ALF V1

AFL calls for independent review of shady lobbying activity by construction industry executives

Edmonton – Secret documents suggest Alberta's construction industry is exerting undue influence on government decisions.

In the correspondence (see link below), obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) under Freedom of Information legislation, a representative of a coalition of construction companies and anti-union contractors lobbied Premier Alison Redford by linking large political donations to political promises to revise Alberta’s labour code.

“Albertans deserve to know that their government is making decisions independent of undue influence, and that our elected officials are using their power to promote the public interest, not to advance the private interests of friends and political supporters,” AFL president Gil McGowan said.

At issue in the documents is pressure from construction industry lobbyists to re-open the debate on Alberta's labour code, and to make changes in favour of employers.

“Albertans should be concerned about the methods used by the lobbyists, and the apparent willingness of top officials to give preferential treatment to groups that make significant political donations,” McGowan said.

The correspondence involves dozens of e-mails and letters between ministers, premiers, their offices, and lobbyists for the Construction Competitiveness Coalition (CCC), a coalition of large non-union construction companies. All but one of the lobbyists are unregistered.

“If this is happening with one area of legislation, we have to wonder who’s giving the marching orders when the province looks at legislation in other areas like consumer protection, environmental regulation, energy policy and safety standards,” McGowan said.

In light of the contents of the documents, the AFL is calling for the labour code review to be shelved immediately.

“These e-mails suggest that some people in power aren't maintaining the wall that needs to exist between government and groups that seek to influence government,” McGowan said. “As a result, democracy in Alberta is not as strong as it needs to be.”

One of the changes sought by senior executives of construction companies would make it difficult for unions to engage in political action, including legitimate, arms-length lobbying.

“Do we have a government that represents citizens, or is this a government of big business, by big business and for big business?” McGowan asks. “Albertans deserve answers, and the only way they’ll get those answers is through an independent investigation. And it needs to be an investigation conducted by the courts, not just the Ethics Commissioner or the Lobbyist Registrar because they're both agents of the Legislature.”

AFL Backgrounder:

Labour Code Lobbying

Correspondence: 

7 pgs of documents that Executive Council tried to withhold

Urgent meeting to underscore intended schedule of review

PCL Letters to Stelmach with response

Info Privacy Commissioner letter ordering release

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell)
Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

Unions and migrant workers' advocacy groups warned Human Resources Minister Diane Finley of potential for abuse.

Last year the government announced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), indicating that it would fast-track the processing of employer applications for migrant workers and allow employers to pay them up to 15-per-cent less than prevailing wages. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) warned that those changes would make an already flawed program worse. I met with Human Resources Minister Diane Finley shortly after the announcement and provided her with a book of abuses that one of our affiliates had compiled. The CLC urged Finley not to implement the changes and to conduct a thorough review of the program.

Now the chickens have come home to roost. The events last week with the Royal Bank of Canada are not isolated. This follows on the heels of unions in British Columbia in court battling the government's decision to approve HD Mining's use of offshore coal miners after the company rejected the applications of hundreds of Canadian miners.

The Alberta Federation of Labour recently found that the federal government has granted thousands of fast-tracked work permits designed for employers seeking high-skilled migrant workers under the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion (ALMO). The documents show many migrant workers brought in under the ALMO process are actually toiling in fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations.

We shouldn't be surprised, given the repeated warnings sounded by unions and migrant workers' advocacy groups. What is surprising is that Finley has not offered her resignation over the issue. She should do the right thing and resign over what has happened on her watch.

The Conservative government has been determined to alter the national workforce. The 2007 budget document said, "it is our government's intention to create the best educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world." The TFWP has been the key to that flexibility. The same 2007 budget allowed Canada's employers to have access to temporary foreign workers "for any legally recognized occupation from any country," eliminating the previous limitation to occupations with recognized labour shortages.

Today, companies are employing nearly 340,000 migrant workers — more than our annual intake of permanent newcomers. Between 2007 and 2011, 30 per cent of all net new jobs in Canada went to migrant workers — during a period of high unemployment in this country. This is a concern. If employers need migrant workers to do jobs year after year, then let's admit it is not a temporary situation.

