WINDSOR, ONT. -- Unifor leaders and workers teamed up with the MPs for Windsor-West and Essex to call on the government to make changes to employment insurance entitlements for workers, before they run out.

More than 5,000 local automotive workers who started an EI claim prior to March 15, when the pandemic shut down many plants, stayed on EI. But those entitlements will soon run dry and they say the workers will be left without remaining entitlements.

“Many will not be eligible for EI because they’re not able to accumulate the required number of hours to qualify due to the layoffs triggered by the COVID-19 shutdown,” argues Chris Lewis, the Conservative MP for Essex.

Linda Poho, who has worked at Syncreon Automotive for 18 years is among those affected.

“They say don’t worry about things you can’t control, but you have a life to live, you have to pay your bills, so it is very stressful for many,” Poho says.

In the 10 weeks since the pandemic, she says she’s burned through all but two weeks of her employment insurance benefits.

“I’m not sure if I’ll qualify if I’ll have enough hours to get insurance,” Poho says, adding she’s written to all of the parties looks for answers but hasn’t received any responses. “And then I’m not sure, I don’t know.”

Her colleague, Mike Borovic, is already facing the day of reckoning.

“I burned all my weeks,” Borovic says. “Today is my last day on EI. Now we’re going to short shift, next month, two weeks layoff, I get zero.”

Lewis and Windsor-West New Democrat MP Brian Masse are calling on the government to re-instate the entitlement weeks lost during COVID-19.

“The worker who wanted to work that had work available at that time was denied the opportunity to pay into the system,” Masse says. “They are at no fault. They should not be re-victimized by the policy.”

Lewis — wants to take the fight to parliament.

“We need to get our butts back to Ottawa. We have to be sitting in the House of Commons and hold Justin Trudeau and the liberal government accountable for, quite frankly, this nonsense,” Lewis says.

Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal member Irek Kusmierczyk — also the parliamentary secretary for the minister of labour, was not at the media event.

In a statement to CTV News, Kusmierczyk says he recognizes the challenges and continues to raise the concerns in Ottawa. He adds that’s why the federal government created CERB — to protect workers from losing all their wages during the pandemic.

“Workers who exhaust their EI regular benefits and are unable to find a job or return to work because of COVID-19 are eligible for the CERB until Oct. 3, 2020,” Kusmierczyk says. “We will continue to look for ways to support our constituents during this difficult time.”