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Immigration Minister Jason Kenney continues to remove barriers to ensure Alberta's oilsands and construction industries have access to the skilled tradespeople they need. Last week, Kenney expanded a pilot program that allows foreign workers to change bosses, rather than being tethered to one employer for the duration of their stay.

We think that makes sense and provides a measure of flexibility for temporary workers, as well as some assurance they won't have to endure abuse from their bosses.

"This collapses what used to be a six-month, complicated, bureaucratic process into a one-step process, where they can get a work permit in 30 minutes at the airport," Kenney said.

For the past year, foreign steamfitters and pipefitters in the pilot project have been able to move freely between Alberta employers. Now, other in-demand tradespeople, including welders, heavy-duty mechanics, ironworkers, millwrights and carpenters will also be able to join the program.

A concern raised by Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan bears noting. He says half the companies looking to hire foreign construction workers don't offer apprenticeship training programs - a shortcoming that should be remedied.

Canadians rightly expect skilled foreign workers to complement a homegrown workforce, not substitute for skills training. Both levels of government, and industry, need to ensure that young people, women and aboriginals, in particular, are given a chance to secure trades training so they can have access to lucrative and rewarding careers.

Calgary Herald Editorial, July 23 2012

It has become clear that the federal government, supported by a number of employer organizations, has a plan for transforming Canada's labour market in ways that will profoundly hurt Canadians.

It's a four-prong strategy which includes the dramatic expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the erosion of Employment Insurance, raising the country's retirement age, as well as a systematic effort to undermine the ability of unions to stand up for the rights of working people and improve their standard of living.

Taken together, these policies will suppress the wages and incomes of Canadians, rather than address the real problems in Canada's job market.

As provincial and territorial federation of labour leaders, representing over three million workers from coast to coast to coast, we are calling on the premiers to stand with the workers of Canada against this cheap labour strategy.

Canada's premiers touched on some of these issues when they met in Halifax last week at the Council of the Federation. We think it is critical that the following issues be front and centre when they come together this fall to talk about the economy.

Foreign Workers: The TFWP is not immigration. It's exploitation. These workers, many of whom are desperately seeking a better life, are being used to create an underclass to drive down the wages and working conditions of Canadians. It's not fair or just to them, or to their Canadian co-workers. The recent decision by the Harper Conservatives to allow employers to pay temporary foreign workers 15 per cent less than their Canadian co-workers is a blatant example of their low-wage strategy.

With 1.3 million unemployed, and several hundred thousand more discouraged or underemployed Canadians, our focus should be on providing opportunities for Canada's unemployed and underemployed.

Employment Insurance: Instead of tackling unemployment in many regions of our country, the Harper plan has been to attack the unemployed. The Conservative government's changes to EI are clearly designed to force workers to take low-paying jobs or have their unemployment benefits cut off. This is not about helping the unemployed find jobs — rather, it is about serving them up to low-wage employers.

Old Age Security: Increasing the country's retirement age to 67 has nothing to do with the sustainability of our social programs or with retirement security. It is about forcing older workers who have struggled with low and medium wages throughout their working lives to work two more years. It is about expanding the pool of desperate workers who have no choice but to work for less.

Attacks on unions: Unions are one of the few mechanisms to protect the rights of working people and improve their standard of living. What unions achieve at the collective bargaining table lifts the floor and improves living standards for all workers. Unions also fight for and are instrumental in making gains for all society, like the establishment of medicare, health and safety laws, and fair minimum wages.

But the Harper government has a clear plan to attack unions. The government has undermined collective bargaining in the federal sector, and emboldened employers to drive down wages and attack pensions in the private sector. In addition, through legislation like Bill 377, the Harper Conservatives are attempting to rob unions of the ability to use their resources to defend their members and civil society.

So, what is the solution? Canadians need our country's premiers to denounce this low-wage agenda and stand up for what is in the best interest of working people.

When the premiers meet this fall to discuss the economy, we believe the labour market ought to be front and centre in that discussion. They must denounce the exploitive expansion of the TFWP. They must collectively demand that Ottawa invest more in training to bridge the skills gap, so that unemployed Canadians can fill available jobs.