My grandfather came to Canada as a migrant worker. But there was nothing temporary about it. He was proud to become a Canadian citizen, as were so many of our parents and grandparents. Shouldn't we offer migrant workers a meaningful pathway to permanent residency and welcome their families?

Employers have been quick to take advantage of the loophole that Finley provided in April 2012. After announcing the up to 15-per-cent lower-wages scheme, she promised a new monitoring initiative to make sure the rules were being followed. Sadly, that initiative indicated that no more than 20 per cent of employer applications would be reviewed and only after employers had already received permission to hire migrant workers.

The government says that employers and labour brokers have to abide by the rules. Two of the criteria they must meet are: Has the employer attempted to hire or train available Canadians or permanent residents? Will the employer ensure the migrant worker will be paid substantially the same wage rate? There is ample evidence to show that these rules are being blatantly disregarded.

In 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that his department would publish online a list of employers found to be flouting the rules and they would be subject to sanctions. Four years later, that bad-boss website doesn't contain a single name of a single company.

Tripling the size of the migrant workforce in just 10 years, and allowing employers to pay migrant workers less, can only result in wages being driven down for everyone. It is unfair to both workers in Canada and to migrant workers.

The government must redress the ongoing problems with the TFWP. In 2009, the auditor general, after finding significant problems with the program, recommended a comprehensive review. Finally the prime minister has announced that a review will take place, but will it be transparent and meaningfully involve all stakeholders? Solutions do exist. For example, the CLC is calling on the government to establish a National Migrant Worker Commission. It must have real regulatory and enforcement powers to protect migrant workers' rights and ensure that our national labour force is fully utilized.

Ken Georgetti is president of the 3.3 million member Canadian Labour Congress.

The Star Commentary, Tuesday, Apr 16, 2013
Byline: Ken Georgetti, CLC

When Alberta's oil sands started being commercially developed almost 50 years ago, the biggest challenge for companies was finding cost-effective production technologies. Producers such as Sun Oil Company (now Suncor Energy) and Syncrude focused on securing capital rather than launching public relations campaigns.

Industry and the Alberta government might have some regrets in that regard. As opposition to the carbon-intense development of the massive resource mounts, even seemingly benign pipelines have become vehicles in the battle over bitumen.

Energy corporations, as well as provincial and federal politicians argue the ability to move bitumen — either raw or upgraded — to markets is vital for Canada's economic prosperity. First Nations, environmental groups and landowners believe blocking pipelines will halt further development of oil sands and reduce the risk of oil leaks polluting land and water.

Lack of access to markets has Canadian crude trade at a massive discount to U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate, reaching a record $42.50 per barrel discount in December.

"If we do not go ahead with infrastructure, with pipelines to move our resources to tidewater and on to markets that want the resources, we will see them stranded and our legacy lost," federal Energy Minister Joe Oliver said in a recent interview. "The people who will be hurt by this will be Canadians and we don't want that to happen and we are determined it will not happen."

The gap between Canadian and U.S. crude prices is expected to narrow substantially by 2014 when pipeline expansions in Canada and the U.S. start flowing, increasing the value of exports by an estimated $8-billion per year. The discount currently hovers around $22 per barrel.

"The so-called 'bitumen bubble' is having serious consequences for government finances in Alberta and the rest of Canada and is costing the Canadian economy at least $20-billion per year," says Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada president of energy and oil pipelines. "Narrowing this price gap will ensure that Canadians and Americans realize the best possible value for their precious natural resources."

The so-called 'bitumen bubble' is having serious consequences for government finances in Alberta and the rest of Canada and is costing the Canadian economy at least $20-billion per year

Mr. Pourbaix says Keystone XL will also support job growth through increased corporate and tax revenues, adding there will be an estimated 2,200 jobs building the line through Alberta and Saskatchewan. The pipeline also is projected to add $3.5-million per year in Alberta property taxes and $1.3-million in Saskatchewan.

While TransCanada and the Alberta government are focused on trying to convince the U.S. public of Keystone's economic benefits, the pipeline is more important to Alberta and Canada, adds Frank Atkins. economics professor at the University of Calgary.

"If we don't get this, it's a big blow," he says. Keystone will help producers continue the expansion of the oil sands, while its delay — and uncertainty over accessing the U.S. — has some producers slowing or temporarily capping investments in the region.

