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Foreign workers program is failing Canadian businesses
Published on: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:24:14 GMT
A federal program that brings low-skilled foreign workers to Canada is not meeting the needs of labour-hungry employers, says a new report. The problem is that the program only allows workers to stay in Canada for a maximum of 12 months, says the Canadian Bar Association report. Author Wendy Danson, an Edmonton lawyer, said the 2003 federal pilot program to bring in low-skilled workers makes employers provide worker housing, pay return airfare, and doesn't let workers bring families or eventually apply for landed immigrant status.
"There is such a demand for labour here (in Alberta) because of the oil sands," she said. "It's just crazy. You can earn 19 dollars an hour just for sweeping the floor. Our clients just can't get the labour they need."
The association includes 800 immigration lawyers who represent a variety of businesses.
Danson submitted the report to the Department of Human Resources, which is completing a review of the program's impact on employers. The review will feed into a general assessment of its Foreign Workers Program.
Susan Nutt, who runs Alberta Bridges, a bridge maintenance and construction company in Pickardville, Alta., says she employs up to 19 workers year-round at a minimum of $18.65 an hour. In 2005, Canadians she hired never showed up for work, or quit after a few weeks, so this spring she employed six Filipino workers through the program. They will be replaced with six more next year and Nutt says she'll be sad to see the first batch go.
"Much of the year is just getting people trained, and safety is a big part of that. Then, just when you get everyone finally up to speed, you have to start all over again," Nutt said.
She adds that it's unfair for workers to come by themselves, and that allowing families to migrate would mean spouses could fill other jobs, more children would be in rural schools facing dwindling enrollment, and families wouldn't suffer separation.
But sectors such as agriculture and construction, where extra help is needed just a few months of the year, are largely pleased. Rene Mantha, president of FERME, the Quebec organization that manages foreign farm workers there, notes that after a few months at home workers can return to the same farms year after year.
Human Resources official Mario Rondeau could not say how many workers have secured work permits since the pilot program began, but said they work in tourism, trucking, meat-packing, construction and farming.
Federal statistics show almost 22,000 temporary work permits were issued to low-skilled foreigners under a number of federal programs in 2003 and 2004. More recent numbers are not available.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates 233,000 positions at all skill levels went vacant for at least four months last year at small and medium-sized businesses across the country.
Guatemalan foreign minister Jorge Briz said during a state visit last month that 1,200 Guatemalans work on farms under the program. Just 215 came in 2003. Briz visited several Quebec farms and said the program should be a model for other countries interested in Guatemalan labour.
"I spoke with farm owners and really, they are very pleased with the work of our workers. They tell me they are efficient and honest. This is really an exemplary program," Briz said.
But many academics, unions and non-governmental groups that assist foreign agricultural workers say the labourers often must be subservient if they want to return to Canada annually, although they enjoy exceptional salaries compared with their home-country earnings. The fact that they have basically no social ties in Canada means they are ready to work almost whenever needed.
Toronto's ecumenical group Kairos says workers often lack English or French and are isolated in rural areas, so they don't know how to protect their rights. They sometimes put up with sub-standard housing and unsafe working conditions, a Kairos report says.
Heather Gibb of Ottawa's North-South Institute says she wants the government to look at how the workers are treated.
he institute conducted a major study of similar, long-standing agriculture programs for Mexican and Caribbean workers and concluded that, while foreign workers in theory are protected by the same law as Canadians, in practice it's difficult for them to communicate their concerns or have them investigated.
"Workers can ask for assistance through their consulates, but foreign officials are really in a conflict of interest because ultimately what they want to do is to keep the program running smoothly, given the importance of remittances to the economies of the workers' countries," Gibb said.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union has also criticized the pilot program on a number of fronts including the fact that the foreigners must pay employment insurance premiums. In March, the Ontario Superior Court granted the union the right to represent foreign temporary workers in a Charter of Rights challenge that alleged discrimination against them.
"The criteria need to change to allow for benefits, or the (EI) deductions shouldn't be made at all," says union organizer Stan Raper who overseas a mobile centre based in Saint-Michel, Que., where workers can socialize, learn French, and get safety and legal information.
Human Resources says worker concerns fall under provincial jurisdiction, but will be considered during the assessment of the program. The department acknowledges that since the Mexican and Caribbean projects began in 1966 and 1974 respectively, it has never examined how workers' concerns and complaints have been addressed.
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