Support Applying for Unemployment
Labour, religious, cultural, sports, special interest groups and all groups must set up support cells for the online process, which is very frustrating, even for computer nerds. All those politicians that knocked on our doors during local and federal elections must pitch in, somehow, by any means necessary.
It happened. You lost your job, two days after your sister lost hers. The employer closed the business because of coronavirus. Some employers wrote ‘closed temporarily’ to prevent us from having heart attacks or committing suicide. The government takes a cut from your wages/salary every paycheck so it’s payback time.
You qualify for Employment Insurance (EI) or unemployment income. I prefer what people called it in the U.K: the dole. I found the term fascinating when I first heard it. Does it come from the government doling out money to the jobless?
It is not a freebie. Before COVID-19, you were an upright citizen paying your taxes. Wrong. You have no choice in the matter. The government siphons it electronically. Don’t try it. The government hates hackers.
SERVICE CANADA
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister has been announcing a series of financial help for the masses. The problem is that civil servants, men and women responsible for processing money for the jobless are not on the job.
They are scared of contacting the virus. Not only that, social distancing is in effect. Service Canada offices, that provide government services are sealed shut, so we must go online. The website has numbers to call but will you get through? Yes, patience is required, but the tank is running on low, with all the financial, personal and psychological hurdles we are trying to clear.
Kids and grandchildren can help with filing for unemployment online, if they live under one roof or close by. They are quite good with driving the internet Autobahn.
Support cells for filing online will deal with the ‘how to’ aspect and the ‘what’. Service Canada, like all government departments use their own brand of English full of acronyms. The public does not understand them.
Calling a spade a spade is not allowed in government. Bus drivers are no longer bus drivers. They are vehicle operators. Prisons are correctional institutions.
Let’s correct the online application process, by finding ways of setting up support cells in our communities, to help other Canadians understand how to answer all those questions in the online application form for unemployment insurance.
Social distancing is mandatory yes, but where there is love there is a way.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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