The benefits of oil sands development extend far beyond Western Canadian borders, Mr. Atkins notes. Within the next 25 years, just under a million people will hold oil sands related jobs, up from 75,000 two years ago, and 126,000 of the total will be held by people outside of Alberta, according to a 2012 Conference Board of Canada report.

But for union leader Gil McGowen, Keystone XL would allow more than the movement of bitumen to market. The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour sees the pipeline drain jobs from Alberta and Canada, high-paying, long-term work associated with upgrading and refining bitumen in the province. "We think that pipelines like Keystone XL will simply act as conduits to take high-paying jobs in upgrading and refining out of the country, down the pipeline, to places like the American Gulf Coast and perhaps to China," he says.

Workers in upgraders and refineries earn about two-thirds more a week than the average worker in Canada, notes the association, which represents 145,000 unionized workers in Alberta.

The province of Alberta's own efforts to promote its bitumen royalty in-kind program in 2009 outlined the benefits of an upgrading, refining petrochemical hub as increasing provincial and municipal revenues by $748-million, adding almost 2 million jobs and increasing the GDP by more than $5-trillion over two decades.

Taking all into account, the loss of refinery jobs and spin-off jobs triple the loss for each dollar gained on exporting bitumen, Mr. McGowan argues.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers notes oil sands employ 112,000 people across Canada, from which goods, materials and services used to build oil sands operations are sourced. But with a tight labour market expected to become more acute as boomers retire, the issue of jobs flowing south is a non-issue, says spokesman Travis Davies.

"This isn't about jobs. The oil sands are going to be supplying more jobs that we can handle," he says. "The economic case for building brand new refineries is a tough one; we have existing product and existing customers that want our product on the Gulf Coast and to the degree that we should take advantage of that [Keystone] is clearly good for Alberta and good for Alberta workers."

Getting the stuff to the U.S. is important, but we would still be a seller with one customer, which is not good for any business

Why go south? The region between Texas and Louisiana has the most oil refining capacity in North America at 8.5 million barrels a day, including about three million barrels of daily capacity for heavy crude. Producers such as Suncor, a major backer of Keystone, much prefer to flow bitumen to existing facilities rather than invest billions of dollars in developing their own. The veteran oil sands producer is expected to red light its $11.6-billion Voyageur upgrader project any day now after warning the economically challenged project was not a "strategic investment."

Mr. Atkins points out Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway pipeline project, from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C., is also an important option for producers and Canada.

"If you can get to the west coast, you can get it to Asia and Asia has huge demand we've got to capitalize on it because if we don't we miss out on a big market," he says. "Getting the stuff to the U.S. is important, but we would still be a seller with one customer, which is not good for any business."

Production of non-upgraded bitumen is expected to increase by 17% to 1.04 million barrels per day. Bitumen upgraded to refinery-ready feedstock is slated to rise to 1.03 million barrels per day.

And come what may, the product will ship to markets, either by pipeline, railcar, truck or barge — all alternatives being used and expanded on by Canadian producers.

The debate on bitumen pipelines out of Alberta could cool down once Keystone XL's future is determined, but don't expect the issues around transportation to go away, says analyst Phil Skolnick, managing director with Canaccord Genuity.

"Keystone is a big fix but it's not a permanent one," Mr. Skolnick says. "We'll run into that situation again when other oil sands projects come online in 2020-2021."

Edmonton Journal, Friday Apr 12 2013
Byline: Dina O'Meara, National Post

The province is investigating claims by nine former employees of a Whyte Avenue tattoo and bodypiercing shop that they didn't receive severance pay and T4 slips after they were laid off last month.

"It was shocking for us, really," said Sarai Jorgenson, former manager of Strange City Body Modification. "On Tuesday, we had a job and on Wednesday we didn't."

Jorgenson says Revenue Canada froze the company bank account in March.

After employees became concerned, the owner agreed to lay them off.

Former manager Sarai Jorgenson said that everyone is devastated because they loved their jobs and their clients. Former manager Sarai Jorgenson said that everyone is devastated because they loved their jobs and their clients. (CBC)

Instead, workers say their records of employment indicate that they quit, meaning that they can't qualify for Employment Insurance.

