EI for TAs

TAs pay EI premiums but are usually ineligible for EI because the number of qualifying hours you need to work in order to get EI is considerably more than the hours worked in a full TAship.

This could change, because there is proposed legislation in the House of Commons to improve EI benefits. If Bill C-269 passes, it would mean that people working a full TAship would have enough qualifying hours to receive EI payments, so that you could get EI maternity or parental benefits, or EI unemployment benefits after graduating (or perhaps during the summer term).

This legislation would be a huge help to TAs at UBC and would benefit numerous other people including RAs and GTAs at UBC, graduate and undergraduate students throughout Canada who are part-time workers, and hundreds of thousands of other part-time employees who are currently ineligible to receive EI benefits despite making EI payments.

We encourage all of you who can vote in Canada to write to your MP expressing your support for Bill C-269. You can get more information about the provisions of the Bill and contact information for your MP on the following website cupe2278.ca/ .