Premiers should also call for improvements to Canada's EI program, as fewer than 40 per cent of unemployed Canadians are currently eligible for benefits. We need our premiers to challenge the notion that Canada must increase its retirement age to 67. What's really needed is pension reform that will allow all Canadians to retire in dignity, such as improving and enhancing CPP. And finally, the premiers should recognize and defend the important role unions play in our society and our economy.

The provinces have power. Our premiers understand that Canada is more than the sum of its parts.

Canadians need our premiers to push back. And when they do, Canadians, the vast majority of us, will be with them.

Halifax Chronical Herald, 2012 July 26

Submitted by the presidents of the provincial and territorial Federations of Labour: Rick Clarke, Nova Scotia; Lana Payne, Newfoundland and Labrador; Michel Boudreau, New Brunswick; Carl Pursey, Prince Edward Island; Sid Ryan, Ontario; Kevin Rebeck, Manitoba; Larry Hubich, Saskatchewan; Gil McGowan, Alberta; Jim Sinclair, British Columbia; MaryLou Cherwaty, Northern Territories.

AFL says government is wrong and Chartered Accountants are right: labour shortage fears are overblown

EDMONTON-The Alberta Federation of Labour released internal government documents today, showing claims of a catastrophic "labour shortage" are based on a bizarre calculation not used anywhere else in Canada, and never used previously in Alberta.

Calculations using more conventional and widely accepted methods show that there will be more workers than jobs in Alberta for the foreseeable future.

"Albertans have been told by government and business that the sky is falling and that desperate measures are necessary," say Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan. "But the truth is that someone has been playing games with the numbers: the labour market situation in Alberta is not nearly as dire as we've been led to believe."

The AFL obtained Government of Alberta documents showing the often-cited shortage of "114,000 workers by 2021" is based on a complicated calculation that uses obscure methods not seen since 1957.

Rather than a straightforward labour supply and demand calculation – used in other provinces and in Alberta until 2009 - Alberta now employs a "growth in demand/growth in supply" projection model. This model appears to be designed to yield a desired conclusion - an imminent and catastrophic shortage of workers.

The AFL has re-calculated the government's projections using more traditional methods. These calculations show that supply will outpace demand for the entire forecast period up to 2021.

These findings are in line with a report released yesterday by Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. The CGAAC report argues that while shortages of skilled labour do exist across Canada, they are sporadic and tend to be short-lived.

McGowan has written to Human Services Minister Dave Hancock advising him about the Accountant's report and asking his department to return to the more traditional method for calculating labour demand – and if not, asking him to explain why not.

His letter reads, in part: "Labour market projections are used to make important public policy decisions that have profound implications for working people and the economy. We cannot afford to get these calculations wrong because bad analysis leads to bad policy. And this isn't just a hypothetical problem. Inaccurate and misleading projections on labour shortages have already led to bad public policy such as the unjustified expansion the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the unnecessary changes that were made by the federal government to the age of eligibility for CPP and the punitive changes that were recently made to the EI system."

McGowan calls the claims of a catastrophic labour shortage "economics gobbledeegook intended to mislead the public about the actual state of the labour market."

"There is no question there are tight labour markets for some select trades," says McGowan. "But a somewhat tight labour market for select occupations or skills doesn't translate into an economy-wide shortage."

"Select skills shortages can be solved by government and industry investments in training and apprenticeship," continues McGowan. "The provincial government should also be working with the federal government to more effectively connect unemployed people in other provinces with jobs in Alberta. For example, we should be talking about things like making relocation allowance part of the EI program."

"Why did Alberta change the way it calculates a labour shortage?" asks McGowan. "It's likely the result of pressure from employers who have discovered that the notion of a massive labour shortage can be used as an effective political tool to win policies that drive down wages, such as expanding the Temporary Foreign Worker program."

"Working closely with the Harper government, low-wage lobbyists like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and non-union construction groups like the Merit Contractors Association have been pressuring the government to use creative math to manufacture a crisis. This crisis is then being used to win policies that shortchange hardworking Canadians out of wages that keep up with the cost of living," adds McGowan.

"Any claim of a massive labour shortage must be taken with enough grains of salt to fill an oil sands-sized dump truck."

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For more information:

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

Read the Backgrounder

Re: "Canadians expect a balanced workforce," Editorial, July 23.

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan has a legitimate point. The more Immigration Minister Jason Kenney removes barriers for foreign workers to take Canadian jobs, the more difficult it will be for new graduates to find work in Canada.

