Foreign workers deserve protection
Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008
The measurement of success for all employment programs, in particular one aimed at easing Alberta's labour crisis, is whether it's a win-win -- for the employer and the employees.
With that in mind, judging from the numerous reports of abuse -- including the latest revelations of exploitation of 120 Chinese workers paid a fraction of what they were owed for building tanks at a northern Alberta oilsands site -- it seems the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is failing miserably.
Even though the correct amount of money was paid into each employee's bank account, it mysteriously disappeared before it reached the workers' families in China. The Alberta government is investigating to see whether the Chinese company -- hired by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. -- clawed back the wages. Investigators should also get to the bottom of why SSEC, the Canadian arm of the Chinese company, had signing authority on the workers' bank accounts.
No Canadian worker -- union or otherwise -- would ever agree to such conditions, handing over that kind of power to an employer. Nor should foreign workers be put in a position where they're asked to give up basic rights such as the right to have a private bank account. That alone should have sent off alarm bells with the union, the Christian Labour Association of Canada, which did a seemingly inadequate job of protecting its members. But this isn't the worst of it. The missing wages only came to light after two Chinese workers died on the Horizon oilsands project in 2007. Canadian Natural Resources cancelled its contract with the state-controlled Chinese company shortly after, saying its work wasn't up to standards.
While investigating the deaths, Alberta Workplace Health and Safety officials learned about the missing wages, and opened up a second employment investigation, which confirmed money had indeed gone missing.
It's easy to say these workers should have spoken out, but they don't because they're desperate to come to Canada in the hopes of getting permanent residency. They don't want to rock the boat. That the province received more than 800 complaints from foreign labourers over a 31/2 month period ending in April, suggests there are probably many more horror stories that have gone unreported.
The most common complaints revolve around perceived unfair wage deductions, fees charged by recruitment agencies -- illegal in Alberta if any or all of the work is conducted here -- and accommodation issues. Workers are promised housing, but end up living in cramped or over-priced quarters.
To improve conditions, the province began making businesses which use temporary workers the subject of new inspections. It hired eight employment standard officers to investigate the complaints, four in Edmonton and four in Calgary. And it opened two advisory offices in December, one in each city, launching a $700,000 advertising campaign to inform foreign workers about the new services.
The province wants to bring in another 40,000 temporary foreign workers to ease the labour shortage, but until it proves it can better protect those already here, it should either slow down the program or have Canadian firms familiar with our laws manage the workers. The provincial and federal governments, the companies hiring foreign workers and the unions involved all have an obligation to these people, an obligation they so far have failed to live up to. If the initiative is to be a win-win, proper safeguards must be put in place and enforced rigorously.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
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