Rise in foreign temp workers questioned by labour groups
Labour economist says program allows firms to keep wages low
The Alberta Federation of Labour called for an inquiry Tuesday after it obtained a government list of more than 4,000 companies given approval to hire temporary foreign workers last year, many in the service industry.
"You look down this list and what you see is McDonald's, Tim Hortons, and Subway. This list goes on. It stretches the bounds of credibility that all of these employers have been using temporary foreign workers to hire skilled workers," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, on CBC News Network's Power & Politics.
McGowan's comments come after a CBC story this week of one man's experience training foreign workers to take his job drew a fire storm of controversy and a hard look at Canada's temporary foreign workers program.
David Moreau told the CBC he and 42 other IT workers at RBC are being replaced by a foreign workforce.
"The new people are in our offices and we are training them to do our jobs," he said. "That adds insult to injury."
The head of RBC denied the bank is replacing Canadian workers with temporary foreign workers. Foreign workers were hired by iGate, an outsourcing firm, which has a contract with the bank to provide IT services.
Kelly Leitch, parliamentary secretary for the minister of human resources and skills development, said the government is looking into it.
"We have some significant concerns about what's going on in the temporary foreign workers program and that's why in (the budget) we've committed to fix the challenges that exist so Canadians can be better connected to jobs."
Labour economist Erin Weir says that kind of review is essential: "This should lead to a broader debate about the temporary foreign worker program. Is it really addressing labour shortages? Or is it undermining job opportunities and wages in Canada?"
Program has ballooned
The program began in 1973 to fill a gap in the labour market for jobs Canadians could not or would not fill — domestic workers and agricultural workers as well as highly skilled jobs, such as specialist physicians and professors.
"The idea of having a temporary foreign worker program is legitimate," according to Prof. Ian Lee at Carleton University's Sport School of Business. "The Germans, other European countries and the U.S. all have this kind of program. The issue is to have the right checks and balances to ensure it isn't abused."
Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, says a government list showing thousands of jobs going to Temporary Foreign Workers stretches the credibility of the program.Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, says a government list showing thousands of jobs going to Temporary Foreign Workers stretches the credibility of the program. (CBC)
But critics suggest those checks and balances have been undermined by recent changes to the program. The high-skill segment made up more than 50 per cent of temporary foreign workers, but all that changed in 2002. That's when the federal government under the Liberals began a pilot project adding a new category of "low skilled workers."
According to a recent report by the faculty of business at Athabasca University in Edmonton, the "low skilled category now dominates the temporary foreign workforce, with the top categories now including food counter attendants, kitchen helpers, cooks; construction trades, helpers and labourers, light-duty cleaners and administration workers including information technology."
In 2006, the new Conservative government expanded the pilot project, and added "fast-tracking" for some jobs in Alberta and British Columbia. The new list of jobs called "regional occupations under pressure," reduced the obligation by employers to seek out Canadian workers first.
The government document obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour suggests employers such as fast food operators like McDonald's and Tim Hortons are using this accelerated program to bring in cheap labour.
The program is aimed at higher-skilled workers, but they don't have to prove they've advertised for Canadians to fill the jobs first, said Gil McGowan.
"They don't have to run over the same checks and balances and that's why we're concerned, because clearly this process is being abused by service sector employers. And it's important to note that the government wants to expand the accelerated program, which we think would be a disaster."
Cities taking more temporary foreign workers
While most think the program is meant to fill jobs in remote parts of resource-rich Western Canada, some of the largest increase in temporary foreign workers have been in cities.
Since 2008, permits for temporary foreign workers in Toronto increased by 60 per cent, in Montreal by 87 per cent and the Atlantic Provinces saw an 80 per cent increase, according to data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
The total number of temporary foreign workers has doubled in the last decade, to 338,189 workers.
"We now have about as many temporary workers in Canada as the entire workforce of New Brunswick," said Weir, an economist with the United Steel Workers Union.
"I think part of the problem is that a lot of companies are going through the motions of pretending to hire Canadians, in order to gain those Labour Market Opinions that they need to get temporary foreign workers."
Weir suggests the foreign worker program often allows employers to fill vacancies without providing training opportunities or raising wages to attract workers.
