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EDMONTON - For the first time in years, John Sampson has job-related benefits.

"I haven't had new glasses in over five years. I need bifocals," he said. Sampson, a welder by trade, has just passed the five-month mark at his new full-time job as a shipper-receiver.

The benefits are a much appreciated coup, even though Sampson describes himself as "barely employed."

"I'm not happy where I am," he said. "If you look at the want ads, there are no welding jobs available. I have to do what I have to do in order to survive."

But Sampson counted himself among the lucky ones at Giovanni Caboto Park on Monday, where hundreds of unemployed and underemployed Edmontonians gathered for the annual Labour Day barbecue hosted by the Edmonton and District Labour Council.

Stretching across the park, the lineup for free burgers, fruit, juice and ice cream was indicative of the region's labour situation, said union leaders.

"It's shameful. Take a look," said Guy Desforges, president of Local 445 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. "All I see are (businesses) getting shut down, closed down, and moved to other places and nothing's staying here."

While numbers released by Statistics Canada last month show Alberta's unemployment rate has improved to 6.3 per cent in July, down from 7.2 per cent a year ago, Desforges was cautious about the progress, noting that full-time jobs have been replaced by part-time positions.

In July, Alberta lost 13,000 full-time jobs while gaining 21,700 part-time ones.

Workers, then, are "not making enough money to live," said Nancy Furlong, secretary treasurer for the Alberta Federation of Labour. "They have to have two part-time jobs to live."

Still, picnickers were optimistic that a full economic recovery is on the horizon.

"We're going to bail out of it," said Darcy Robinson, 24.

"There's really not much out there that pays," added Gary Nesterchuk, who has been off work for about a year and a half. But, he said, "I have a positive attitude."

Things will start looking up in about a year, Furlong predicted. "It's expected that '11 will continue to be bad and by '12, we'll be back in another boom," she said. While this is promising news, she warned that the government cannot sit back.

"We seem to always be on a boom or a bust cycle here in Alberta," she said. "I don't see any efforts on behalf of the government to balance the economy and to smooth out those big dips and spikes."

Furlong wanted to see more industrial diversity, more control over the pace of oilsands development, and more effective immigration policies for addressing labour shortages in good economic times.

NDP MLA Rachel Notley echoed many of Furlong's suggestions, and added that the province needs to invest in a green infrastructure, make higher education more accessible, and insist that jobs, such as those in the oil industry, do not get sent to the United States.

"These are all things the provincial government has jurisdiction over, but they're failing to act," she said.

As for Sampson, he hopes to get back into welding next year, but he's happy to have a stable job now.

"I see a lot of people. I see a lot of younger ones that I know are on the streets and I see a lot of young families trying to get by," he said.

Sampson knows what it's like -- several years ago, he spent three months living in homeless shelters.

This year, he came back to the barbecue to see if he could offer guidance to others. "I know they want to get out, but they just need a kick in the butt or guidance from somebody who's been through that."

Edmonton Journal, Tues Sept 7 2010
Byline: Jennifer Fong

The provincial government is investing $850,000 to help temporary foreign workers adjust to life in Alberta while reviewing the federal program's effectiveness, Alberta's labour boss said Friday.

Alberta's Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said the review will be done by Calgary-Mackay MLA Theresa Woo Paw, his parliamentary assistant.

Now is the time for the review, said Lukaszuk as the economic slowdown has lessened the demand for foreign workers, but that won't last.

"One doesn't really need a crystal ball to come to the conclusion that Canada and most western countries will be facing a severe and very acute labour shortage over several decades to come," he said.

The money - on top of $1.4 million invested in 2009 - will go to social agencies in Calgary, Red Deer, Banff, Brooks, Lethbridge, Fort McMurray and Edmonton tasked with helping temporary foreign workers settle into life in Alberta, said Lukaszuk.

There are about 66,000 temporary workers in the province.

The Alberta Federation of Labour called for the Temporary Foreign Workers program to be scrapped, saying the money will do little to protect people from exploitation and abuse.

"We also know that many foreign workers have to pay illegal fees of thousands of dollars to recruitment agencies, are forced to work unpaid overtime and live in sub-standard housing with exorbitant rents, and are misled into thinking they will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship," said secretary treasurer Nancy Furlong.

But Lukaszuk said the provincial government has no plans to call for an end to the program.

Companies must first advertise a job in Canada and show there are no Canadians who can or want to do it before temporary foreign workers can be brought in, Lukaszuk said.

