Thousands of workers come to Canada each year to work through the TFWP; Statistics Canada reports that temporary foreign workers represented around one-quarter of all agriculture workers in 2021. Many of these workers face exploitation and abuse.

Following a visit to Canada earlier this year, United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata reported that “the agricultural and low-wage streams of the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme (TFWP) constitute a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

Last year, migrant farm workers from Jamaica working in the Niagara Region expressed similar grave concerns in an open letter to Jamaica’s Ministry of Labour. The workers were seeking increased support, stating: “As it currently stands, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) is systematic slavery.”

A significant issue impacting migrant workers is employer-specific work permits, which bind migrant workers to a single employer. These work permits grant the employer control over the employment, compensation, working conditions, and immigration status of the migrant worker. Permits such as these can bar migrant workers from job security and mobility and make them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by unscrupulous TFWP employers, labour recruiters and labour traffickers.

“It is imperative that, as a nation, we commit ourselves to upholding the rights and well-being of all workers, regardless of their immigration status,” said Larry Rousseau, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “It’s time to put an end to employer-specific work permits that ensure migrant workers remain in precarity and at risk of exploitation, abuse and mistreatment.”

Employer-specific work permits make it impossible for migrant workers to exercise their rights as workers and seek protections while working in Canada. Legitimate concerns about getting deported or losing employment traps these workers in involuntary servitude.

This exploitative system gives employers steady access to vulnerable migrant workers with precarious work and immigration status. This has led many TFWP employers to use the program as an ongoing business model, as opposed to a program of last resort to fill acute and temporary labour skill shortages.

On this International Migrants Day, Canada’s unions call on government to take concrete steps to enhance the protections afforded to migrant workers as it relates to the low-wage Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) streams:

• Replace the employer-specific work permits with open work permits;
• Provide permanent residency opportunities for low-wage workers; and
• Provide permanent residency opportunities for former low-wage workers who are undocumented.

The post Canada’s unions: Migrant workers in Canada deserve equal rights, protections appeared first on Canadian Labour Congress.

An estimated 500,000 undocumented people in Canada live under constant fear and threat of abuse and exploitation due to their immigration status. They frequently face racism, discrimination and wage theft, work in dangerous conditions, and are denied basic human and labour rights and benefits such as job protections, health care and education. Their precarious and vulnerable position leaves them unable to speak up against the maltreatment they experience.

“Migrants, international students, refugees and undocumented people are struggling hard to secure their rights. Canada’s unions stand alongside them in strongly advocating for the rights and protections they deserve,” said Bea Bruske, CLC President. “Migrant workers do the critical work of keeping our communities and families safe and cared for. They provide essential services to Canadians across numerous sectors, yet face precarity and unfair working and living conditions and low wages. Urgent change is needed to help support these workers.”

The CLC also continues to urge the government to make meaningful and substantive changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to ensure migrant workers have full human and labour rights, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Migrant workers under the TFWP are subject to work permits that tie them to one employer, which bars them from job mobility and security and makes them highly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by their employers while offering them no recourse.

Most migrants in low-waged work do not have access to permanent residency. To address this issue, the CLC fully supports creating more opportunities for permanent residency for migrants, especially for low-wage migrants, which would provide them with access to the government supports and labour protections they require. “It’s past time for Canada to remove the barriers to full participation and opportunities for migrants, undocumented people, international students and refugees. We urge the federal government to take bold and progressive action to provide full and permanent immigration status for the 1.7 million migrants living in Canada, including undocumented people,” said Bruske.

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The recent state of emergency in British Columbia (BC) is the latest example of the clear and increasingly disastrous impacts of our global climate crisis. Communities across the province experienced flooding, mudslides and extreme weather, leaving residents displaced or stranded. This extreme weather came after a summer of catastrophic forest fires in BC, causing untold distress for residents, including migrant workers living and working temporarily in the province.

“These events further exposed the magnitude of the climate emergency upon us. But they also underscored just how vulnerable migrant workers are in Canada, most without access to proper protections and supports” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Like other workers, migrant workers in Canada should have social protections, labour rights and full access to healthcare services.”

Furthermore, Canada’s unions continue to urge the federal government to provide a pathway to permanent residency for those workers who want it, and to end the closed work permit system which ties migrant workers to one employer and replace it with open work permits.

Climate change continues to be a considerable driver of migration worldwide, and as our global climate crisis worsens, the number of climate migrants – people who are displaced from their homes due to the effects of climate change – will only increase.

During the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Health Organization (WHO), and Lancet Migration urged all nations to make community-led interventions addressing the issue of migration as a result of climate change a priority, and to urgently strengthen services and systems for migrants.

In Canada, migrant workers are already a particularly vulnerable population when it comes to navigating major social and economic crises – like the climate crisis or the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. They face barriers to accessing critical social services, including health care and employment insurance, as well as worker protections, all due to immigration status. Their precarious status may also affect their ability to find employment if displaced or if these workers lose their jobs.

