REPRESENTATIVES from four of Canada’s major labour unions – including the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Labour Congress and Unifor – on Thursday stood with NDP MP Daniel Blaikie to urge the Liberal government to change the punitive and discriminatory employment insurance (EI) rules against new parents.

Under the current EI system, workers who are laid off right before, during or after their maternity or paternity leave will lose their eligibility to regular EI, putting people in a dire financial situation. Even though they are working to raise a child, these unfair rules don’t allow new parents to combine their special EI, such as parental leave, and regular EI benefits, said the NDP.

Blaikie sent a letter to the Minister of Employment urging him to immediately change EI rules so no new parent is left without government support when it is needed.

“The current system is rigged to leave new parents in the lurch,” said Blaikie. “Canada offers EI supports to any other workers who lose their job through no fault of their own, so why are we cutting off new parents like this? Women are still the most likely to take parental or caregiving leave, meaning that these EI rules effectively discriminate against them. For having taken leave to care for a new baby or an aging loved one, women are denied the chance to access regular EI like anybody else. It’s outrageous and the Liberals should take immediate steps to fix it.”

Under the current rules, the special benefit that a new parent receives is taken out of the same pool of weeks as regular EI benefits. For example, if a new parent loses their job through no fault from their own, they would receive fewer benefits under regular EI because they had a child. So, jobless, they are left to fend for themselves to afford food, rent or their mortgage, without any support from the government if they’ve taken parental leave.

“Workers across the country are facing an affordability crisis. Unprecedented numbers of families are forced to turn to food banks,” said Blaikie. “It’s unacceptable to deny income supports to parents who are laid off during this time, and this is classic Liberal fashion of empty words and broken promises to make life better for women, parents, and families without any action to back it up.

“New Democrats are standing up for new parents, women and Canadians across the country who are being negatively impacted by this discrimination and will keep fighting for them.”