I am a second-year steam pipe fitter graduate from SAIT. I graduated second in my class with a 4.0 GPA in all courses. I have applied to over 70 different job postings in the past four months and have come up empty.

The reality is, the easier it is for companies to hire a foreign worker who possesses the necessary skill set, the less willing these companies will be to train our country's future trades people. I decided to attend SAIT last year to receive my certificate and begin what I was promised would be a very lucrative career. Unfortunately for me, finding work in the trades is proving to be far more difficult than it was in securing my 4.0 GPA.

If the trend is to continue the way Kenney would have it, then I fear that our future employment in well-paying jobs is dwindling and soon to become obsolete in the interest of keeping other countries' labour forces employed over our own.

The Calgary Herald, July 25 2012
Nujra Ahnis, Calgary

Ottawa - The expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker pilot in Alberta is creating an outcry from the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).

"Canadians should get first crack at these jobs. But the (Stephen) Harper government is more interested in the bottom line of their friends in the non-union construction sector," said Nancy Furlong, secretary-treasurer of the AFL, which represents 150,000 Alberta workers.

Originally launched June 1, 2011, under the Temporary Foreign Worker Annex to the Agreement for Canada-Alberta Cooperation on Immigration, this pilot project allows eligible foreign nationals to come to Alberta to work temporarily in a specific occupation.

Through this program, a foreign worker can be issued a work permit that allows them to move freely between Alberta employers without requiring a Labour Market Opinion.

The Alberta pilot is expanding beyond the steamfitter/pipefitter occupation to include: welder, heavy duty equipment mechanic, ironworker, millwright and industrial mechanic, carpenter and estimator

"Our consultations with Alberta employers and our own labour forecasts show there is a need to expand the pilot to include these high-demand occupations," said Alberta's minister of enterprise and advanced education Stephen Khan in a news release.

The AFL says the pilot project will allow employers to recruit foreign workers without trying to fill the position with Canadians first. The AFL also says there will be fewer safeguards against abuse.

"Foreign workers are supposed to receive comparable wages and working conditions as Canadians, but there are no real mechanisms in place to ensure this happens. Once the foreign workers are in the province, they work at the whim of their employer," said Furlong, noting that a 2010 Government of Alberta report found that 74 per cent of employers who hired workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) had violated the Employment Standards Act regarding pay rates and record keeping.

The AFL is repeating the call to expand permanent immigration to address shortages that may exist in Alberta in select trades.

The organization has long held the position that the TFW program should be scrapped in favour of an immigration policy that brings in new Canadians in order to build the economy in a sustainable way.

"This is not about a labour shortage, it's a low-wage strategy. This is mostly designed to give companies access to a big pool of non-union construction labour that is desperate for work," said Furlong.

Daily Commercial News, July 25 2012

EDMONTON-Does it matter who owns the oil sands? You bet it does! If foreign governments are allowed to expand in Alberta through companies like China National, they'll develop the oil sands in their own best interest, not in the best interest of Canadians. That means they'll keep the best jobs for themselves; they'll do the minimum to protect the environment and they'll ignore Canada's long-term energy needs in favour of their own nation's needs.

The oil sands are one of Canada's most important strategic resources. We simply can't let them through our fingers. And they shouldn't simply be auctioned off to the highest bidder. When it comes to developing resources like the oil sands, we have to start thinking about the long-term best interests of Canadians in areas like jobs and the environment. If we relinquish decision making power to companies that are controlled by foreign governments, we won't have any say on those issues. The Harper government needs to wake up and stop letting ideology get in the way of what's best for Canadians.

The bottom line for us is that no deals like this should be approved until Canada has developed a national energy strategy that ensures that the interests of Canadians are looked after before the interests of big corporations or foreign governments. But not just any national energy strategy. A strategy has to be about more than pipelines and quicker approvals for projects. We need a national energy strategy that says upgrading and refining jobs should be kept here in Canada instead of being shipped down the pipeline; that says that our resources should be developed in the most environmental sustainable way possible; and which guarantees that energy needs of Canadians will be looked after before the energy needs of foreign countries.

The federal government has the power to turn down this deal and they should do just that, just like they did with the proposed foreign takeover of Saskatchewan's potash industry, if this takeover doesn't fit with a broader strategy of ensuring we get the maximum value out of our non-renewable resources.