Calgary Sun, Tues Sept 7 2010
Byline: Dave Dormer

Labour Day, a day meant to celebrate the economic and social achievement of workers.

Now there is word new rules may be added to protect them.

On the spot fines could be added to the arsenal of measures targeting Alberta companies and workers who break health and safety laws.

The province is considering introducing the fines as an extra deterrent.

It's a move seen as long overdue by the unions.

They've wanted on the spot fines for decades, arguing health and safety officers don't currently have enough power and Alberta's prosecution record falls short.

"To give you an idea how bad it is, in the last four years out of 142 deaths, only four cases have been successfully prosecuted. So the prosecution rate is less than 3%, which is abysmal," Gil McGowan of the Alberta Federation of Labour told CTV Calgary,

The province announced a crackdown on health and safety at work in July.

On the spot fines would be an extra measure on top of other moves like posting the safety records of all companies online.

This latest idea is still under construction and is being discussed with industry.

Both the Calgary and Alberta construction associations welcome the idea.

They believe it could help motivate workers to operate safely.

"When it comes to workplace health and safety, the problem is frankly not with employees, the problem is lack of training and lack of access to proper safety equipment,"says McGowan.

Companies say they want a grace period before the fines are introduced.

But unions argue workers shouldn't have to wait an extra day for powers to protect them.

Workplace deaths did fall in 2009, but unions fear another building boom could take numbers back to where they were in 2008.

The number of workplace deaths in Alberta in 2009 was 110.

That was down by a third in 2008 when there were 166 workplace deaths.

ctvcalgary.ca, Tues Sept 7 2010

While the province moves to reform the temporary foreign worker program, the Alberta Federation of Labour says scrap it.

The labour group says the program is failing foreign workers and employers, and is so dysfunctional it needs to be scrapped, rather than reviewed and reformed.

"We welcome the announcement that the province is renewing funding for agencies to protect temporary foreign workers, but this $850,000 sum should be put in context," says Nancy Furlong, secretary-treasurer of the AFL, which represents 140,000 Albertans.

On Friday, the province announced it was extending funding of $850,000 to immigrant-serving agencies to provide services to temporary foreign workers as they adjust to life and work in Alberta. The funding has been provided to agencies in key areas including Fort McMurray. At the same time, the province will look at the impact of the arrival of thousands of temporary foreign workers on Alberta's workforce, its communities, and its people to identify future programming options.

She questioned the effectiveness of the money considering it has to be spread across the entire province to protect the documented 66,000 temporary foreign workers from the exploitation and abuse witnessed on a daily basis.

"How effective will it be in protecting the tens of thousands of undocumented foreign workers who are becoming an underground workforce and are even more vulnerable to abuse?" she asked.

According to documents released earlier this year by the Alberta NDP, almost three-quarters of employers employing temporary foreign workers violated employment standards according to provincial inspections in the past year.

"We also know that many foreign workers have to pay illegal fees of thousands of dollars to recruitment agencies, are forced to work unpaid over-time and live in sub-standard housing with exorbitant rents, and are misled into thinking they will be able to apply for citizenship in Canada," said Furlong.

While the AFL also welcomes the review of the program planned by Alberta Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, the only way to fix the program is to scrap it and replace it with immigration through regular channels.

"While our focus will always be jobs for Albertans and Canadians first, it is important that we recognize the contributions of temporary foreign workers to our province, making them feel welcome and included in our communities is simply the right thing to do," said Lukaszuk in a statement announcing the funding.

Teresa Woo-Paw, Lukaszuk's parliamentary assistant, will lead a review of the impact of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program on Alberta and bring forward her findings and recommendations by spring next year.

"The temporary foreign worker program helped to quickly fill temporary jobs during Alberta's boom, it is a program that Alberta values and will always welcome," Woo-Paw said. "Now that we have some space to breathe, let's make sure we plan and have the right services in place for the future."

However, Furlong argues that Alberta needs these workers now and will need them in the future. All who come here to work, including low-skilled workers, should be able to get on the ladder to permanent residency and citizenship, but low-skilled workers have almost no access to apply for immigration.

The TFW program is administered by the federal government, and she said the AFL is happy to help the Alberta government pressure Ottawa to scrap it and replace it with real immigration that works for foreign workers, Alberta workers and Alberta employers.

Fort McMurray Today, Tues Sept 7 2010
Byline: Carol Christian

Labour Day has marked the contribution of the labour movement to Canadian society for almost as long as there has been a Canada.

