Safety
Productivity
Respect

Temporary Reduction to Monthly Draw Down of Hours

May 6, 2020 – On behalf of the Board of Trustees we hope you and your families are well and coping in these very uncertain times.

In an effort to provide some relief, the Board of Trustees has approved a reduction in the amount of hours required to maintain your Health & Wellness benefits. As you are aware, certain services such as Dental, Chiropractor, Physiotherapy, and Vision Care, etc. have not been available to the general public for the past seven weeks. The Board feels our claims experience, which structures the premium rates that we pay for benefits, will show an improvement during this period.

In this regard, we are pleased to advise the current monthly hours required to maintain benefits is 144, and on a temporary basis this amount has been revised to 125.

Please note your hour bank will be drawn down by the new amount for the months of June and July, 2020; and if you are working then the lower monthly amount is required to qualify for benefits for this 2-month period.

We will continue to monitor the situation very closely; however, it is unknown whether this relief can continue beyond the 2-month period, and if the situation improves and will warrant, the plan will revert to the original hour bank drawn down of 144 hours.

In essence, this means you will need less hours per month worked to qualify for benefits, and if you are currently out of work and drawing down your hour bank, fewer hours will be withdrawn during this period.

We will advise you accordingly as the situation evolves.

Keep well and stay safe.

Your Board of Trustees

Reminder To All Members

As a reminder, members are required to notify the hall when they are laid off and to provide their layoff date. This applies to all members, whether the layoff is a regular layoff or due to the current Covid 19 situation. If you do not notify the hall when you are laid off, you can not be issued a referral for work. This applies to all members and there will be no exceptions to this.

We ask that you email this info to diane@ibew.nf.ca

Thank You,

Glen

COVID-19 FEDERAL RESOURCES UPDATE

March 30, 2020 – To date, COVID-19 has been characterized as a pandemic worldwide, and as such, is impacting employment for many. Over the last several weeks, the Government of Canada has announced Phase One of their relief plan to address the devastating impact of COVID-19 on Canadians.

CANADA EMERGENCY RESPONSE BENEFIT

FOR WORKERS:

Those who qualify

• If you have lost your job due to COVID-19, and even if you don’t qualify for EI
• Have a job, but are not being paid and asked to work
• Are taking care of someone who is sick with COVID-19
• Must stay home without pay to take care of children
• Are sick, quarantined or in self-isolation

Steps to Apply

• Application is available as of April 6
• You can apply by:
  
  • Accessing it on your CRA MyAccount secure portal
  • Accessing it from your My Service Canada account
  • By calling a “soon-to-be-available” toll-free number

CERB Information

• Pays $2000/month for up to 4 months, backdated to March 15.
• Benefits should be available 10 days after you submit your application.
• If you’ve already applied for EI, your claim will be moved to the CERB automatically and benefits will be paid from this program first.
• If you’re currently on EI, you will continue to receive your EI benefits, and if those benefits end before October 3, you can apply for the CERB.
• If you are sick or unemployed after CERB coverage ends, and you have EI insurable hours, you can apply for normal EI benefits at that time.

Employment Insurance Sick Benefits

• First, apply for CERB as noted above.
• After completing the online form, call 1-833-381-2725 to have the one- week waiting period waived.
• Have your SIN number, first and last day worked, pay stub with highest two-week pay from the last year, as well as payment information ready.
• If you apply after quarantine, benefits will be backdated.
• No sick note will be required.

Please review the federal governments resource page dedicated to all things related to COVID-19 including Employment Insurance information, other support for workers, supports for business and more information on these and other measures HERE.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html

You can stay up to date on COVID-19 information on the IBEW Canada website on our COVID19 page.
http://www.ibewcanada.ca/news/category/covid-19/

Stay safe and stay healthy.

Public Advisory: WorkplaceNL extends validity of certification safety training certificates

St. John’s, NL – WorkplaceNL is extending the validity of certification safety training certificates as training courses may not be available during the COVID-19 pandemic. A worker’s safety training certificate that expired on or after February 28, 2020 will remain valid until June 30, 2020. The worker will then have to recertify by August 30, 2020.

Certificates for which extensions are granted are:

• Confined space entry
• Fall protection
• Mine rescue
• Power line hazards
• Traffic control person
• First-aid
• Occupational Health and Safety Committee Member/Representative/Designate
• Musculoskeletal injury prevention
• Supervisor safety

Employers and supervisors are required to continuously assess the competency of workers to ensure they work safely. If a worker’s competency is not satisfactory, employers and supervisors should take reasonable actions to mitigate the risk of unsafe work.

WorkplaceNL will provide another update if there are further changes. For more information, please contact OHS.Training@workplacenl.ca.

Related Links

WorkplaceNL’s Certification Training Standards

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION FOR MEMBERS

Due to the ongoing developments and health concerns surrounding CV-19 , we wish to advise all members that the hall will be closed to the public until further notice. All staff will continue to work at the hall (office) durning this time. We will continue to conduct business via phone, text and email and will do our best to assist you with issues that may arise.

Jobs will be posted on the job line, dues can be paid online, via mail check or over the phone and items such as forms and vacation pay will be mailed to members. We apologize for any inconvience, but these are extraordinary and challenging times that we are all facing.

Please follow the recommendations from provincial and federal health authorities concening CV-19 and do not put your health and the health or your family at risk.

Any member that has been working and laid off due to the Coronavirus, please email Diane and give her your lay off date.
diane@ibew.nf.ca

Thank You & Stay Safe