News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 25, 2012
New transit ad campaign exposes Service Canada woes
WINNIPEG, MB – The Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have launched a new transit advertising campaign today that sheds light on the disturbing effects of service cuts to Canadians.
“Wait times have never been so high,” explains Susan Norman, CEIU National Vice-President for Manitoba. “The stats indicate that 51 per cent of the callers attempting to reach Service Canada in relation to their EI claim are unable to do so. Those that can least afford to be impacted at this time are the ones that the cuts affect most.”
EI Processing and the EI Call Centre are being removed from Manitoba as EI recipients continue to see a backlog. Meanwhile, the department has yet to address the state of the OAS and Supplement area, where more than 2,000 applications received prior to July 2011, and 10,000 more since, remain outstanding.
“This campaign is designed to make Canadians aware, and ask them to do something about it,” says Norman. “By calling the toll-free 1-800 number, Canadians can let the Conservative government know that this isn’t acceptable. Ensure that the monies from this self-funded program be used to properly administer the program, not pay down their overall deficit.”
The CEIU is one of 17 components within the PSAC and represents the vast majority of workers at Service Canada, Human Resources and Social Development, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board. The PSAC represents more than 25,000 in the prairie region, the majority of who are in the federal public sector.