Thanks to pressure from unions and others, most Canadians now enjoy eight-hour work days and 40-hour work weeks, weekends off, vacations, overtime pay, benefits, pensions and public health care.

The labour movement's role in creating a well-paid middle class is undeniable, as are the benefits it brings to our society. A large chunk of the population earning enough money to fuel the economy and pay taxes is a good thing.

But while we, in the labour movement, are happy to do our bit on taxes, it is disconcerting to note this Labour Day that the Alberta government is giving away billions of tax dollars.

This year the province will allow $2 billion to be wasted that would pay for extra health care and other vital public services. How? It is the consequence of tax cuts for large corporations implemented by the provincial government. Those tax cuts mean U.S. corporations operating in Alberta will pay $2 billion this year in taxes to the U.S. government.

Alberta charges a corporate tax rate of only 10 per cent for large corporations, by far the lowest in Canada. The federal government recently lowered its corporate rate to 15 per cent. Our combined corporate tax rate is 25 per cent, compared to 35 per cent in the United States.

But American companies don't benefit when Canadian rates are cut. U.S. tax rules stipulate that corporations have to pay a total of 35 per cent. Whatever is charged in Canada goes to the Canadian federal and provincial governments, and the difference between the Canadian and U.S. rates goes to the treasury in Washington.

So, Alberta takes its share (10 per cent), Ottawa takes its share (15 per cent), and the U.S. takes 10 per cent, to bring the total to 35 per cent.

Last year, that 10-per-cent difference flowing from U.S. corporations operating in Alberta was $2 billion. Alberta could double its rate and keep that $2 billion here and the bottom lines of those U.S. companies would remain the same.

We could get $2 billion more for public services without paying any more in taxes. We would just stop giving it to our U.S. neighbours.

The $2-billion giveaway is part of a larger pattern of tax madness in Alberta. We have the lowest personal income tax rate for the very wealthy, but among the highest tax rates for the lowest-income workers. Alberta is one of the only provinces to not charge a tax on financial institutions, but our small business rate is higher than many other jurisdictions.

Because some tax rates are far too low, we rely on unsustainable oil and gas royalty revenue to fund our programs. That's why the recent economic downturn has left so many Albertans scratching their heads. In a province blessed with the world's most sought-after natural resources, a highly educated workforce and one of the most sustained economic booms in history, it took only one global blip in the markets and our provincial cupboard was bare.

This instability is due to a tax system that does not work for the long-term health and prosperity of Albertans. We are not saving for the future. We take money from the investment gains of the Heritage Trust Fund and spend it. We have little capacity to weather changes in oil and gas prices. And we have no plan for a post-fossil-fuel economy. Some economists fear a double-dip recession is on the horizon. This makes it vital for the government to fix our broken revenue system now.

We can start to fix the system by acknowledging that while the Americans may be our closest friends, sending them $2 billion they haven't even asked for isn't being a good neighbour, it's being a fool.

And, you know what they say about a fool and his money ...

Edmonton Journal/Calgary Herald
Byline: Gil McGowan

When Statistics Canada figures are released later this week, they're expected to show nearly 1.5 million people are out of work across the country. In Edmonton on Monday, the number of people struggling to make ends meet was evident at an annual holiday picnic.

The Alberta Federation of Labour has offered free meals to the city's less fortunate on the September long weekend for the past 21 years. Representatives from the group say the need for the event is as strong as ever.

"We've never gone down in numbers - we are either feeding unemployed, or under-employed or street people," said Nancy Furlong.

"It's a shame that there is a lineup that long in a province like ours. It's absolutely incredible."

Alberta employment minister Thomas Lukaszuk argues good news is on the way, with evidence the province is rebounding from the recession. He says right now 6.3 per cent of Albertans are jobless, which is an improvement from 7.2 per cent this time last year.

"As a matter of fact we are swinging now to a time when we will have labour shortages - those at that barbeque will be sought after by employers," he said.

One unemployed iron worker at Monday's event hopes Lukaszuk is right, after he says a combination of bad decisions and a surgery last year kept him off the job.

The Labour Day picnic was the last place he thought he'd be.

"Ten years ago, no, I didn't think so. I had wheels and everything but my life went a different way," said Clayton McNary.

ctvedmonton.ca, Mon Sept 6 2010
Byline: Jessica Earle

While Albertans enjoy this Labour Day weekend, recent news reports reveal there is still much to be done to protect vulnerable workers in the province.

