Hundreds protest at Van Kesteren's office

Call for E.I. and procurement policy

A protest that blocked off a section of downtown Chatham, earlier today, sent a clear message: people want the government to protect jobs and provide some income security.

More than 200 people jammed in front of Chatham-Kent Essex MP Dave Van Kesteren’s King Street constituency office to call for the federal government to implement emergency Employment Insurance (E.I.) measures and a procurement policy to keep manufacturing jobs in Canada.

The rally was organized by the Chatham-Kent Labour Council.

Concerns have been raised about Ontario residents receiving less money and having a shorter eligibility for E.I. benefits.

Ken Lewenza, national president for the Canadian Auto Workers union, said he doesn’t want to get into a divide between Ontario’s E.I. versus other provinces, because “workers throughout Canada today, are faced with incredible insecurities as a result of the global financial crisis.”

He said workers don’t often call on government.

But he added, “we have to call on government to recognize that we are probably at the most vulnerable time in our generation.

“What were saying during the time of crisis is that you’ve got to throw the historic legislation away and you’ve got to expand protection, whether it’s in Ontario or whether it’s in Newfoundland,” Lewenza said.

“Those that are laid off and facing the uncertainty of not having a job. How do we ensure their income security for a longer period of time, because there’s not enough out there to be adjusted.”

Van Kesteren, who stood in the crowd, and was the target of some criticism, said he has brought the concerns about E.I. to his government.

Noting he is sympathetic and empathetic to a lot of the union’s causes, Van Kesteren said, “we have to recognize too, that the whole E.I. system is something that has progressed and that’s changed over the years.

Van Kesteren said up until a year ago, the economy was growing, so E.I. was a program more for retraining.

“Now we recognize that we’re going to see some layoffs . . . We’re going to see some major layoffs,” he said.

When asked if he feels the E.I. system is unfair for Ontario, Van Kesteren said, “historically, this has been an area of strong economic growth . . . (and) we’ve had low unemployment up until recently.

“That’s the reason that there has been disparity, because we recognize there’s places in the country that have high unemployment,” he added.

Article ID# 1403880 from the Chatham Daily News website www.chathamdailynews.ca