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For more information:

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

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Growing up in Duncan, as I did, meant growing up in the airshed of the Crofton pulp mill. No one liked the smell but they liked what it represented — paycheques coming home to families.

The smell of the pulp mill in Duncan and other small towns in B.C. was the smell of jobs.

But Crofton is now Catalyst, and Catalyst is in a rocky situation. Crofton employees from the Cowichan Valley are going north to the oil and gas industry. In fact, half of all flights from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland to Edmonton and Calgary are oil and gas workers.

Not much wonder then that some of the greatest supporters of the oil-fields and pipelines are found in the labour movement.

So while so many others are having a grand time dumping on Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, the Building and Construction Trades Department (AFL-CIO), representing Canada's building trades unions, has an entirely different position.

"Pipelines connect jobs," says spokesman Chris Smillie.

The building trades, Smillie says, support projects that bring jobs to their members, and the pipeline does just that. A billion dollars of investment supports 4,000 jobs, and the Enbridge pipeline is a $5.5-billion investment. It's not jobs at all costs, and the building trades website is clear: "Economic prosperity does not have to come at the expense of environmental care for future generations. . . . The men and women of the Canadian building trades live, work and play in Alberta and British Columbia and have a vested interest in protecting the land."

The building trades also support streamlining the regulatory process. Working people are helped by certainty. Projects get killed by a process that drags on for years.

Smillie had some words of caution regarding the shortage of skilled labour in Canada. All governments, he says, need to support apprenticeship programs and ensure that apprentices complete their qualifications. Companies need to make a point of hiring apprentices.

Canadian immigration policies need to focus more on skilled trades. Current provisions only provide for entry of about 10,000 skilled workers each year, but the country could use 50,000. The United States is our best source of skilled labour, and Canada should encourage American immigration. And, locally, schools must support their shop programs.

The politics of the building trades taking the position they do on the Enbridge pipeline must lead to some interesting conversations.

The B.C. NDP, B.C.'s labour party, is strongly opposed to the pipeline. Yet the Canadian building trades are an influential group, and their support is joined by that of the B.C. and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council, and locals of the Construction and Specialized Workers' Union, the Teamsters, the International Union of Operating Engineers, and the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Welders. Other unions remain opposed, including the Alberta Federation of Labour, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers and the United Fishermen and Allied Workers.

Environmental groups are keeping the province on high alarm about the Northern Gateway pipeline. But working people, those who toil in our resource industries outside of the cosy streets of downtown Vancouver, understand that our province is built on oil and gas, just as in the past it was forests and fish.

It is those workers who keep our province and country ticking. They're hoping that the rest of us are listening.

The Province, July 24 2012
Guest columnist: Suzanne Anton (former Vancouver city councillor)

Re: "Foreign worker hiring fast-tracked; Employers in six trades won't have to consider Canadians first," the Journal, July 17.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, is spreading myths about temporary foreign workers.

He asserts foreign workers will become a first-choice option for employers. The reality is that even with the welcomed fast-track reforms announced by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, many federal and provincial checks and balances remain. The process continues to be more expensive and takes considerably more time than it does to hire a Canadian.

In short, temporary foreign workers have been and will continue to be recruited as a last resort.

A second myth is temporary foreign workers are a cheap source of labour that drags down wages and jobs. Statistics Canada reports that Alberta workers continue to be the best compensated in Canada, 19 per cent above the national average.

Another myth is that Canadians are not being trained. McGowan reportedly states that half the companies looking for workers do not have apprenticeship training.

In June, Statistics Canada reported that registrations in apprenticeship programs reached their highest level ever in Canada. One out of every four certified tradespeople in Canada is trained by an Alberta employer. That shows a commitment by government and industry to train Albertans first.

The federal government should be applauded, not chastised, for bringing in much-needed reforms to recruit workers of last resort from outside Canada.

The Edmonton Journal, July 23 2012
Letter to the Editor: Bill Stewart, vice-president, Merit Contractors Association, Edmonton

Faced with a looming labour shortage in a perpetually expanding economy, the door is opening wider for temporary foreign workers specializing in six in-demand trades, announced federal immigration minister Jason Kenney, Monday.

