By Canadian Press

Unions look for details on federal budget pledge to ease access to training funding

Apr 12, 2022 | 10:00 AM

OTTAWA — The head of the Canadian Labour Congress says she’s worried that labour groups will be left out of talks over a federal pledge to let workers access skills training programs before they become unemployed.

Congress president Bea Bruske says her concern is some provinces won’t consult unions on how to redirect the federal training cash to help workers before they land on employment insurance.

The Liberals are also proposing to update agreements on the over $2 billion the federal government sends annually to provinces for skills training programs.

The budget proposes directing cash toward tackling current and future labour market needs, including helping mid-career workers transitioning to new sectors.

Bruske says expanding the scope of the labour market development agreements, as they’re known, is a positive step, and welcomed other measures in the budget aimed at helping workers.

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The budget released last week also proposes changes to the Employment Insurance Act to provide direct support to employers to retrain workers, and make more workers eligible for help before they become unemployed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2022.

The Canadian Press