A new report from Canada’s Auditor General also demonstrates that the government checks and balances meant to protect the wellbeing of these workers are not working. The report, which reviewed inspections carried out by the department responsible for assessing the pandemic protections for temporary foreign workers, shows government failure to protect migrant workers in Canada’s agricultural sector. The report showed problems in almost three quarters of quarantine inspections assessed during the course of the study.

“Without comprehensive worker and social protections to safeguard against employer exploitation, mistreatment, abuse and discriminatory workplace policies, the safety and lives of migrant workers are being repeatedly put a risk,” said Bruske. “Migrant workers have played an essential part in keeping our communities cared for throughout the pandemic, and like all workers, deserve justice and a fair future.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

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“We owe a debt of gratitude to the more than 79,000 workers migrant workers who have been essential in providing us with food security throughout the pandemic,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Migrant workers are especially vulnerable to the pandemic, and Canada’s unions continue to urge the federal government to take immediate action to keep these workers safe and protected.”

Going forward, the health and safety of migrant workers must be central to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Canada’s unions have repeatedly called for more comprehensive oversight of the TFWP by the federal government, and increased on-site inspections.

Despite an additional $16.2 million in funding to improve government inspections, inadequate oversight of quarantines, outbreaks and basic living conditions continue to put migrant workers’ health and safety at great risk. Inspection standards must be greatly improved to ensure that migrant workers’ lives are no longer in danger.

“Migrant workers deserve justice and fairness. It’s time for the government to make real improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and to dismantle the existing imbalance that currently makes migrant workers extremely vulnerable,” said Bruske.

Canada’s unions continue to call on the government to:

• Significantly improve federal government oversight of the TFWP, and increase the number of unannounced on-site inspections of agriculture and agri-food operations using the TFWP;
• Replace the closed employer-specific work permit system with open work permits for migrant workers;
• Provide opportunities for migrant workers, especially low-wage workers to permanently immigrate to Canada, including the removal of barriers that are deterrents to successful immigration for migrant workers;
• Ensure full access to healthcare services for migrant workers;
• Increase labour rights and social protections for migrant workers;
• Restore migrant workers’ access to parental benefits and remove restrictions on migrants’ access to regular benefits; and
• Establish a tripartite task force of government, employers and labour to develop a broader labour force strategy and an implementation plan for the agriculture and agri-food sector including the consideration of the migrant workforce.

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

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The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified historical xenophobic, anti-Asian sentiment and rhetoric, which has resulted in increased violence against members of Asian communities. Live data from Fight COVID Racism shows that from March 10, 2020 to mid-April 2021, there were 994 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate crimes across Canada.

“May is Asian Heritage Month, and we’re taking this opportunity to highlight the struggle Asian communities are currently facing,” said Larry Rousseau, CLC Executive Vice-President. “There is no place for hate in Canada, and Canada’s unions are committed to advancing anti-racism efforts to confront and counter hate, and promote safer workplaces and communities.”

Canada’s unions are marking Asian Heritage Month by honouring the historical struggles of people of Asian descent in Canada and the community activism that challenged this country’s racist and discriminatory laws, practices and policies.

Asian communities helped build this country, yet they have faced exploitation, discrimination and racism, both in their workplaces and broader society. From the internment and property seizure of Japanese Canadians, to Chinese migrant workers who were first brought to Canada to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, to the Vancouver anti-Asian riots in the early 1900s, to the Continuous Journey Regulation and the Komagata Maru incident, the history of Asian communities in Canada includes experiences of significant adversity, as well as hard-won triumphs.

Members of Asian communities overcame these struggles by coming together and organizing in order to successfully challenge racist and discriminatory immigration laws and practices. Today, Asian community members continue to contribute greatly to the economy and to Canadian society, and provide a rich diversity of heritage, culture and perspectives across all sectors and industries.

In addition to a rise in anti-Asian sentiment, the pandemic has also increased the exploitation of workers in Canada, including migrant workers—many of whom are South Asian and South-East Asian women.

Throughout the pandemic, essential and migrant workers have made critical contributions to the wellbeing and safety of our communities. However, many have been working in dangerous conditions and without adequate protections, leaving them vulnerable and dependant on employers.

“While we welcome the recent federal announcement regarding the introduction of pathways to permanent residency for temporary essential workers, more action is needed for workers,” said Rousseau. “The limited nature of this new policy means that countless workers will continue to fall through the gaps. We urge the federal government to offer these pathways to permanent residency to all migrant workers, which would provide them with access to the government supports and labour protections they need.”

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The proposed plan will bring skilled workers, family members and refugees to Canada between 2021 and 2023.

“For many years, Canada’s unions have called on the government to increase immigration targets. We welcome today’s announcement as an important part of our country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “A robust immigration plan will help increase our workforce and productivity. This in turn strengthens the social programs and services that support our communities.”

Lockdowns and other measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 resulted in a significant shortfall in Canada’s immigration numbers this year. Only 128,425 people were settled in 2020, far under the 341,000 that was previously targeted.

