Two forestry unions are calling for changes to employment insurance (EI) rules to provide assistance for displaced forest workers.
The United Steelworkers (USW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) responded March 22 to a report by the business-labour Forest Products Sector Council which reported 100,000 job losses over five years and an estimated 40,000 forest workers still unemployed.
The report is entitled Challenges and Impacts: Labour Market Transition Programs for Laid-Off Forest Products Workers in Canada (www.fpsc-cspf.ca).
CEP president Dave Coles said the numbers should "shock" Canadians on the "scale of the economic disaster" and the report's conclusion that many workers cannot access EI because of the rules.
"If this government is listening to the joint recommendations of the forest companies and unions it must immediately change the EI rules to provide access to training and support programs for displaced forest workers."
The unions said both federal and provincial governments have failed to respond with clear coordination through their transition programs.
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