Some were able to find new jobs. But others are struggling without EI.

"It's really been devastating for all of us," Jorgenson said. "We loved our jobs, we loved the studio, we loved our clients."

The owner of Strange City, Richard Blaskievich, declined an interview with CBC News, but said he has met with his former employees and is trying to work things out.

CBC News has learned Blaskievich has filed for bankruptcy twice before. His last claim in 2010 lists a debt to Canada Revenue worth more than $430,000.

The former workers have spread word about their plight through social media.

The case has caught the attention of the province's largest labour group, the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"This story frankly smells pretty bad and I think it definitely warrants a pretty serious investigation by the provincial government's employment standards officials," said AFL president Gil McGowan.

The Alberta Employment Standards branch has received a formal complaint and will investigate.

CBC News, Friday, Apr 12 2013

Re: "AFL says chains abusing program; Foreign staff fill low-wage positions," April 10.

Alberta Federation of Labour leader Gil McGowan makes some sweeping generalizations about Alberta employers and the temporary workers who come here for a chance at a better life.

Alberta employers would rather hire people from our own communities, but what is a business to do when those applications stop coming in?

The temporary foreign worker program is the last and most expensive option for employers looking for workers. It's also an opportunity for a better life for ambitious workers from around the world who want to experience the Alberta standard of living.

Some have criticized the provision allowing employers to pay up to 15 per cent less than the average rate for a given occupation. The purpose of this rule is not to allow employers to pay temporary workers less, but to give them room to pay according to experience and expertise. Companies can't pay temporary foreign workers less than they pay similarly qualified Canadians.

Eliminating the temporary foreign worker program could shut down some Alberta businesses, and severely limit the operation of many more.

If the temporary foreign worker program is used in bad faith, employers can and should be barred from ever using the program again - a consequence provided for under the existing legislation.

Instead of whipping up a false crisis, groups like the AFL would be better served working with the business community to address labour shortages with long-term solutions.

David MacLean, Edmonton David MacLean is vice-president of communications and policy with Alberta Enterprise Group.

Calgary Herald, Friday Apr 12, 2013
Byline: David MacLean

After news of RBC's outsourcing of jobs caused a nationwide outcry, one small Alberta town said it depends on foreign workers to fill jobs that Canadians refuse.

In Rocky Mountain House, a town in central Alberta, business owner Nikki Searth said she relies on the program because she has trouble finding a student who will accept an $11-an-hour cashier job.

According to Searth, it wasn't always so.

"Our ethics have changed with work. I know when I was younger everybody had a job," she told CTV News. "I find today it's not the case."

The turning point for town was the oil boom of 2007, after which it became hard to compete with the lure of a six-figure salary.

"A lot of businesses scaled back the hours, a lot of them were shutting days they weren't before. And owners were back in the kitchens," Donald Verhesen, a town councilmember, said.

Today there are "quite a few foreign workers in Rocky," one resident told CTV News.

"I know the Burger Baron in the town close to here is getting foreign workers, because you just can't get anyone to work," she said.

In fact, out of the 340,000 temporary foreign workers currently in the country, 85,000 are in Alberta, more than any other province.

To labour unions, that is far too many.

"This is not the way you build a country, but it is the way you break a labour market and drive down wages and conditions," Gill McGowan of the Alberta Federation of Labour said.

However, there are fears from the industry about changes to the foreign worker program.

The tourism association in particular relies heavily on foreign workers.

In a letter to several ministers Friday, the association warned that changes to the program could hurt the $84.8 billion industry.

Rocky Mountain House residents also fear what would happen to the town if there were no temporary foreign workers available to fill jobs.

"It would be shut down because there are not enough young people to work in these places," one resident said.

CTV News, Friday Apr 12 2013
With a report by CTV Daniele Hamamdjian

Canada's temporary foreign workers vulnerable to exploitation

OTTAWA—José Sicajau, a Guatemalan man of Indigenous descent, had grown accustomed to exploitative conditions after several years as a Temporary Foreign Worker growing vegetables on a farm in Saint-Michel, Quebec, less than an hour south of Montreal.