He points to recent studies showing Canadian companies underperform compared to businesses in other OECD countries, including the U.S., when it comes to training and development of its own workforce.
All Canadians could pay for the expansion of this category of worker, according to Weir: "Expanding labour supply, without an offsetting expansion of demand, increases unemployment and decreases wages."
Allowing cheaper wages
Another change to the program last year allows employers to pay workers 15 per cent less than Canadian workers. Carleton's Ian Lee says allowing lower wages could undermine Canadians' support for the program.
"The problem is it creates the perception that it's being used to undermine organized labour or undermine the market wage rate in that job classification. It's going to discourage public support when Canadians realize an employer can do that."
"Canadian workers are being displaced, training is being ignored and the TFW program is becoming the first choice rather than a tool of last resort," said the Alberta Federation of Labour's McGowan.
Kelly Leitch defends the program.
"When we don't have a Canadian available because there actually isn't anyone available, it's important that we have access to a good program, a sound temporary foreign worker program; that skilled labour can be brought into the country to make sure that firms can thrive."
She said the government is committed to reviewing the program, but had no details on when that review would be complete.
Perhaps the courts will get there first.
On Tuesday, HD Mining International was in a Vancouver courtroom, defending its decision to hire 201 workers from China for its coal mine in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
Two B.C. unions launched the case against the company.
Brian Cochrane, of the International Union of Operating Engineers, hopes the case will result in changes.
"I think that this case is going to give us a chance to look under the hood of the whole temporary foreign worker program."
CBC News, Wednesday, Apr. 10, 2013
Byline: Cindy Pfeffer
Labour group says foreign worker program wrongly used to fill low-skill jobs
EDMONTON - A labour group is calling for a review of a federal program designed to help employers quickly hire temporary foreign workers for high-skill jobs.
The Alberta Federation of Labour says since the program was announced last April, more than 2,400 permits have been approved to hire foreign workers for low-skill service industry positions.
Federation president Gil McGowan says access to information documents show the employers include fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations.
"You look down this list, and it's McDonald's, Tim Hortons, A&W, Subway," McGowan said Tuesday.
"Are we supposed to believe that these are 'high-skill' employment opportunities?"
Some of the other businesses listed in the documents include The Big Moo Ice Cream Parlour in Alberta, Burger King in British Columbia and Pizza Express in Ontario.
McGowan said the permits are being used to replace Canadian workers and drive down wages.
He has sent a letter, along with the documents, to federal auditor general Michael Ferguson. It asks for an audit of the government's approval process.
Under the federal Accelerated-Labour Market Opinion (ALMO) program, employers can pay foreign workers up to 15 per cent less than Canadian workers. The program is designed to process permits to hire temporary foreign workers for high-skill jobs, including the skilled trades, within 10 business days.
"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," McGowan writes in the letter.
Officials with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada did not respond to a request for comment.
McGowan said just over half of the approvals by the department are for businesses in Alberta, including 33 A&W restaurants.
Information posted on the department's website says permits under ALMO have been approved for every jurisdiction in the country except for Prince Edward Island, the Yukon and Nunavut.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said many small- and medium-size employers need temporary foreign workers to fill jobs. The need is most pressing in Western Canada and in rural communities right across the country, he said.
"I take it as a positive that businesses of all skill levels are able to access this expedited process. Our members really need those expedited processes," Kelly said from Toronto.
"We are moving into large pockets of the country where it has gone beyond a skills shortage and has moved into a general labour shortage where there is no one available to take the jobs that are on offer by Canadian employers."
The CFIB says it represents more than 109,000 businesses across the country.
McGowan said if employers are having a tough time finding workers, they should pay higher wages or the federal government could increase immigration.
He suggested initiatives such as ALMO and the Temporary Foreign Worker program are not the answer.
"Workers who want to come to Canada should enjoy the same rights and privileges as other Canadian residents," he said.
"We shouldn't be paying them 15 per cent less than Canadians, and government shouldn't be whisking them in through an accelerated and duplicitous process."
