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January 13th, 2012

Thousands of Service Canada employees demand Minister’s resignation

Minister Finley must stop making excuses and fix problems at Service Canada: NDP

OTTAWA – NDP Human Resources Critic Jean Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan) and Employment Insurance Critic Claude Patry (Jonquière-Alma) are demanding that the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development apologize to the 2500 employees of Service Canada who sent her grievances. New Democrats were reacting to news reports revealing Minister Finley has received grievances from thousands of Service Canada employees who are asking her to resign after series of bad decisions, warning of a crisis that hamper the ability of Service Canada to deliver services to Canadians.

“We learned today that the phone lines at Service Canada are so jammed that only one call out of three makes it to an agent. The time to process a claim went from 27 days to 45. This is not the service Canadians need and deserve”, said Jean Crowder.

New Democrats have been hammering the Conservative government for months about shocking delays and problems at Service Canada call centers.

“Conservatives are cutting in services like Service Canada, just when Canadians need help the most”, said Claude Patry. “We also believe there is always room for cost savings while conserving the highest quality in services offered to Canadians.”

In September, New Democrats strongly criticized the Minister after shocking delays were found at Service Canada call centres. Almost 25% of calls related to EI were abandoned because callers weren’t able to reach a representative and hang up rates in some regions, like Winnipeg and Vancouver, were as high as a third of all calls.