The changes to the Temporary Foreign Workers program will reduce the amount of paperwork needed to hire trained foreign workers who can work as welders, heavy-duty mechanics, ironworkers, millwrights, carpenters and estimators - jobs that are in short supply in Alberta.

The new program - which is part of a one-year pilot project - will also allow skilled workers to move freely between Alberta employers without requiring authorization from Ottawa.

"It sounds like a good deal. We need those skills here in Alberta and if one employer can't use them anymore or goes through some internal changes, they can stay here and find other employment," said Ken Chapman, executive director of the Oil Sands Developers Group.

The changes have scrapped what used to be a bureaucratic, six-month application process, in favour of a one-step, streamlined process.

Companies can now begin recruiting in visa exempt countries, such as the United States, and invite those workers to Canada. As long as the workers make an application to work in Canada as a trades person, they can now be issued a work permit at major Canadian airports in as little as 30 minutes.

Under the current program, Chapman says foreign workers coming to Canada are issued a visa that only allows them to work under one employer. If a worker with skilled labour was laid off or fired, they were often forced to return home if they could not alter their visa conditions.

"We need to treat the foreign workers who come here with in-demand skills and trades in a fair way that meets the needs of industry and the region," he said. "It's a good move."

Ottawa hopes the move will fill a growing void in skilled labour. However, the Alberta Federation of Labour says the pilot program will leave fewer safeguards for foreign workers.

"Foreign workers are supposed to receive comparable wages and working conditions as Canadians, but there are no real mechanisms in place to ensure this happens. Once the foreign workers are in the province, they work at the whim of their employer," says Nancy Furlong, secretary-treasurer of the AFL, which represents 150,000 Alberta workers.

Furlong points to a 2010 provincial report that found 74% of employers who used the Temporary Foreign Worker program had violated the Employment Standards Act regarding pay rates and record keeping.

"Canadians should get first crack at these jobs. But the Harper government is more interested in the bottom line of their friends in the non-union construction sector," she said.

"The result is employers can use these workers in ways that Canadians might not tolerate," says Furlong. "Once a foreign worker is brought in under this program, they can be moved around willy-nilly at the behest of the employer or employers who brought them in."

Fort McMurray Today, Wedn July 18 2012
Byline: Vincent McDermott

For immediate release

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

AFL decries further watering-down of checks and balances of Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Canadians should get first crack at high-paying jobs

EDMONTON - The Alberta Federation of Labour is deeply concerned about the Harper government’s further watering down of checks and balances of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.

“Canadians should get first crack at these jobs. But the Harper government is more interested in the bottom line of their friends in the non-union construction sector,” says Nancy Furlong, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alberta Federation of Labour, representing 150,000 Alberta workers.

Furlong made these comments in light of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announcing his intent to expand an Alberta pilot project that allows employers to recruit foreign workers without attempting to fill the positions with Canadians first. Kenney is also allowing employers to hire TFWs without having to report anything about where they are working. There will also be fewer safeguards against abuses, despite the fact that the previous TFW rules, even with their weak safeguards, has been found to be ripe with worker rip-offs, poor working conditions, and unscrupulous recruiters charging TFWs illegal fees.

“Foreign workers are supposed to receive comparable wages and working conditions as Canadians, but there are no real mechanisms in place to ensure this happens. Once the foreign workers are in the province, they work at the whim of their employer,” says Furlong noting that a 2010 Government of Alberta report found that 74% of employers who hired workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program had violated the Employment Standards Act regarding pay rates and record keeping.

“Under this program, employers don’t have to show that they’ve made any attempts to fill these jobs with Canadians first. Kenney's latest move makes the Temporary Foreign Worker program an employer's first choice, not last resort.

"The result is employers can use these workers in ways that Canadians might not tolerate,” says Furlong. “Once a foreign worker is brought in under this program, they can be moved around willy-nilly at the behest of the employer or employers who brought them in.”

The AFL is repeating the call to expand permanent immigration in order to address shortages that may exist in Alberta in select trades. The Alberta Federation of Labour has long held the position that the TFW program should be scrapped in favour of an immigration policy that brings in new Canadians in order to build our economy in a sustainable way.

“This is not about a labour shortage, it's a low-wage strategy. This is mostly designed to give companies access to a big pool of non-union construction labour that is desperate for work.”

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For more information:

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

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