Brandon Sun, Tuesday, Apr. 9, 2013
Byline: John Cotter, The Canadian Press
Province refuses to release unsafe employer information
Ignores recommendation from freedom of information commissioner
Alberta Human Services refuses to release information that would identify the province's most unsafe, "high-risk employers," effectively brushing off a ruling by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
"I think it's frightening," said Linda McKay-Panos of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre at the University of Calgary.
"It could be interpreted to mean that they don't want people to know about certain activities, and that is troubling because the information that is held by the government is our information. It belongs to the public and we have a right to know it."
CBC News filed a freedom of information request to Alberta Human Services in July 2012 seeking all records related to a database containing the workplace safety records of more than 150,000 employers.
The department maintains a searchable online database but it does not allow comparative searches to determine the worst employers.
The department refused to release any information citing several exemptions contained in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP).
University of Alberta political scientist Jim Lightbody is questioning the government's commitment to transparency in light of this case. University of Alberta political scientist Jim Lightbody is questioning the government's commitment to transparency in light of this case. (CBC )
The department claimed, for example, that release of the information would harm business interests. It further claimed release of the information could "harm a law-enforcement matter" and it also claimed the information constituted "advice" under the act and was therefore exempt.
Catherine Taylor, a senior portfolio officer with the FOIP commissioner's office, reviewed the department's refusal at the request of CBC.
But even before Taylor began the review, the department told her it would not "change its decision regardless of (her) findings."
Taylor subsequently ruled none of the exemptions cited by Human Services was valid.
"I would recommend that (Alberta Human Services) release the records," Taylor wrote. "However, as I mentioned above I have already been informed that a decision change will not occur."
CBC News has been granted an inquiry by the FOIP commissioner into the department's refusal to provide the information.
But even if the commissioner orders the department to release the information, it could refuse.
CBC News would then have no option but to seek the release of the records through the courts, a process that could take years.
Professor questions commitment to transparency
Alison Redford ran for the leadership of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party, and in the subsequent election, on a reform platform, including increased transparency and accountability.
To that end, Redford even created a junior ministry of transparency, accountability and reform which is now reviewing the current FOIP Act for the stated purpose of improving public access to information.
University of Alberta political scientist Jim Lightbody said this case "speaks volumes about the Redford government's commitment to freedom of information and transparency in governing.
"I think what we are learning is that, as we move on in the Redford years, transparency is a very fluid commodity," Lightbody said.
"(We're learning) that transparency works when it shows the government in a good light; transparency works when it can promote the government's agenda on tax reform and budget accountability; transparency evaporates when it concerns some things that may reflect negatively on specific Alberta businesses."
Auditor general criticized Alberta Human Services
Nearly 51,000 workers were injured, and another 123 were killed in Alberta in 2011, according to Workers Compensation Board statistics.
In 2010, Alberta Auditor General, Merwan Saher conducted an audit of the department.
Saher reported the department not only did not adequately identify high-risk employers and workers, it also did not apply adequate enforcement to deter them from breaking the law.
Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan believes the government is putting workers at risk by refusing to release the information. Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan believes the government is putting workers at risk by refusing to release the information. (CBC)
Saher recommended the department develop criteria to identify high-risk employers and workers, and step up enforcement.
By 2012, the department still had not responded to his recommendations so he repeated them.
"The department still has not sufficiently defined high-risk employers and workers," Saher's 2012 report stated.
"It also does not have processes that will comprehensively identify high-risk employers and workers and apply enforcement actions that will deter them from breaking the law.
"Although the department has various enforcement tools to motivate employers to improve workplace safety, it has limited enforcement actions for the few high-risk employers and workers who fail to comply with the law."
Over the past week, neither Human Services Minister Dave Hancock nor his press secretary, Craig Loewen, have responded to repeated interview requests made by CBC through the department.
But in an email last week, department spokeswoman Kathy Telfer said it is still working on the high-risk criteria.
CBC News told Telfer it wanted to ask Hancock how his department justified withholding records that the FOI commissioner had ruled should be released. The email from Telfer provided information about department safety initiatives but did not answer that question.
Alberta Federation of Labour also failed to get records
Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said the federation tried for years to obtain the high-risk employer records through FOIP, but finally gave up.
"This bad-boss list is not just a list of a handful of employers who once in a while ignore the health and safety of their workers," McGowan said.