Furthermore, there are worker shortages in various sectors across Canada, which necessitate a ramping up of the country’s immigration levels. Despite current high unemployment levels in Canada due to the pandemic, the need for immigration persists including to support essential services in health care, long-term care facilities, farms and in meat processing plants, among others, as well as in high-skill fields in STEM.

Canada’s unions also welcome the federal government’s signal today that it will offer a pathway to permanent residency to immigrants and migrant workers already in Canada.

These workers must also have comprehensive worker protections in order to prevent abuse, mistreatment and discriminatory workplace policies.

“Workers deserve a chance to continue their lives here, regardless of the industry they work in. The federal government has provided a temporary measure for asylum claimants working in healthcare to apply for permanent residency, and this should apply to workers in all sectors,” said Marie Clarke Walker, Secretary-Treasurer at the Canadian Labour Congress.

“Our country and our economy are stronger with a rich and diverse workforce.”

To arrange an interview, please contact:
CLC Media Relations
media@clcctc.ca
613-526-7426

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Migrant workers, undocumented people, people living on low-incomes, international students, racialized workers and refugees are particularly vulnerable to the health fallout of the current pandemic, as well as the economic impacts of the crisis.

“It is critical that the strategies around containing the virus and supporting workers includes these vulnerable populations,” said Larry Rousseau, Executive Vice-President at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). “This includes upholding the human rights of asylum seekers who present at irregular crossings along Canada’s border. No one should be turned away but screened for the virus while being provided with the support guaranteed under our international obligations to refugees and migrants.”

The CLC echoes the Migrant Rights Network call for immediate government action to ensure:

• healthcare for all, including those without status;
• comprehensive worker protections, including paid emergency leave;
• a stop on detentions and deportations;
• increased funding for community supports, including food banks; and
• emergency shelters.

Furthermore, the CLC is calling on everyone to be vigilant against anti-Asian racism due to the unfair linkages being made with Chinese communities and the virus.

“We know there will be those who take advantage of a global crisis to unfairly scapegoat certain groups. This is absolutely unacceptable. Racism, xenophobia, and expressions of hate have no place in our communities. Canada’s unions will continue to promote inclusive communities.

“This global pandemic must bring about the best in all of us. Together, we will get through the immense challenges we are now facing,” said Rousseau.

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“The agri-food pilot is an important first step toward creating good, stable employment from otherwise precarious and insecure jobs. We have fought hard for more permanent immigration to replace the revolving door of vulnerable migrant workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.

“Low-waged migrant workers have limited opportunities for permanent residency in Canada, which leaves them vulnerable. A pathway to permanent residency will end the insecure nature of their employment and immigration status,” said Yussuff.

Migrant workers are brought in to fill jobs in the agri-food sector when qualified Canadians or permanent residents are not available. Many migrant workers in this sector return year-after-year under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Currently, the TFWP leaves migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers and labour recruiters as it ties the worker to one employer. While this pilot program does provide a pathway to permanent residency, protection and supports for workers must be strengthened so that employers who already control workers’ employment prospects don’t also have control over workers’ immigration status.    

“The agri-food sector is a vital part of the Canadian economy and the growth of the sector depends on the tremendous contribution from all agri-food workers, including migrant workers,” said Yussuff.

“Canada’s unions are committed to seeing this pilot succeed. A tripartite approach with unions, employers and government working together is the best way to ensure that this program is successful,” he added.

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What is “decent work”?

• Access for all workers to quality jobs, dignity, equality, and safe working conditions.

• Putting workers at the centre of development and giving them a voice in what they do.

This year’s global focus is on struggles to win living minimum wages and a pay raise for all workers.

The Canadian Labour Congress has outlined steps Canada needs to take in a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, outlining several steps the federal government can take to ensure better access to decent work at home and abroad.

“We need federal leadership on decent work, not just so that we improve work for Canadians, but so we can set an example for other countries too,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.

What our federal government can do

• Ensure the creation of high-quality jobs needed by millions of unemployed, underemployed, and precariously-employed workers in Canada.

• Promote and uphold collective bargaining rights at home and abroad.

• Restore the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, indexing it to wage growth, and bring back full employment as a primary policy target.

• Create public employment programs for regions and populations with high unemployment or a high concentration of low-wage workers. That should include job creation programs for youth, Indigenous and Northern communities, newcomers to Canada, Alberta and the Atlantic provinces;

• Commit to long-term funding for high-quality, public, universal, affordable child care;

• Adopt strong, proactive pay equity legislation incorporating the recommendations of the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force;

• Use all available tools to eliminate discrimination in hiring, promotion, and pay, including strengthening the Employment Equity Act and the Federal Contractors Program;

• Introduce paid sick leave and paid leave for victims of domestic violence for workers in the federal jurisdiction, and encourage provinces and territories to follow suit;

• End the systematic violation of migrant workers’ rights by abolishing tied work permits and implementing a proactive compliance assessment and enforcement regime;

• Promote fairness by tightening regulations on hours of work and scheduling;

• Increase staffing, training and resources for federal employment standards and health and safety inspectors; and

• Improve the Wage Earner Protection Program to better protect wages when employers go bankrupt or simply disappear.

