I will try to answer your question. Of course, the bill proposes that the qualifying period prior to a strike or lockout be taken into account. Therefore, if a worker is eligible for employment insurance and has worked enough hours prior to the labour dispute to qualify, under the proposed legislation, that worker will be eligible for EI benefits after the dispute, of course.
If, for example, a worker accumulates… As you know, when workers are on strike or locked out, they are often entitled to a certain amount of strike pay through their strike fund. For instance, if someone works a certain number of hours while on strike, I imagine that any hours he accumulates during that period will be taken into account, because he will have made contributions to Employment Insurance.
Basically, the purpose of this bill is to provide for the qualifying period prior to the dispute and strike to be taken into account.