"The Alberta government has once again missed an opportunity to save lives and prevent injuries to workers with its watered-down website on employer safety records," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, which represents 140,000 workers.

After nearly a decade of inaction, earlier this year Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk vowed to create a website to post the full safety records of employers, including violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Code. What the minister announced last week fell a long way short of his pledge by allowing code violations to remain clouded in secrecy.

Farm workers are likely to remain at risk in the workplace with reports that the government is set to ignore a provincial judge's recommendations to include them in health, safety and employment standards legislation. After being asked by the Premier to investigate the workplace death of Kevan Chandler, Justice Peter Barley recommended that farm workers must be included in Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to prevent future workplace injuries and deaths.

The government appears to be favouring a safety-education campaign rather than providing the same protection in law offered to workers in other industries. Farm workers also have no access to the Workers' Compensation Board and no right to join a union.

"Alberta remains the only province where farm workers are excluded from occupational health and safety laws, as well as legislation governing hours of work and overtime, statutory holidays, vacation pay, the right to refuse unsafe work, being informed of work-related dangers and compensation if they are injured on the job," says McGowan. "In the nine years the Alberta government has said it is 'consulting' on how to improve safety for agricultural workers, 160 people have died on farm worksites."

Meanwhile, a flawed Temporary Foreign Worker program that doesn't work for foreign workers vulnerable to exploitation, for Alberta workers or employers continues to operate. "This program is so dysfunctional it probably has to be scrapped and replaced with something that works for employers and immigrants, instead of creating a disposable workforce," says McGowan.

McGowan is available for annual Labour Day comments this weekend. He will be attending the Calgary and District Labour Council's Labour Day barbeque for the unemployed and underemployed on Monday, Sept. 6.

Nancy Furlong, AFL Secretary Treasurer, is also available for comments and will be at the Edmonton and District Labour Council barbeque for the unemployed and underemployed on Monday, Sept. 6.

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Media Contact:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-218-9888 (cell)

Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-720-8945 (cell)

The Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program is so dysfunctional that it needs to be scrapped, rather than reviewed and reformed, says the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).

"We welcome the announcement that the province is renewing funding for agencies to protect temporary foreign workers, but this $850,000 sum should be put in context," says Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL, which represents 140,000 Albertans.

"How effective will $850,000 be when it is spread across the whole province to protect the documented 66,000 temporary foreign workers from the exploitation and abuse we witness on a daily basis? How effective will it be in protecting the tens of thousands of undocumented foreign workers who are becoming an underground workforce and are even more vulnerable to abuse?"

Almost three-quarters of employers of temporary foreign workers inspected by the province in the past year violated employment standards, according to documents released earlier this year by the Alberta NDP.

"We also know that many foreign workers have to pay illegal fees of thousands of dollars to recruitment agencies, are forced to work unpaid overtime and live in sub-standard housing with exorbitant rents, and are misled into thinking they will be able to apply for citizenship in Canada," says Furlong.

While the AFL also welcomes the review of the program planned by Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, the only way to fix the program is to scrap it and replace it with immigration through regular channels.

"Alberta needs these workers now and will need them in the future. All who come here to work, including low-skilled workers, should be able to get on the ladder to permanent residency and citizenship,' says Furlong. "Low-skilled workers have almost no access to apply for immigration."

The TFW program is administered by the federal government and the AFL is happy to help the Alberta government to pressure Ottawa to scrap it and replace it with real immigration that works for foreign workers, Alberta workers and Alberta employers.

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Media Contact:

Nancy Furlong, Secretary Treasurer, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-720-8945 (cell)

CALGARY - Alberta Employment Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said today the levying of workplace safety charges in the death of an employee at an oilsands tailings pond shows the province is willing to get tough with alleged violators.

"The hammer will come down, and as you can see, charges were laid," the minister said in Calgary today. "The system works."

The province, however, has faced staunch criticism over its enforcement and prosecution record.

A Herald investigation published in June found that between 2003 and 2007, the province rarely prosecuted companies for safety breaches linked to fatalities on the job. In April, the auditor general criticized the government for inadequately cracking down on employers who repeatedly break safety laws.

The Alberta Federation of Labour wants the province to unveil a plan for more aggressive prosecutions.

"Employers must be made to pay the price for putting the workers' lives at risk, but this is still not being done," Nancy Furlong of the Alberta Federation of Labour said in a statement earlier this week.