Canada’s unions are also asking the federal government to promote decent work in global supply chains and the extractive sectors by:

• Appointing a human rights ombudsperson to investigate how Canadian companies’ foreign operations impact human rights;

• Introducing national due diligence legislation with a monitoring mechanism and an enforcement procedure for large companies.

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The video tells the story of an agricultural worker who must leave her home and family behind to work long hours in isolated and dangerous conditions – a situation faced by many migrants entering through Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). It asks Canadians to take a minute to think about the migrant workers who harvest our food, care for our children and elderly relatives, and perform many other jobs in our communities.

Migrant workers come to Canada with a hope of earning a better future for themselves and their families. They pay income taxes, and contribute to EI and CPP. But those coming through the TFWP – 91,211 people in 2015 – do not receive the same rights or protections as other workers in Canada.

Canada’s unions believe that no matter where you’re from, if you work in Canada, you should be treated fairly. In collaboration with migrant worker organizations, unions support programs that educate and empower migrant workers. They also advocate for policy change.

A fair future for migrant workers must include:

• A pathway to permanent resident status for all migrant workers who want to stay in Canada;
• Legislation to protect migrant workers’ human and labour rights, including the right to join a union;
• A system to enforce those rights and prevent exploitation; and
• Empowerment through access to justice, services and information.

To learn more about how unions support migrant workers’ rights, visit: http://www.fairnessworks.ca/migrant-workers/

December 10^th is International Human Rights Day.

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Overall, HUMA released a pro-business, pro-employer report with few positive concrete recommendations for Canadian and migrant workers.

“This report recommends expanding the temporary foreign worker program, and making it more accessible to employers, while increasing the existing two-tiered labour market. Migrant workers are being treated as a disposable workforce, and that’s unacceptable,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff.

The recommendations would establish a cap on the share of migrant workers employed by businesses of at least 20% (plus additional numbers based on sector and geography), instead of the current maximum of 10%.

The report also recommended creating a “trusted” employer stream that would fast-track processing for some companies, and even exempt certain corporations from providing plans to transition high-skill migrant jobs to the Canadian workforce.

“They’ve made very few recommendations to protect workers’ labour and human rights. This report is just a blueprint for continued corporate profiteering off the backs of Canadian and migrant workers,” said Yussuff.

The report did call for replacing employer-specific permits with sectoral and location-based work permits, which could reduce some risks of employer abuse and exploitation.

The recommended changes would also end the “4-in, 4-out” rule where migrant workers could only work for four years in Canada before becoming ineligible for the following four years.

But key concerns remain. The HUMA report only recommends further review of pathways to permanent residency for migrant workers, regulation of recruiters, and compliance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

It is also silent on the lack of medical support for migrant workers injured on the job and barriers to accessing services like Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, even though migrant workers pay income taxes and EI premiums.

A comprehensive, independent, and transparent audit of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is needed to fully account for the abuse of workers’ rights that have been a chronic feature of the program. Unfortunately, the committee’s hastily-conducted study was a pale substitute for a proper accounting of this program.

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Because Canada lacks adequate child care and home care programs, many Canadian families rely on migrant domestic workers to help care for children, aging loved ones and people with disabilities. These workers, who are usually women, racialized and mothers themselves, contribute to our economy but do not enjoy the same rights and benefits as other workers in Canada. The Canadian Labour Congress believes that domestic workers’ rights should not rely on the mere compassion of employers but must be guaranteed by governments, just like other workers. Domestic workers should have a path to permanent residency in order to live, work, study, access social benefits and be protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Unfortunately, the federal government’s recent changes to the Live-in Caregivers’ program has had a negative impact on migrant domestic workers. In fact, since the changes, only one in ten applications for permanent residency status has been approved. This not only has implications for individual live-in caregivers, but also makes it more difficult for their families to reunite.

Domestic work is among the lowest paid work in any labour market and these workers experience poor and even abusive working conditions. Many live-in caregivers do not get a day off and most are making little more than minimum wages with no benefits. Currently Quebec is the only province that has an act to protect the basic rights of live-in caregivers by providing minimum standards in wages, days off and other compensations. 

The federal government should not be exploiting vulnerable live-in caregivers but rather supporting them with basic work rights, a solid path to permanent residency and by investing in a national child care and home care program Canada will be a better place for all workers.

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The TFW program has existed for years.  But now the government has announced it will impose a four year limit on the cumulative duration migrant workers can work in Canada under the program.

This means they will have to leave Canada after four years work. And they can’t apply to work here for another four years.

On April 1, 2015 thousands of migrant workers in Canada will hit this four year limit.  Work permits will be denied unless they can demonstrate that one of the limited exceptions to the cumulative duration rule applies to them.