But when his boss allegedly attacked a Mexican co-worker in 2006, striking him with an aluminum pole because the assembly of an irrigation system was not going as planned, Sicajau ran out of patience.

"That was the end for me," said Sicajau, 45, speaking through a translator in November. He was in Ottawa with a delegation of human rights activists, touring the region to denounce the program that first brought him to Canada nearly a decade ago.

Some advocates for migrants want the Temporary Foreign Worker Program abolished, calling it racist and exploitative. Unions say the program is designed to weaken labour power in Canada. The NDP calls it a flawed system that takes jobs from Canadians. But business leaders say it is key to economic growth.

Canada is receiving more Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) than ever. The Low-Skill Pilot Project—a TFW stream that bars workers from applying for permanent residency—grew by over 2,000 per cent between 2002 and 2010.

TFWs now work in nearly every sector of the Canadian economy: in kitchens and hotels, in the tar sands and on construction sites.

Nearly 30,000 "low-skilled" TFWs were in Canada in 2010, according to an October report published by Maytree, a left-leaning think tank.

And changes made in 2011 to the Low-Skill Pilot Project prevent workers from remaining in Canada for more than four years. Once their time has run out, these changes to the law prohibit them from working in Canada again until six years have passed, according to Joey Caluguay, a community organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre, a non-profit group in Montreal.

Caluguay says the TFW program should be abolished and the economy transformed so that workers are free from the vagaries of the marketplace.

"You don't create an economy where disposable workers are necessary, or where exploiting workers makes the economy run," says Caluguay, who provides support to TFWs in the Montreal area, including Filipino machinists and Jamaican landscapers.

Experts predict that in 2015, when visas expire under the new law, a huge number of migrants may remain in Canada as undocumented workers, making them vulnerable to unrestrained abuse at the hands of employers and unable to access social services, says Naomi Alboim, Professor of policy studies at Queen's University and co-author of the Maytree report.

"They're already in a very precarious position," says Alboim. "Once they become undocumented, that will increase very significantly."

In Guatemala City, Sicajau co-founded an association committed to defending the rights of migrants after his experience in Canada's Low-Skill Pilot Project. He says the number of Guatemalans in this "low-skill" stream reached 6,000 last year.

Ten years ago, he was among the first.

A farmer by trade, he worked a plot of land with his family in rural Guatemala, raising corn and vegetables before learning about the TFW program from a food-export co-operative.

He would leave his wife, children and grandchildren for months at a time to work in Canada. Then the alleged attack by his employer prompted him and his co-workers to file a complaint with Quebec's labour standards board. The complaint was rejected for lack of evidence, despite the testimony of three migrant workers, a decision Sicajau attributes to racism.

When he returned to Guatemala, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) demanded that he retract the complaint, according to Sicajau.

When he refused, he says, the agency blacklisted him. Since then, the IOM has been replaced by the Foundation for Entrepreneurs Recruiting Foreign Agricultural Workers (FERME), an association of Quebec farmers with an agency operating in Guatemala.

"We gave our everything to work here and to help support the Canadians," Sicajau says. "And as a consequence of denouncing this, we're kicked out of the program."

He added that the head of the IOM who allegedly threatened him now works for FERME.

To Sicajau, the importance of the work performed by so-called "low skilled" workers in Canada—such as farm labour—is underrated.

"Farming is very difficult because you have to work the land, you have to remove the rocks and stones, you have to plant your seeds and tend to the earth," Sicajau says. "It's sacred work that they do to put food on the table."

Adrian Smith, a Professor of law and legal studies at Carleton University and a member of the non-profit group Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW), says TFWs are vulnerable to exploitation because their visa is linked to a single employer. Rocking the boat can lead to deportation.

"You have to put up with the nonsense that the employer imposes on you," Smith says.

Some TFWs have been killed in Canada, like 39-year-old Jamaican farm labourer Ned Livingston Peart, who was crushed by an iron bin while trying to load a tobacco kiln. Others have been injured while performing dangerous work, or have grown ill from exposure to pesticides.

Indigenous people like Sicajau often find themselves pushed into migrant labour by grinding poverty, ecological destruction and political violence, Smith adds. These conditions make people willing to tolerate abusive employers overseas.

