Foreign Workers in Canada same old story!

Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada: New Programs - Old Story

Thursday Sept. 20th, 2007

A presentation and discussion about temporary foreign and migrant workers in Canada with Laurell Ritchie from the Canadian Auto Workers and Jojo Geronimo from the Labour Education Centre.

Agricultural workers picking tomatoes and cucumbers… live-in domestic caregivers… health care workers…. oil-sands workers…. construction and
engineering workers… hotel workers… and even those serving Canadian's most sought after coffee and doughnuts. The range of jobs being filled by temporary foreign workers is widening. But their rights aren't.

These workers are not free to move to another job within the sector they work in. They contribute to health care and EI but are not full beneficiaries. They may belong to a union, depending on the sector,
but they can't really use their contract rights. In certain cases they may be able to apply for immigration, but even then it's at the discretion of their employer.

Some sectors benefit from temporary foreign labour. But they do so at the expense of the migrant workers who don't enjoy full rights while they're here in Canada, and the Canadian residents whose job rights
and access to training may be undermined by these programs. At the same time, Canada contributes to the "brain drain" and export of workers from areas of the world much in need of their skills. Mexico,
Jamaica, the Philippines, Mali, Nigeria and many other favourite Canadian vacation destinations provide workers for these programs.

This is an invitation to learn more from Laurell Ritchie and Jojo Geronimo about Canada's long-standing and newer programs for temporary
foreign workers. Together we'll discuss the implications for our society and what actions might be helpful.

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Some issues with the new low-skill temporary foreign worker program:

• the Harper government is fast-tracking employer applications for temporary foreign workers in Alberta, BC and now Ontario.

• the government's new interest in temporary foreign workers has been triggered by the assumed "skills shortage"

• employers in a wide variety of industries - health care, hotels, restaurants, construction, agriculture, manufacturing – are accessing these permits.

• a BC nursing home management corporation threatened to bring in temporary foreign workers unless there were major contract concessions. When the workers refused, a contractor secured a permit
arguing "labour shortages" and brought in temporary foreign workers from India, Colombia, Philippines and South Korea. The 70 union members lost their jobs.

• immigrant mushroom workers are being released while their employers argue "labour shortages" and get permits for temporary foreign workers. The temporary workers from Jamaica and Thailand get
lower pay, longer hours and fewer rights. It's breeding deep resentment and worsening race relations in a community where new immigrants see themselves being pushed out of their jobs by temporary
foreign workers from other countries.

• The Canadian Labour Congress has called on government to:
- provide more training, apprenticeships and mobility supports for workers already in Canada
- emphasize immigration over temporary foreign work permits which lead to abuse and exploitation of temporary foreign workers.

The permits are also used to undercut the working conditions of the current work force
- fix the immigration point system and its class bias towards elite education and technical training
- consult with labour as well as business about skills shortages and other labour market information.