This rule applies mainly to migrant workers performing lower-skilled work and those working in skilled trades and technical jobs.  Most of these workers are racialized.  Some of these migrant workers may end up staying in Canada as illegal immigrants and that makes them vulnerable.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) wants the federal government to allow all migrant workers who are already working in Canada access to permanent residency status. Also, workers who have reached the four year limit should not be deported.

All workers in Canada have the equal right to dignity, safety, security and justice. People who come to Canada to work have the right to move freely and settle and the government must stop supplying a disposable workforce to employers.

The revolving door affects both migrant workers and Canadian workers:

• A disposable work force drives wages down.
• Employers choose to hire cheaper labour instead of honestly trying to attract Canadian workers for jobs.
• They have no incentive to maintain standards for wages, benefits and working conditions.
• This practice encourages low standards, intimidation tactics and poor working conditions for the migrant worker.
• Nobody wins.  It’s time to make this program work for migrant workers and Canadians.

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Migrant workers in Canada struggle with discrimination, insecurity, and dangerous work conditions on a daily basis. The single greatest source of this insecurity is the fact that that migrant workers in the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) are unfree, structurally dependent on employers and as a consequence, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Recently, the Government of Canada announced changes to the monitoring, inspection, and compliance enforcement associated with the TFWP. In our view, no amount of government oversight will fully compensate for the fact that migrant workers are inherently vulnerable to employer abuse. Until temporary migrant workers are given access to permanent residency and the legal means and support to escape abusive employers, no amount of compliance efforts will be sufficient to safeguard migrant workers’ rights.

Instead of ensuring access to permanent residency for all migrant workers coming to Canada, the government has moved in the opposite direction, restricting access to permanent residency for Live-in Caregivers. The government’s decision is a cruel and frustrating one for migrant caregivers, and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) calls on the government to reverse this decision and extend access to permanent residency on arrival for caregivers coming to Canada.

On this International Migrants Day, the CLC invites all Canadians to contact their elected representatives and ask for justice and fairness for migrant workers.

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Right now, Live-in Caregivers have to put up with low wages, isolation, and sometimes dangerous working conditions for 2 years before they can apply for the right to stay in Canada.

Removing this pathway to permanent residency and requiring caregivers to apply through the Express Entry program will dramatically reduce the number of caregivers who gain access to permanent status in Canada.

In a positive step, Ministers Chris Alexander and Jason Kenney announced that caregivers will no longer be forced to live in the homes of their employers. “We’ve been urging the government for years to end the live-in requirement, and the exploitation and abuse that too often goes along with it,” Yussuff said. “But making it harder to achieve permanent status is a huge step in the wrong direction.”

The government is proposing to create two new streams, one for child care providers, and one for caregivers for people with significant medical needs. Principal applicants to each stream will be capped initially at 2,750 each year, but the government refuses to reveal its plans for permanent residency until November 30th.

Currently, live-in caregivers are also unable to access education and training opportunities to maintain and enhance their skills and professional qualifications. The CLC calls on the government to ensure migrant caregivers’ access to training in early childhood education, personal support work courses, and health-care aide programs so that caregivers can upgrade their skills.

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It’s time to put the focus on long-term solutions for meeting Canada’s skilled labour needs and phase out the parts of this program that are being abused – in particular the low-skills, low-wage part of the program.

What Minister Kenney did today was save the low-skills TFW program for employers who’ve become addicted to the low-wage temporary workers. Rationing the number of applications and raising fees is no deterrent for employers hooked on cheap labour – some of which are among the country’s largest and most profitable businesses including Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s.

Patching over the program again and again with more red tape, as the Minister has done a number of times in recent years, isn’t the answer either. Replacing it with a program that invests in homegrown skills to permanently deal with labour shortages and one that offers fairness to skilled workers from abroad by welcoming them into Canada with an opportunity to stay is the solution that works best.

Telling Canadians they come first in the job market (repeatedly) is the height of Orwellian sloganeering when Canada’s expenditures on workplace training are among the lowest in the industrialized world and employer investment in training has fallen by 40% over a generation.

Add to this the sad fact that only 19% of skilled trades employers train apprentices, and only half of all apprentices currently complete their training and the problem is laid bare.

Building a highly skilled workforce is central to our country to confront the economic challenges it faces today and will face in the years ahead. The time for cheap, temporary fixes to accommodate employers unwilling to train and invest in homegrown skills is over.

All that’s missing is strong leadership and serious investment from the federal government. We didn’t see that today.

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“These employers have been abusing the TFWP and it is high time that the government took action,” says CLC president Ken Georgetti. “My question is why it took so long, because the labour movement has been detailing these abuses and presenting them to the government for years.”

Georgetti was responding to news that Jason Kenny, the federal employment minister, had announced an immediate moratorium on the fast-food industry’s access to the TFWP. McDonald’s restaurants have imported at least 3,400 workers under the TFWP and Tim Horton’s an estimated 4,500. Yet Statistics Canada reports that in January 2014 there were 6.7 unemployed Canadian workers for each job vacancy.

