The abandonment of job creation as the highest priority of economic policy and the failure of governments to implement comprehensive employment and pay equity programs for women, aboriginal Canadians, people with disabilities and members of visible minorities have made transition extremely costly to millions of Canadians.

Assuming that all public policy is focused on achieving full employment, labour has made specific proposals to: improve worker training, strengthen the UI program, regulate layoffs and plant closures, improve employment and pay equity law, rebuild our national employment service, and develop a comprehensive labour market information system that is accessible to every job seeker and employer. An effective transition system also requires compulsory registration of job vacancies, more resources for counselling, and better job placement services.

Training

Training is an essential element of a full-employment strategy, but training cannot substitute for economic policies that create jobs. Nor is training a substitute for UI benefits. The UI system must be strengthened. The cuts in UI benefits and the financing of training courses from UI have made transitions more costly.

Labour believes that training is a right. The right must be universal. It must be available without barriers to all employed workers, the unemployed, and the working age population wanting to enter or reenter the labour force. This right must be entrenched in employment law. Every worker should be entitled to a minimum or 40 hours of training each year during normal working hours without loss of pay.

Training must be seen as a fundamental part of the job. Labour has long advocated a levy or training tax on employers. Employers who provide approved training to their employees would receive compensation from the training fund.

Training rights include paid educational leave. Adult workers who have not completed high school should be entitled to paid leave.

The content of training must be geared to workers' needs as they see them and must be developmental. Skills must be taught in a way that goes beyond a particular job and leaves trainees better able to take on new tasks.

Training must enable workers to have more control over technology, their jobs, and their work lives, by building on their capabilities and preparing them for the future. More than occupational skills are needed to eliminate job discrimination based on gender, race or ethnicity. Job-skills training must be structured to correct the exclusion of women, people with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. To achieve this, we must have a university accessible system for child care.