North Cowichan’s mayor wants the federal government to extend its temporary Employment Insurance program to include workers at the Crofton pulp mill who will be working until mid-April.
In letters to Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu and Jeff Kibble, MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, Rob Douglas said the temporary EI measures that Ottawa introduced last summer in response to major economic conditions across the country, including mill closures, are set to expire on April 11.
That’s just three days before approximately 60 workers, who are being maintained at the Crofton mill for operational considerations beyond its closure in early February, will receive their layoff notices on April 14.
“As a result, these workers would be excluded from the enhanced EI protections solely due to timing, despite being affected by the same closure and facing the same economic circumstances as their (approximately 290 colleagues who will soon be laid off),” Douglas said.
“The Public and Private Workers of Canada, which represents the impacted workers, has explored whether layoff dates could be moved to April 11 to ensure eligibility. However, the employer (Domtar) has advised that this is not feasible for operational and legal reasons outside the workers’ control. This creates a clear inequity. Workers laid off days apart from the same facility would receive markedly different EI treatment, through no fault of their own.”
The production of pulp at the Crofton mill, which has been in operation since 1957, is scheduled to shut down in early February and the facility is expected to fully close in April.
The temporary EI measures the federal government introduced last summer include waiving the one-week waiting period to collect benefits, suspending the allocation of separation earnings, and extending benefit duration for long-tenured workers.
Douglas said that, on behalf of the community, he is requesting that the federal government extend the temporary EI measures or implement an exemption mechanism to ensure that all Crofton mill workers affected by the closure are treated equitably.
“This request is limited in scope, time-bound, and targeted to a defined group of workers,” he said.
“It would provide consistency, fairness, and much-needed certainty to families during an already difficult transition, while aligning with the intent of the temporary EI measures put in place to address precisely these kinds of economic disruptions.”