Some fast food restaurants have reportedly been giving full-time hours to migrant workers while reducing both the hours and salaries of other workers. There have also been reports of restaurant franchisees refusing to pay overtime to migrant workers and renting crowded accommodation to them at inflated prices.

Georgetti says, “The TFWP was intended to bring in skilled workers when labour shortages could be documented, but employers have used the program to import workers across the board in a way that exploits both migrant and Canadian workers.”

Georgetti adds, “Migrant workers do not have the same level of workplace protections and rights as members of the national workforce and are coerced to perform under conditions that undercut the security of their fellow workers. That is no way to build an economy based on good jobs that pay family-supporting wages.”

A recent study, found that widespread use of the TFWP in Alberta and British Columbia boosted the rate of unemployment in those provinces, particularly among young workers. The Institute said that the government’s changes to the TFWP made it easier for employers to hire migrant workers even though there was little hard evidence of labour shortages in many occupations.

Georgetti says, “We really question whether this program should exist at all. If there is a demonstrated need to import workers in specific industries, then we should offer those workers a path to citizenship. But in the interim, we want a full, open and transparent review of the TFWP.”

The CLC will hold its 27th constitutional convention in Montreal between May 5-9 and delegates will debate several resolutions regarding the TFWP.

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 111 district labour councils.

Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca
Follow us on Twitter @CanadianLabour

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“The labour movement has been saying for years that the TFWP is being abused by employers,” says CLC President Ken Georgetti. “These latest episodes involving McDonald’s restaurants proves our point.”

Recent reports indicate that McDonald’s restaurants have imported at least 3,400 workers under the TFWP at a time when Statistics Canada reports that in January 2014 there were 6.7 unemployed Canadian workers for each job vacancy. Some McDonald’s restaurants have reportedly been giving full-time hours to migrant  workers while reducing both the hours and salaries of other workers. It is also reported that in Lethbridge, Alberta a local McDonald’s franchisee rents accommodation to migrant workers, with as many as eight living in each suite. Employment Minister Jason Kenney’s office says that it has launched an investigation and the minister has expressed his concerns to McDonald’s about the potential abuse of the TFWP.

“We have heard all of this before,” says Georgetti. “The TFWP is abused by unscrupulous employers and the federal government promises to investigate, but nothing really changes. In the last decade the number of temporary work permits granted to employers has tripled. The current federal government has provided the tools for employers to import 500,000 migrant workers and all of this at a time of continuing high unemployment in Canada.”

Georgetti says that both migrant and Canadian workers are being abused as a result of the TFWP. “Migrant workers do not have the same level of workplace protections and rights as members of the national workforce and are forced to perform under conditions that undercut the security of other workers. That is no way to build an economy based on good jobs that pay family-supporting wages.”

Georgetti adds that the labour movement is concerned that employer abuses of  TFWP could turn migrant and other workers against one another. “The Canadian labour movement wants to see a return to a robust federal immigration regime that increases annual immigration numbers. If we need workers, then we should offer them a path to citizenship. But in the interim, we want a full, open and transparent review of the TFWP.”

The CLC will hold its 27th constitutional convention in Montreal between May 5-9 and delegates will debate several resolutions regarding the TFWP.

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“The government is trying to patch gaping holes in the integrity of the TFWP with half-hearted reforms,” says Georgetti, “but this falls far short of what is needed.”

Earlier this year it became clear that RBC, Canada’s largest bank, was displacing part of its Information Technology (IT) workforce by using the TFWP.  Financial sector workers pointed out the practice of off-shoring and displacing workers was a common practice among the banks, who used either temporary work permits under the TFWP or another mechanism called the Intra–Company Transfer (ICT) visa option.

The ICT option was designed for employers to secure temporary work permits for senior managers and specialized IT personnel, but the number of temporary work permits being issued to potentially offshore and displace workers increased from over 7000 in 2006 to nearly 14,000 in 2011. Georgetti says, “Nothing in the reforms now announced by the government address this situation.”

He also points out that despite claims by the government that a cost recovery fee would be applied to employers and brokers using the program, the individual fee rate the government has established is less than the costs of processing applications.

“In 2009-10, the cost to process an application was calculated to be $342,” says Georgetti.  “The changes now will only levy a fee of $275 per worker.”

He adds, “Earlier this year, when it was revealed that employers have benefited from a subsidy that amounts to $35.5 million annually, then Minister Jason Kenney promised to put in place measures to cover the costs and provide a financial disincentive for employers to default to using the TFWP. This new measure falls far short of a meaningful disincentive.”

Georgetti says that other reforms, such as increasing the length of time employers must advertise or adding questions to the application forms that will attest to employer’s integrity to not displace workers, will rely on having employers and labour brokers act with integrity. “With less than 14 staff in the TFWP unit dedicated to investigations and over 340,000 temporary work permits issued in 2012 alone, this translates into a case load of more than 24,000 applications for each worker to monitor. In addition, there are just too many cases that have been well documented illustrating that brokers and some employers simply don’t follow the rules that this program operates under. Nothing in the government’s announcement shows a real commitment to cracking down on the abuses that remain with this program.”

