What went wrong with the fast-track stream of the temporary foreign worker program
What went wrong with the fast-track stream of the temporary foreign worker program?
A closer look at the Accelerated Labour-Market Opinion (ALMO)
Widely regarded as a failure of policy and of politics, the Harper government's "fast-track" Temporary Foreign Worker Program stream continues to have an impact on Canadian workers.
The fast-track stream, known as the Accelerated Labour-Market Opinion (ALMO) was launched in April 2012. Its original intent was supposedly to help employers hire temporary foreign workers in high-skill occupations, including skilled trades,[1] but the program went off the rails from the get-go.
We're revisiting this failed fast-track stream now because thousands of low-wage employers accessed this TFW stream designed for high-skilled workers. Worse yet, many of these same employers continue to pay these low-wage workers less than average regional wages. This, in our opinion, borders on fraud.
We remain committed to our position that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program be eliminated and for it to be replaced by a responsive and flexible immigration system that meets our labour-market needs.
AFL Release: Oct 25 AFL warns against reviving TFW fast-track
Final Argument of the AFL on Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion
Final written argument of the Alberta Federation of Labour in the matter of Enbridge Application to the National Energy Board for Line 9 Capacity Expansion and Line 9B Reversal.
October 3, 2013
The Alberta Federation of Labour urges the National Energy Board to approve the Enbridge Line 9/9B Project. We believe the Project satisfies the Section 52 public interest criteria by contributing to jobs for Albertans and Canadians and Canadian energy security.
The Alberta economy is heavily dependent upon petroleum exploration, extraction, and processing. According to government figures, the energy sector accounted for 27.6% of Alberta’s GDP.
Many of our members work in upgrading in Fort McMurray and Edmonton. Upgrading bitumen – into a product called Synthetic Crude Oil – is a capital and labour-intensive process that yields a number of petrochemicals in addition to SCO. There are markets for those petrochemicals that form part of Alberta’s petrochemical processing cluster, which was built using public policy instruments in the 1970s. Oil sands upgraders spur a chain of economic spinoffs throughout the entire Albertan economy. Given the far-reaching consequences of these economic spinoffs and diversification, including but not limited to more unionized employment in the Canadian energy sector, the Alberta Federation of Labour has been a frequent intervener in pipeline proceedings at the National Energy Board. In our previous interventions, which we recommend to the Board and have filed as evidence, we oppose bitumen export pipelines on the grounds that they export good-paying, long-term, unionized jobs.