Smith argues that wealthy countries contribute to these conditions through policies like free trade agreements that allow corporations to run rampant. Canada, he says, should allow migrants to stay.

But Conservative MP Rick Dykstra defended the restrictions imposed on migrant workers when questioned by The Dominion as he paused in the lobby outside the House of Commons before a vote.

"Temporary foreign worker program," said Dykstra, a member of the House of Commons immigration committee. "It's not a path to permanent residency."

When asked to justify this policy, Dykstra said: "We need folks to do the work, and there's an opportunity for [TFWs] to fulfil that obligation."

Dykstra said he was unaware of any TFWs being abused. He also said any employer that abused a worker would be blacklisted. The "ineligible employers" list has been blank since it appeared on the Immigration Canada website in 2011.

Top industry associations have praised the TFW program for addressing what they call an acute labour shortage in Canada.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, in a July 2012 report, called labour shortages "one of the greatest threats" to potential development of energy resources, including the burgeoning oil and gas sector—although unemployment rates have remained stubbornly high, especially among youth.

The report also hailed "the proposed expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program."

Rapid tar sands development has meant the job market has been in recruitment mode in Alberta, but labour shortages have developed across the country, according to Corinne Pohlmann, Vice-President of National Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

"The Temporary Foreign Worker Program became a very important tool for employers to fill those gaps," Pohlmann says, adding that many businesses want the process sped up.

Before issuing a temporary visa to a migrant worker, Service Canada is supposed to check whether the employer has attempted to train or hire Canadians.

The bureaucratic process made headlines in October with reports that a Vancouver-based mining corporation had recruited 200 low-paid Chinese workers after posting ads seeking Mandarin-speaking workers. Critics called this a clear signal that the company never intended to hire Canadian workers.

The story of the mine workers became a political football in the House of Commons, with NDP Immigration Critic Jinny Sims saying those jobs should belong to Canadians.

Sims did not reply to an interview request, but stated during Question Period in December that "Canadian jobs are still being given away" under the TFW program.

Nearly 30 per cent of all new jobs created between 2007 and 2011 were for TFWs, according to Canadian Auto Workers Economist Jim Stanford.

Stanford argues that the program puts downward pressure on wages because employers are allowed to pay TFWs up to 15 per cent less than the average local wage earned by Canadians.

Groups including the Alberta Federation of Labour have called the TFW program an effort to drive down wages and working conditions while bypassing unions.

According to Alboim, many of those jobs could employ people who tend to struggle with unemployment, including refugees and new immigrants. "There are people in this country for whom these jobs would be important entries to the labour market," Alboim says. She argues that the Low-Skilled Pilot Project should be abolished.

To Smith, Canada's temporary worker schemes summon memories of the 19th century, when Chinese labourers were recruited to perform the most dangerous and low-paying work on the construction of the railway.

"Over time, we have used so-called foreign labour to do the heavy lifting of this country, to develop much of the infrastructure," says Smith. "It's incumbent on us to open up our conception of who belongs, [of] who's a citizen."

The Dominion, a media cooperative, Apr. 12, 2013
Byline: David Koch, freelance writer

The controversy over the outsourcing of dozens of Canadian jobs by the Royal Bank of Canada has put the spotlight on the much bigger issue of how Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program is being utilized.

The Alberta Federation of Labour added its voice to the debate Tuesday by calling for a review of the federal program because of concerns the program is being used to replace Canadians workers and drive down wages.

There appears to be legitimate cause for concern. The program was originally intended to assist employers in hiring temporary foreign workers to fill high-skill jobs because of the shortage of skilled workers already in Canada. Instead, the AFL points out that since the program was announced a year ago, more than 2,400 permits have been approved to hire foreign workers for low-skill service industry jobs.

The federal Accelerated-Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) program allows employers to pay foreign workers up to 15 per cent less than Canadian workers are paid. It also speeds up the process of hiring foreign workers so it can be done within 10 days.

It doesn't require a degree in rocket science to figure out that being able to pay workers 15 per cent less is going to be an attractive lure for business operators. And it appears businesses are taking full advantage of the opportunity.