On Thursday, the province laid two workplace safety charges against Canadian Natural Resources and seven counts against Clayton Construction of Lloydminster in connection with the death of Rick Boughner.

Boughner died in September 2008 after the floating excavator he was using to clear debris and muskeg from a tailings pond tipped over and sank several metres to the bottom, trapping the 47-year-old father of three.

Lukaszuk didn't address whether the province has enhanced inspections of Canadian Natural Resources' workplace safety program in light of this and other incidents.

In all, Canadian Natural Resources now faces safety charges in four separate cases involving the deaths of four workers and the serious injury of a fifth, according to Alberta Employment.

All of the employees killed or injured worked for companies contracted by Canadian Natural Resources.

The four cases - which are before provincial courts - span from 2006 to 2008, a period when the province surged with economic activity. The most high-profile incident involves the 2007 deaths of two temporary foreign workers from China at the company's oilsands site north of Fort McMurray.

Calgary Herald, Fri Sept 3 2010
Byline: Renata D'Aliesio

CALGARY - Alberta is taking advantage of an economic lull to examine how a flood of temporary foreign workers has affected the province and how to prepare for the next labour squeeze, a provincial cabinet minister said Friday.While some have called for a federal Temporary Foreign Worker program to be nixed altogether, Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said the initiative has served Alberta well.

"I would not be advocating for scrapping the Temporary Foreign Worker program. This program has actually worked very well at a time when there was a severe worker shortage," he told reporters.

Lukaszuk said he's asked his parliamentary assistant, Teresa Woo-Paw, to gather feedback from across the province on how the program can be improved. Woo-Paw is to report her findings in the spring, and then pass them on to Ottawa, which is in charge of the program.

"With the economy slowing down in Alberta, this is the right time for us to stop and consult and plan for the future," Woo-Paw said.

The province also says it is committing $850,000 in funding to agencies that help temporary foreign workers adjust to life in Alberta.

During boom times, thousands of workers from abroad were brought in to fill a variety of jobs across Canada, white-collar and blue-collar alike.

In Alberta, the need was driven largely by breakneck growth in the province's oilsands, where there weren't enough local engineers, tradespeople and labourers to get the work done.

Many companies resorted to flying in workers from their homes in eastern Canada for week-long shifts. Others took advantage of the Temporary Foreign Worker program, for which companies qualify only if they can prove they have exhausted all of their local options.

The Alberta Federation of Labour calls the Temporary Foreign Worker program "dysfunctional" and says it should be replaced entirely by immigration through regular channels.

Many of the workers are forced to pay illegal fees to recruitment agencies, live in sub-standard housing and work unpaid overtime, said secretary-treasurer of the AFL, Nancy Furlong. Workers are commonly misled into believing they will be able to stay in Canada for good, she said.

"Alberta needs these workers now and will need them in the future. All who come here to work, including low-skilled workers, should be able to get on the ladder to permanent residency and citizenship," said Furlong.

"Low-skilled workers have almost no access to apply for immigration."

Alberta currently has more than 60,000 temporary foreign workers. Many were laid off when the economy tanked in late 2008 and into 2009.

Even though Alberta's unemployment rate sits above six per cent, Lukaszuk says it's inevitable the labour market will be squeezed again when the economy recovers.

"One doesn't really need a crystal ball to come to the conclusion that not only Canada, but most western countries, will be facing a severe and very acute labour shortage for several decades to come," he said, noting baby boomers retiring in droves and Canada's natural birthrate is flat.

Even in this sluggish economy, there are sectors - particularly the trades - that need more manpower, he added.

One problem with the program has been de-facto permanent jobs being filled by a string of temporary workers. More needs to be done to fill those permanent spots with permanent workers, possibly by expanding a provincial nominee program, Lukaszuk said.

But the federal Temporary Foreign Worker program still plays an important role, Lukaszuk said.

"General immigration - opening up the borders for anyone who applies to come in - does not necessarily address your labour problem, because you need specific skill sets for specific locations and for specific employers," he said.

There will always be jobs that can't easily be filled by Albertans.

"We have evolved into a society that is affluent and there are certain jobs that Albertans simply choose not to take," Lukaszuk said.

There are also "geographic difficulties."

"Some of the jobs are available in areas that Albertans either choose not to live or choose not to travel to on an ongoing basis."

Canadian Press, Fri Sept 3 2010
Byline: Lauren Krugel