"These are repeat offenders who have been on the government's radar for years, and who continue to be a problem and continue to put their employees at risk of injury, and perhaps even death.
"So this is information that working Albertans deserve to know, and it's what people need to know about their bosses, and about their prospective bosses.
"And by withholding this information from the public, we feel very strongly that the government is actually putting Albertans at risk, and they're doing that unnecessarily.
"And to have them continue to hide this information, even though the information commissioner has ordered them very explicitly to disclose it, is just adding insult to injury. "
CBC News, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013
2013 Health Spending Accounts ltr from FOIP Exec Council
2013 Health Spending Accounts ltr from FOIP Exec Council
The Alberta Federation of Labour filed requests for all documents on health spending accounts, dedicated taxes for health care services or other forms of alternative health care payment. Although these requests have uncovered that there are 26 pages dealing with health care taxes, the request was denied because of Alberta’s opaque and regressive Freedom of Information legislation.
AFL requests for information on health care premiums denied
Edmonton – The Government of Alberta is talking about health care taxes and health spending accounts, but they aren’t sharing that conversation with Albertans.
The Alberta Federation of Labour filed requests for all documents on health spending accounts, dedicated taxes for health care services or other forms of alternative health care payment. Although these requests have uncovered that there are 26 pages dealing with health care taxes, the request was denied because of Alberta’s opaque and regressive Freedom of Information legislation.
“We asked for these documents in good faith, but the government slammed the door in our face,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “We know that the highest levels of government are talking about downloading the cost of health care on to the backs of individual Albertans, and we’re given flimsy excuses for why they have to keep their conversation secret.”
The Finance and Treasury Board denied the request outright. In their rejection letter, the officials said the records “are being withheld in their entirety” because they are advice to officials.
“The right way to make our health care system sustainable is to solve the revenue crisis with royalty and corporate tax changes, not charging ordinary families more for services they need,” McGowan said.
-30-AFL Letters received from FOIP can be found on the following pages:
“Health Spending Accounts Letter from FOIP Exec Council”
“Treasury Answer to HC FOIP”
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].
Oil price gap a handy excuse for strapped governments
According to experts inside Alberta Energy, it's much more profitable to refine more of our oil before we ship it.
Both the Alberta and federal governments are now pointing to the “oil price differential” as the culprit that has forced them to revamp budget projections and talk darkly about the need for cuts to programs, services and public employees.
But is this really true? Or is it just a complicated but convenient excuse that draws attention away from deeper problems?
A 2011 Alberta government research document recently released to the Alberta Federation of Labour after a lengthy tussle with the Freedom of Information gatekeepers suggests that it is a convenient excuse.
“The premier is telling only half the story,” says AFL president Gil McGowan.
The oil price differential is not something people think about, even in Alberta. It’s the kind of numbers game that only experts in the field usually pay attention to.
To put it simply, the oil price differential is the gap between the price Alberta producers get for the heavy oil that comes from the oilsands and the benchmark price for West Texas Intermediate, which is a lighter oil. Right now the U.S. has access to lots of lighter oil, so our unrefined oil is less desirable and fetches less per barrel.
According to the Alberta government, Alberta heavy oil producers are getting $30 a barrel less than the benchmark priceAlberta heavy oil producers are getting $30 a barrel less than the benchmark price. And this is the main reason, says Premier Alison Redford, the provincial treasury has a $6 billion shortfall to deal with. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is using the same excuse for reduced federal revenues.
So, you might ask why don’t we refine more of our oil before we ship it south or ship it anywhere for that matter? Wouldn’t that make more economic sense?
According to the experts inside Alberta Energy who wrote the research paper that was stamped “secret” and never publicly released, it certainly does make more economic sense for a key sector of the oilsands industry, especially when there is a large price differential.
“Stand alone mining is sensitive to changing light-heavy differentials while integrated mining is much less responsive. Despite the fact that adding upgrading capacity makes less sense in today’s market (in 2011 oil was selling at $100 per barrel) our sensitivity analysis suggests an integrated upgrader serves as a hedge against volatility of light-heavy differentials,” they wrote.
