Hi. My name is Mandy Symonds. I am president of the Southern Nova Scotia Seasonal Workers Alliance and I am a seasonal worker.
I am a single person and I try to run my home on my income as a seasonal worker. The life of a seasonal worker is very difficult. You're worrying about paying bills: Will you get enough hours and make enough money for when you are off work so that you will have decent employment insurance? How much work will there be this season?
Weather and other factors, such as the price at the wharf and the catches, help determine how much work there will be. I live in an area with high seasonal work. There is not much else for jobs. It is almost impossible to buy a home or a new car when the bank looks at your income and you're a seasonal worker.
The problem with employment insurance is that the divisor, or the best weeks, is way too high for someone making $15,000 a year. With 20 as the divisor into 50% of $15,000, that equals around $412.50. Then you have to take out income tax. You get a little over $300 a week. For 630 hours you get employment insurance for 17 weeks. If you qualify, you get an extra five, for a total of 22 weeks.
There is no guarantee when it comes how much work you will have during a season. There may be lots of work at one plant. Then again, you may have to work at two or more plants in order to get enough insurable hours for employment insurance.
Thank you.