The CLC continues to ask for comprehensive reforms.  These include: closing the loophole that allows employers access to migrant labour for unskilled or semi-skilled occupations, which are predominantly low wage jobs; using an objective and transparent methodology to verify labour shortages, so that only when shortages are proven will an employer be allowed to apply for a temporary work permit; establishing hard caps on the number of temporary work permits by occupational sector; requiring detailed plans that are regularly monitored to ensure a transition that utilizes the national workforce; investing seriously in job training, workforce development and apprenticeships; providing migrant workers currently in the country with an accessible pathway to permanent resident status, while returning to a national policy of permanent immigration.

“We want to see real reforms to this program rather than tinkering with temporary migration schemes that continue to exploit all workers,” says Georgetti.

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“Roughly 75% of the new jobs created in Canada in 2010 and 2011 were filled by temporary foreign workers despite the fact that 1.4 million Canadian residents were unemployed,” says Ken CLC President Ken Georgetti. The CLC research used numbers from the Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey and from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The federal government was forced in April to make changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) after clear evidence that employers were using the program to import vulnerable migrant workers at a time of continuing high  unemployment in Canada.

“Employers and the federal government have tried to deny what is happening but we have crunched the numbers and the trends are clear. In most provinces the importation of migrant workers accounts for more than 50% of net new jobs in the years 2008-2011,” Georgetti says. “We believe that employers and Ottawa are using the import of vulnerable migrant workers to promote a low wage strategy in Canada.”

Georgetti provided examples of migrant workers and job creation in Canadian provinces:

• In British Columbia, the influx of temporary foreign workers exceeded the net number of jobs created between 2008 and 2011. B.C. created 52,100 net new jobs in those years, and in 2011 there were nearly 70,000 temporary foreign workers in the province.
• In 2009, Alberta imported 28,547 temporary foreign workers as the provincial  economy shed 28,500 net jobs.
• In Saskatchewan, on average between 2008 and 2011, 65% of net new jobs created were held by temporary foreign workers.
• In Manitoba for 2011, approximately 70% of the net new jobs created were held by temporary foreign workers.
• In Ontario, the economy shed over 164,000 jobs in 2009, but 60,000 temporary foreign workers arrived in the province. In 2011, 56% of net new jobs were held by temporary foreign workers.
• In Quebec, 90% of the net new jobs created in 2011 were held by temporary foreign workers.
• New Brunswick lost 3,400 jobs in 2010 and 4,100 jobs in 2011, but the number of temporary foreign workers arriving in the province increased to 1,819 in that year.
• Nova Scotia created only 300 net new jobs in 2011, but over 2,800 temporary foreign workers arrived in the province.
• Prince Edward Island created 1,400 net new jobs in 2011, and 42% of these jobs were held by temporary foreign workers.
• Newfoundland and Labrador lost over 6,000 jobs in 2009, yet nearly 1,400 temporary foreign workers arrived in the province that year. In 2011, 22% of net new jobs created were held by temporary foreign workers.

Georgetti adds, “Let me be clear. We welcome migrant workers when there are demonstrated shortages of workers in Canada, but we want to ensure that those migrant workers are protected on the job and welcomed into the community. They should be placed into the permanent immigration stream, not exploited in temporary migration schemes.”

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca  Follow us on Twitter @CanadianLabour

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“Roughly 75% of the new jobs created in Canada in 2010 and 2011 were filled by temporary foreign workers despite the fact that 1.4 million Canadian residents were unemployed,” says Ken CLC President Ken Georgetti. The CLC research used numbers from the Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey and from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The federal government was forced in April to make changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) after clear evidence that employers were using the program to import vulnerable migrant workers at a time of continuing high  unemployment in Canada.

“Employers and the federal government have tried to deny what is happening but we have crunched the numbers and the trends are clear. In most provinces the importation of migrant workers accounts for more than 50% of net new jobs in the years 2008-2011,” Georgetti says. “We believe that employers and Ottawa are using the import of vulnerable migrant workers to promote a low wage strategy in Canada.”

Georgetti provided examples of migrant workers and job creation in Canadian provinces:

• In British Columbia, the influx of temporary foreign workers exceeded the net number of jobs created between 2008 and 2011. B.C. created 52,100 net new jobs in those years, and in 2011 there were nearly 70,000 temporary foreign workers in the province.
• In 2009, Alberta imported 28,547 temporary foreign workers as the provincial  economy shed 28,500 net jobs.
• In Saskatchewan, on average between 2008 and 2011, 65% of net new jobs created were held by temporary foreign workers.
• In Manitoba for 2011, approximately 70% of the net new jobs created were held by temporary foreign workers.
• In Ontario, the economy shed over 164,000 jobs in 2009, but 60,000 temporary foreign workers arrived in the province. In 2011, 56% of net new jobs were held by temporary foreign workers.
• In Quebec, 90% of the net new jobs created in 2011 were held by temporary foreign workers.
• New Brunswick lost 3,400 jobs in 2010 and 4,100 jobs in 2011, but the number of temporary foreign workers arriving in the province increased to 1,819 in that year.
• Nova Scotia created only 300 net new jobs in 2011, but over 2,800 temporary foreign workers arrived in the province.
• Prince Edward Island created 1,400 net new jobs in 2011, and 42% of these jobs were held by temporary foreign workers.
• Newfoundland and Labrador lost over 6,000 jobs in 2009, yet nearly 1,400 temporary foreign workers arrived in the province that year. In 2011, 22% of net new jobs created were held by temporary foreign workers.