In other words, in today’s market where the oil price has slipped and the differential is greater, the oilsands players who mine and refine oil are much more profitable than those who simply mine and ship it south. And profitability means more money for both the overall economy and the provincial and federal treasuries.
“We think the premier and the government should be shouting this from the rooftops,” says McGowan. “It’s the upside of the price differential and we should be taking advantage of it.”
Instead, only 57 per cent of oilsands production is upgraded, and that percentage is expected to slide dramatically in the next few years.
McGowan has long been advocating for more refineries in Alberta. So did former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, the godfather of oilsands development, right up until he died last September.
Not only would more refineries create more value for the resource in Canada, they would provide good jobs for thousands of workers. And wouldn’t refined oil be less of an environmental threat in all those pipelines that are currently being thwarted because they will carry diluted bitumen from the oilsands?
“Government can’t force industry to build upgraders. But it can make the most of an opportunity through good policy, regulation, incentives, even equity partnerships,” says McGowan. “That’s what Lougheed did with the petrochemical industry and it worked.”
It’s not as though oil price volatility is a sudden turn of events. The price of oil has been volatile ever since someone first discovered it seeping from the ground and realized it might be useful for lighting lamps.
Governments could face up to the volatility and minimize the risks. Instead they seem to be betting that no one will notice the truth differential — the widening gap between reality and political propaganda.
The Toronto Star, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013
Byline: Gillian Steward, Calgary writer and journalist
2013 Treasury Answer to HC FOIP
2013 Treasury Answer to HC FOIP
The Alberta Federation of Labour filed requests for all documents on health spending accounts, dedicated taxes for health care services or other forms of alternative health care payment. Although these requests have uncovered that there are 26 pages dealing with health care taxes, the request was denied because of Alberta’s opaque and regressive Freedom of Information legislation.
The Finance and Treasury Board denied the request outright. In their rejection letter, the officials said the records “are being withheld in their entirety” because they are advice to officials.
Upgrading bitumen in Alberta best option, labour group says
The Alberta Federation of Labour says documents obtained through Freedom of Information show that the provincial government has been told that upgrading bitumen in Alberta is a better financial option than sending it elswhere.
"The government's own experts, the government's own analysis, is showing clearly that it makes more sense to upgrade our bitumen rather than send it down the pipeline to places like the United States and China," said AFL president Gil McGowan.
However, multi-billion dollar price tags and labour shortages make upgraders challenging to build in Alberta and there are signs the industry doesn't believe they are economically viable.
Suncor has announced that it is reviewing and may consider indefinitely deferring or cancelling the Voyageur upgrader project in northern Alberta.
"If you want a canary in the mine shaft about the market incentives for upgrading, the decision by Suncor regarding Voyageur is that canary in the mine shaft," said University of Alberta business professor Mike Percy.
Percy thinks Suncor may be taking into account the effect of projects like the proposed East-West, Northern Gateway or Keystone XL pipelines.
He said that margins for upgrading may look good now, but he believes the price differential for western Canadian oil will return to historic levels over the next couple of years.
"It would make it very, very unlikely that an upgrader could be profitable," Percy said.
CBC Post, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013
Guidance for exchange of medical information in Alberta
Human rights commission develops information sheets for all parties involved in managing medical work absences
The Alberta Human Rights Commission is getting the word out to help clarify the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved in the exchange of medical information related to work absences.
The commission has launched three new plain language information sheets that complement the commission's interpretive bulletin Obtaining and responding to medical information in the workplace.
The bulletin and information sheets were developed in response to numerous inquiries the commission receives about issues related to medical absences and an employee's medical ability to work.
Each information sheet is aimed at one of three target audiences who play a role in gathering and providing reasonable medical information about an employee's disability: employers, employees or doctors.
The bulletin includes sample forms that can help the parties involved in managing medical absences and ensuring the appropriate information is exchanged between them. The sample forms include a Sample Medical Absence Form and a Sample Medical Ability to Work Form, which were developed in consultation with the Alberta Federation of Labour, Alberta Medical Association, Alberta Workers' Health Centre and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.
The commission said it anticipates the information sheets will help employers, employees and doctors achieve good communication and effective workplace accommodation for employees.
Canadian Employment Law Today, Thurs Oct 29 2009