The increase represents additional earnings between $400 and $650 a year, depending on the number of hours worked and the employee's family situation.

Education Minister Sébastien Proulx said he won't comment until the hearings are over, but insisted his government is reflecting on Bill 86.

The Supreme Court of Canada has sided with the federal government in a long-running legal fight with Quebec's leading labour organizations in a multibillion-dollar employment insurance case.