ST. JOHN'S - Employment Insurance staff in St. John's are accusing their managers of being more interested in impressing Ottawa than helping claimants.
"It has been going on for a month and we've been trying to get them to see the light and they haven't," Jeannette Meunier-McKay said.
She is national president of the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union, which represents employees who process EI claims at the Service Canada office.
She and her members issued a release Friday, charging that management's answer to clearing up a serious backlog of claims was allotting one day a week for files that have been around longer than the usual 28-day processing time. According to the CEIU, the result is that older claims, which are often more complex and time-consuming, are put on the backburner while newer files get immediate attention. The focus is on the newer claims, the union said, because managers seek to impress headquarters and display productivity.
"The employer, which is sort of Canada, when they do their stats, they look at what's 28 days and younger," Meunier-McKay said. "So our members are being told, 'Work on those, bring up the stats and forget about the old claims.' "
She described that as "inequitable treatment" of claims in Newfoundland and Labrador. The older files, she continued, belong to the people who need money most because they have been without it the longest.
Officials from Service Canada did not provide comment on the matter by Transcontinental's deadline.
The Telegramk
EI staff question management's focus
Employment Insurance staff in St. John's are accusing their managers of being more interested in impressing Ottawa than helping claimants.
"It has been going on for a month and we've been trying to get them to see the light and they haven't," Jeannette Meunier-McKay said.
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