed to fall through the cracks.
Many steelworker members have bargained supplemental unemployment benefits, SUBs. Indeed, the government has encouraged us to negotiate such benefits, and it is unacceptable that the CERB does not have specific regulations to permit the payment of SUBs during this crisis. We strongly recommend a clarification of the rules to allow SUB payments without penalty under the CERB. During this crisis, workers must be able to maintain their income. The SUB is important for this part of the equation.
The federal government must also put pressure on provinces not to cut social assistance as a result of CERB payments. We can’t have a situation where one level of government gives while another level takes away.
The emergency economic response also has exposed a need for long-term reforms to EI. Specifically, major changes to the current EI program must include a reduced hours threshold and a higher replacement rate, with both of these applicable to parental and maternity leave provisions, extending eligibility to migrant workers and making expanded work-sharing a permanent feature.
We were pleased when the government announced the Canada emergency wage subsidy, CEWS, which our union has advocated for from the outset of the pandemic. However, in enforcement, the government must strengthen CEWS provisions to prevent wage suppression. Employers should be required to top up the additional 25% of wages not covered by the wage subsidy and adhere to collective agreements where they exist. There must be monitoring to ensure that CEWS money is fully applied to workers’ wages. Finally, this program must not be used for stock buybacks or increases to executive compensation, and employers should be required to ensure that pensions are protected. Furthermore, for employers to be eligible for CEWS, they must demonstrate they are not taking advantage of tax havens, and must promise to create and preserve jobs in Canada, rather than outsourcing or offshoring.
I also want to speak on behalf of the essential front-line workers, our members who are continuing to work during this pandemic, whether in long-term care facilities, or as truck drivers and airport security workers or in manufacturing or mining. We continue to see a desperate shortage of personal protective equipment. No one should have to choose between their job and their health. Yet, many Canadians are going to work afraid for their health and that of their families.
Since this pandemic began, we have had to struggle every day with employers and governments to try to get PPE for our members. For essential workers, this government needs to ensure funds for personal protection equipment, without reservation. Anyone who must work must be protected, full stop.
Let me conclude by highlighting two longer-term priorities that have been exposed by this pandemic.
First, the failure to ensure adequate levels of care and working conditions in the long-term care sector is unacceptable. It is clear that we have failed our elders by not valuing the work of those who are essential to the dignity and care of frail Canadians. It is our national shame that these workers are underpaid and forced to work in environments that are not designed for social distancing or even privacy. The Government of Canada must provide leadership now to ensure that such tragedies never happen again.
Second, the pandemic has revealed the need for a new industrial strategy to create manufacturing jobs in Canada. For decades, manufacturing policy has largely consisted of signing as many free trade agreements as possible to secure markets for Canadian goods, while at the same time looking to import the cheapest products available and outsourcing supply chains. Not only has this left us unable to manufacture critical medical supplies during the pandemic, but it has left us with a weakened domestic manufacturing base.
It is time to put a long-term industrial job-creation strategy back on the domestic agenda, and there is much work to be done.
I will end my remarks here. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.