"The percentage of ALMO approvals for businesses that largely employ low-skilled workers appears to be in direct contradiction to the stated parameters of the program," AFL president Gil McGowan wrote in a letter to federal auditor general Michael Ferguson.

In a Canadian Press story in Wednesday's Herald, McGowan noted that documents obtained through the Access to Information Act show that employers using the ALMO program include fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations.

"Are we supposed to believe that these are 'high-skill' employment opportunities?" McGowan asked.

Not likely.

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, defended the federal program, saying many small- and medium-size employers need temporary foreign workers to fill jobs, and the need is most pressing in Western Canada and in rural communities across Canada.

"I take it as a positive that businesses of all skill levels are able to access this expedited process," said Kelly. "Our members really need those expedited processes."

The issue, however, is are those workers preventing Canadians from landing those jobs?

McGowan suggested a couple of ways employers could deal with the difficulty in finding workers - they can either offer higher wages or the federal government can increase immigration. Of course, offering higher wages isn't an attractive option for businesses, and for those just squeaking by, it might not be an option at all.

But the bottom line is it appears the federal temporary foreign worker program is not being used the way it was intended, and that warrants an investigation.

Lethbridge Herald Opinion, Thursday, Apr 11 2013

Todd Bender doesn't seem like he'd be in the market for temporary foreign workers: He's executive director of CityKidz, a faith-driven group working with young people in inner-city Hamilton. His focus is local.

But three years ago, while hiring a youth coordinator, the hiring team realized their preferred candidate – a young woman from the Bahamas who had been studying in Canada – didn't have the right visa to work in the country.

"It wasn't until near the end of the interview process the question came up, and by then we were committed," Bender said. So they started filling out paperwork.

"It was quite a learning curve. ... I remember feeling there were just a lot of hoops to jump through," he said. Every year they wanted to keep the woman on, they had to re-post the position and go through an interview process again.

"She was here for three years. Did a phenomenal job. It worked out great," he said. By the time she left, she was awaiting her Canadian citizenship.

Who's hiring temporary foreign workers?

Lots of people: A range of companies and government agencies, according to a document posted online by the Alberta Federation of Labour, obtained through a freedom-of-information request. It lists 90 pages of employers, including the company name and province of each, but not whom they hired, when or for what work.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada told Global News it couldn't give out those details because "the information requested is not public."

The Bank of Canada, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Tim Hortons, McDonald's, Maple Leaf Foods, the City of Vancouver, the Edmonton Police Service and eateries of various vintages are among the thousands of employers who've been approved for accelerated labour market opinions: Their need for foreign workers, they said (and the federal government agreed), was so urgent they required an expedited approval process.

Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker program came under scrutiny this week over claims Royal Bank of Canada was replacing Canadian employees with workers contracted from overseas. The ensuing furor was enough to prompt a public apology from RBC Thursday.

stensibly designed for urgently needed skilled labour, statistics from Human Resources and Skills Development indicate the largest group is comprised of "intermediate and clerical" workers. The program "is intended as a last-resort, short-term solution so businesses can continue to grow," HRSDC said in an e-mail. Its swift growth has prompted concerns not just for Canadian workers, but for the rights of often vulnerable temporary ones.

While the spectre of outsiders stealing Canadian jobs looms large, the reality isn't quite so clear cut.

Global News contacted more than a dozen employers approved for accelerated labour market opinions to ask about their exceptional need for temporary foreign labour.

Many – including the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Maple Leaf Foods and Caterpillar Canada, whose closure of its Electro-Motive plant in London walloped the southwestern Ontario community – did not respond or refused to comment.

The Edmonton Police Service applied for expedited permission to hire temporary foreign workers when the people they wanted to hire – both already working in Canada – needed new visas.

"They were the most qualified," said spokesman David Schneider.

One was in charge of identifying and analyzing risks in the police service's environment; he moved on when his job was complete. The second is leading a review of the police service's policy and procedures.

Schneider noted candidates for these positions are "not easy to find: We look for backgrounds in policing plus skills in that particular area."

The city of Vancouver has hired three workers under the accelerated labour market opinion process, says spokeswoman Wendy Stewart. One is in planning and development, another was hired last year to provide specialized fire engineering services to the fire department, but has since returned to his home country; and one is joining the equipment services department.

