Madam Speaker, in my opinion, Bill C-55 is a good bill that the unions and the workers have been awaiting impatiently for years. However, there is a problem with this bill. There is something missing and it needs to be pointed out. The minister said that the workers had vehicles and mortgages and that they needed these funds to pay for all that. So allowing them restitution of $3,000 in the event their employer declares bankruptcy would be a good thing.
There is another important aspect, and the member mentioned it earlier. He said that business owners were being treated unfairly. But so are the workers. Let me explain.
Collective agreements always contain a clause on severance pay in the event a business closes. Workers pay for this directly through payroll deductions. A collective agreement is the result of bargaining. A percentage of the envelope that the employer could give the workers as wages and wage increases is transferred into a severance pay fund. As a result, workers receive one week's salary per year of service.
This is not fair to workers. My question is for the member. Why are workers not able to recover all their money if a company declares bankruptcy? Why should workers have to pay the price for the bankruptcy by losing the money set aside in the event the company closed?
A worker with 20 years' seniority is entitled to 20 weeks' salary from the employer. This 20-week period allows workers to pay their bills until they find another job. Under this bill, yes, workers can recover part of their salary. However, there is a two-week waiting period for EI and, quite often, older workers are the ones affected. I will come back to this point.
With this bill, we should consider unionized workers who are entitled to this severance pay. They paid for it with their own money, directly from the increases they would have earned if they had not agreed to wage deferrals.
Should we put something directly in Bill C-55 so that these workers can recover their investment?