Wednesday, July 24, 1985

eas

Newsstand Price 40°

Vol. 48, No. 28

ld: No deal on Star Wars

— page 2, editorial

Ulis

govt

of new Tory

The Unemployment Insurance Com-
mission and the Tory govermment
have launched a new assault on unem-
ployment insurance, affecting both
those now on UI benefits and those
awaiting them, representatives of the
Vancouver Unemployment Action
Centre charged this week.

So far the attack has not involved
changes either to legislation or regula-
tions — rather it has taken the form of
a tough new regime in the commission
that is “producing the most twisted
interpretations of regulations that
we've seen in many years,” said Action
Centre co-ordinator Kim Zander.

But that new regime, which includes
the deployment of several hundred
investigators who will be probing UI

target

attack

claimants, is seen as a prelude to yet
more efforts by the Tory government to
reduce the availability and the size of
UI benefits.

The Action Centre noted several fac-

Continuing the campaign to compel the Social Credit government to re-open Transition House for battered women, some
300 people took to the street Saturd

well-known Vancouver artist Connie

reiterated the demand that Human Resources Minister Grace McCarthy ensure that the facility be re-opened to provide
service ona 24-hour basis. The rally also heard from former resident Kathleen Boyce who told the audience that were it not

for Transition House, she would “‘still

ai

ay, marching from the Vancouver Folk Festival to a rally in Jericho Park. There,
Kaldor and Australian folksinger Judy Small gave their support while organizers

have been in a battering relationship — or dead. We need that service,’’ she said.

Next Trib
August 14

With this issue, the Tribune
takes a two-week break to pro-
vide for much needed staff
vacations. Our next regular
issue will be Aug. 14. ~

Agreement on HEU’s
affiliation with B.C.

Fed ‘coming slowly’
— page 8 — |

tors which have
| signalled the att-
ack on UI:

e A punitive
approach by UI
commissioners
who are hold-
ing up claims
and _ rejecting
woe others on an
\& vs unprecedented

"scale, utilizing
MIKE PRONIUK the narrowest
interpretations of regulations.

“The problems people have been
having with UI lately have been more
complicated than ever before,” Zander
noted. And according to a legal expert
on UIC cases who recently briefed
action centre advocates, the commis-
sion is “producing the most twisted
interpretations he’s seen in years.”

One of the examples of the effect of
an interpretation is the payment of hol-
iday pay at the time of layoff.

Under recent amendments to regula-
tions, holiday and vacation pay aie
considered earnings and are applied
against a claimant’s income, thus
increasing the waiting period for ben-
efits. Exempted, however, are trade
unionists who were party to a collective
agreement before Dec. 31, 1984.

But now the commission is only
allowing the exemption in the case of
those laid off permanently with no
chance of re-hire.

Action centre worker Mike Proniuk
said that the commission is relying on
subtle difference between the French
and English versions of the regulations
to force many workers who have
received holiday pay on separation to
accept waiting periods of up to three
months for benefits.

“We contend that any layoff is sepa-
ration and that the regulations don’t
require complete separation,” Proniuk
said, adding that laid-off unionists who
are forced to include holiday pay as
earnings should appeal the ruling,
either through their union or the action
centre.

@ The Unemployment Insurance
Commission’s hiring of 700 extra inves-
tigators, part of a program to increase
the number and frequency of interviews
with claimants and to investigate possi-
ble fraud. The cost, according to the
Action Centre, will be some $30 mil-
lion.

Of particular concern is the commis-
sion’s new policy, whereby all third
party information will be used in the
investigative process.

“So if you’ve got a neighbor who
doesn’t like you and decides to phone
up UIC and claim you're running a
business out of your basement, the
commission will investigate,” Zander
said.

In fact, a similar incident has already
taken place, she said. Last month, an
informant called the UIC, claiming that
six unemployed members of Local
1928 of the Carpenters who had been
on the picket line in support of locked-

see CENTRE page 8

ae