"All of these individuals were hired following extensive recruitment processes which failed to identify interest on the part of equivalently qualified Canadian applicants," Stewart said in an email.

McDonald's Canada employs more than 2,000 "international recruits," a spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail.

Tim Hortons has been hiring temporary foreign workers since 2005, spokeswoman Alexandra Cygal wrote in an e-mail.

"Without this employment program," she added, "many Tim Hortons restaurants would not be able to operate full time or, in many cases, remain open at all."

The Conservative government has said it plans to tighten the rules and ensure employers have no Canadian option before recruiting workers from abroad.

"We have to do our due diligence, and we recognize that," MP Kellie Leitch said in an interview with Global News. "We have committed to reviewing this and fixing this program, because we realize there have been some discrepancies. ... We need to pick up our socks."

Global News, Thursday Apr 11 2013

Program intended to address shortages in high-skill jobs

A federal program intended to fast-track skilled workers into Canada is instead being used by a "who's who" of fast-food chains and service industry companies to import low-wage employees, says the Alberta Federation of Labour.

The AFL said Tuesday its research found half the successful applications for temporary foreign workers under the "accelerated labour market opinion" (ALMO) program last year were from employers who typically employ low-skilled workers, such as fast-food chains, gas stations and convenience stores.

"What's disturbing to us about the list is the majority of applications were for employers that were not normally employing highly-skilled workers," AFL president Gil McGowan said.

"It's a who's who of the Canadian service industry sector."

By the numbers: How the program is used in Alberta

The initiative, started by the government last April, gives employers with an established track record in the temporary foreign workers program the necessary go-ahead within 10 business days.

Employers who want to hire a temporary foreign worker must first get a labour market opinion from the federal government agreeing there is no Canadian capable of filling the position.

When it launched the program last April, the government said the initiative was intended to address labour shortages in "high-skill occupations," including skilled trades.

But McGowan said documents obtained by the AFL under access-to-information legislation demonstrate otherwise.

Temporary Foreign Worker Approvals

According to the AFL, half of 4,839 ALMO approvals nationwide between April and December 2012 were "questionable" because they were granted to companies that employ mainly unskilled workers.

Alberta had the highest number of ALMO applications of any province or territory: 2,640.

The AFL considered 58 per cent of Alberta applications — 1,542 — as questionable.

"It stretches the bounds of credulity that all these employers have been using the program to hire highly-skilled workers or managers," McGowan said.

However, one well-known Canadian company included on the list of ALMO applicants — Tim Hortons — said it has a legitimate need for a high number of skilled workers.

"These individuals often have many years of industry experience and education within the restaurant and hospitality industries and are crucial to our business," spokeswoman Alexandra Cygal said via email.

"Every Tim Hortons restaurant requires about four supervisors and at least one manager to handle our 24/7 business."

Tim Hortons franchisees have been hiring temporary foreign workers since 2005, but Cygal stressed they do so only after exhausting their options locally.

"Without this employment program, many Tim Hortons restaurants would not be able to operate full time or, in many cases, remain open at all," she said.

The AFL has asked federal auditor general Michael Ferguson to investigate the ALMO initiative.

The AFL's concerns come just days after reports the Royal Bank of Canada is laying off 45 employees in Toronto and replacing a portion of them with foreign workers and outsourcing the remainder of positions abroad.

RBC has denied the report, saying it is not using foreign workers to replace employees in Canada.

A spokeswoman for Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley said Tuesday the government is "very concerned" about the recent controversies involving the temporary foreign worker program.

"The program exists to address real and acute labour shortages in certain sectors and regions across the country on a temporary basis. It was never meant to replace Canadians with foreign workers," Alyson Queen said in an emailed statement.

"Officials are investigating and will look into any evidence that the program is being misused."

Although McGowan has specific criticisms of the ALMO process, the AFL wants the temporary foreign worker program abolished.

The program allows employers to pay temporary workers up to 15 per cent less for high-skill positions and up to five per cent below average wages for low-skill jobs — but not lower than the local minimum wage.

"The real problem is not rogue employers, but the temporary foreign worker program itself," McGowan said.

Calgary Herald, Thursday, Apr 11 2013
Byline: Jason Van Rassel