Georgetti adds, “Let me be clear. We welcome migrant workers when there are demonstrated shortages of workers in Canada, but we want to ensure that those migrant workers are protected on the job and welcomed into the community. They should be placed into the permanent immigration stream, not exploited in temporary migration schemes.”

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca  Follow us on Twitter @CanadianLabour

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Ken Georgetti was responding to an announcement made on April 29. “First with Employment Insurance and now with the TFWP, this government has had to back peddle to fix problems they’ve created because they have failed to listen to the warnings of those with experience and expertise on these issues,” Georgetti says.

Georgetti says, “We met with the government about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in 2012 and warned them that it was open to abuse. At the time they accused us of fear mongering but now they are making some of the changes that we suggested.”

Georgetti is pleased with the government’s promise to end the practice of paying migrant workers less than other workers. “We see that the government and even the Bank of Canada Governor have realized, as we warned, that this policy was having the effect of driving down wages overall.”

Georgetti also says he is pleased that employers will now have to pay for the cost of processing applications when migrant workers are recruited under the TFWP. Previously, the government absorbed the cost of that fee.

The CLC president warns, however, that monitoring and enforcement will be key to making the announced changes work. “Much of of what the government is now proposing is already on the books but is not being enforced. They promise to make employers shape up but they have said that before without doing it. If we don’t see real and effective monitoring and enforcement, the changes being proposed will not improve upon the existing situation.”

Georgetti adds, “When there are demonstrated shortages of workers, we want to ensure that migrant workers who come to Canada are protected on the job and welcomed into the community. They should be placed into the permanent immigration stream, not exploited in temporary migration schemes.”

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca Follow us on Twitter @CanadianLabour

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Georgetti was responding to news that 45 existing RBC employees, who will soon be displaced, are having to train migrant workers from abroad to do their information technology jobs. The temporary workers on visas are employed by a labour broker called iGATE. After being trained most of those workers will leave Canada and perform their work from abroad.

“This is yet another case of employers and labour brokers abusing the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” says Georgetti. “This is absolutely flagrant abuse of the program and the federal government should not allow it.”

Georgetti says there are similarities between the RBC case and that of work permits issued to Dehua International allowing the company to import workers under the TFWP for a coal mine in Northern British Columbia. “In both cases, there were enough people in the existing workforce to do the job but the companies in question chose to abuse the TWFP to the detriment of workers.”

There are an estimated 300,000 workers in Canada under the TFWP, triple the number from a decade ago. Legislation introduced along with the 2012 federal budget makes it easier for employers to import workers and to pay them as much as 15 per cent below the average prevailing wage.

“The government always promises to investigate abuses and to crack down on unscrupulous employers but we have no confidence in that promise,” Georgetti says.

The CLC is calling for the establishment of a National Migrant Worker Commission with authentic regulatory and enforcement powers to protect migrant workers rights and ensure that our national labour force is fully utilized. Georgetti adds, “It is long overdue for Ottawa to ensure that employer’s claims of labour and skill shortages are genuine and that migrant workers and all newcomers can access a clear and transparent path to citizenship.”

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“The Conservative government is allowing employers to abuse the TFWP to the detriment of both migrant and Canadian workers,” says Ken Georgetti, CLC president. “The Auditor General reviewed the program in 2009 and requested a thorough evaluation of it. The government promised to do that with results to be released in 2010-11 but that has not happened. We want to see all the documentation about what government departments have done to comply with the Auditor General’s recommendations.”

The TFWP was originally designed to import temporary workers in those cases where real and proven labour shortages existed. But the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has risen from 101,000 in 2002 to 338,000 in 2012. Between 2007 and 2011, 30% of all net new jobs went to migrant workers. The Conservative government made it far easier to import workers by reducing the employers’ advertising requirement from six weeks to 14 days. In the federal budget of 2012, the government made it possible for employers to pay migrant workers up to 15% less than prevailing wage rates.

“The government is using the TFWP for purposes it was never intended to serve,” says Georgetti. “Changes made to the program since 2007 have actually opened it up to further abuse. We want to see the paper trail and that is why we will file an Access to Information request.”

The Immigration department created a website that promised to provide the names of employers who have failed to provide the promised jobs, wages and working conditions as set out in their job offers to workers under the TFWP. There are no employers listed on that website even though many cases of employers abusing the program have been raised by unions and the media: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/list.asp#ftn01

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca  Follow us on Twitter @CanadianLabour

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