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Temporary foreign workers and Canadian Mines
October 16, 2012 - 11:29am
Union's Decry Influx of Foreign Mining Workers
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/unions-decry-influx...
"We believe this mass importation of labour is completely unnecessary and is simply a strategy to employ lower-paid workers who are compliant with the culture of coal-mining in China..."
Here is a good article about the situation from the Tyee yesterday. Unlike the "national" paper the Tyee had been reporting on this story since February.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/10/15/China-Temp-Miners/
As well this morning this Oped appeared in the Tyee. The first settler, coastal communities in BC were the coal mining towns like Cumberland and Nanaimo. That history is one of racist exploitation and disregard for the lives of Asians employed at less wages than their white counterparts.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/10/16/Chinese-Temp-Miners/
Can this be blocked? Overturned?
Thanks for that update, kropotkin. Truly galling stuff.
It gets worse. The Chinese miners are being forced to pay for their jobs. $12,500 if the reports are correct.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/10/18/Chinese-Temp-Miners/
Not only do we need to fight against the exploitation of foreign temporary Chinese coal mine workers, we also need to fight to stop coal exports from this province. We have to get humanity off of our adiction to coal and other fossil fuels, which is literally cooking our planet.
Coal Free BC|Wilderness Committee
This indicates an opening for a united front campaign in BC involving opponents of coal mining; immigrant rights activists opposed to the Temporary Foreign Worker program; and opponents of the Deltaport expansion, including oppoents of the Speical economic zone the federal and provincial governments want to bring in at the port, where Canadian labour standards are to be shredded.
Unions slam 'mass importation' of Chinese workers for B.C. coal mine
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Unions+slam+mass+importation+Chinese+worker...
A major B.C. labour organization denounced on Monday the “mass importation” of Chinese workers to mine coal in the northeast part of the province, saying it is “preposterous” to suggest British Columbians don’t have the skills to fill close to 2,000 full-time jobs destined for foreign workers.
“We want to register our grave concerns about the uses and abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program as it relates to projects in British Columbia,” the organization told Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Christy Clark in an open letter.
It was issued by the Bargaining Council of the B.C. Building Trades Unions, made up of 15 unions representing 35,000 craft construction workers, including underground miners.
“We believe this mass importation of labour is completely unnecessary and is simply a strategy to employ lower-paid workers who are compliant with the culture of coal mining in China,” wrote BCBCBTU President Mark Olsen.
“The coal mining in that country is patently unsafe and the industry there shows little regard for the life, health and well-being of the workers in that country.”
The organization was reacting to the disclosure in The Vancouver Sun that a consortium of companies, mostly Chinese, are planning to bring anywhere from 1,600 to just under 2,000 Chinese nationals to B.C. in coming years to work in four proposed underground mine projects.
Permits under the TFW program have already been issued to 201 Chinese nationals to work in the most advanced of the four, the Murray River project near Tumbler Ridge, which is at the environmental review stage.
It is slated to begin full production in 2015. The other three projects are at various stages of development and have many more hurdles to overcome before becoming operational.
The TFW program brought in just over 190,000 workers to fill jobs in Canada in 2011, including roughly 46,000 in B.C. Companies usually must show in advance that they can’t find the workers inside Canada before they can seek TFW permits.
The president of Canadian Dehua International Mines Ltd., a Vancouver-based company working with Chinese firms in all four projects, said last week the companies had no option but to hire experienced Chinese workers, since most Canadian coal mines are open-pit operations.
B.C coal mine’s temporary workers from China will be here for years, maybe decades
Mines are not prepared to pay enough to attract Canadian workers, say employment experts
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/metro/Coal+mine+temporary+workers+wi...
The hundreds of “temporary” foreign workers coming from China starting this autumn to work in northeastern B.C. coal mines will end up staying for years, if not decades, predicts the president of a B.C.-based employment agency.
And some of them may end up getting ripped off and even going home in caskets if the B.C. government doesn’t ensure proper regulation, said Kael Campbell, president of the Red Seal Group, a Victoria firm that helps match companies with skilled tradespeople across Canada.
“There is a true shortage of workers in northern B.C.,” said Campbell, a former employment standards officer in the B.C. Labour Ministry. “These Chinese workers are not going to be replaced by Canadians in this current economy. They will likely be nominated by the company for permanent residency and work in northern B.C. for years, if not decades.”
Campbell said he has no problem with the argument from government and industry officials that the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program is an economic necessity.
“Chinese coal miners built towns like Cumberland, B.C., and were a huge part of the founding of Canada (by working) on the railway.”
But he said there should be a long-term plan to integrate the workers that goes far beyond the employer’s plan to teach each of the 200 workers recently approved by Ottawa a list of 100 English words related to safety and technical matters.
“We really have to question how a miner who knows 100 words in English will know what their rights are or how to follow” government-mandated safety procedures.
He cited one incident in 2007 when two Chinese nationals brought to Canada under the TFW program died when the roof of a holding tank collapsed over their heads at an oilsands project north of Fort McMurray.
The Alberta government confirmed in June of 2008 that an investigation determined the workers were being shortchanged.
The widow of one of the accident victims, Ge Genbao, said her husband told her he would make the equivalent of $600 a month. He should have been making $30 an hour, or at least $4,800 a month, plus overtime and benefits, according to the union that represented the workers, the Edmonton Journal reported.
SSEC Canada Ltd., the Canadian subsidiary of Chinese state-owned oil giant Sinopec, pleaded guilty last month of failing to ensure the safety of the workers killed and injured in the accident during construction of the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s $10.8-billion Horizon oilsands project.
The Crown is seeking a fine of $500,000, according to the Edmonton Journal. Sentencing is set for Jan. 24.
Campbell estimates that about 15 per cent of temporary foreign workers in B.C. are scammed out of part of their pay, often by middlemen in Canada or in the country of origin.
He said the B.C. Employment Standards Act, which covers temporary foreign workers, has a maximum penalty of $10,000, far short of the $100,000 fine and two-year jail sentence that can be imp
Jobs minister says province needs foreign workers to meet labour shortage Union writes letter to provincial, federal governments opposing use of Chinese miners in B.C
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Jobs+minister+says+province+needs+foreign+workers+meet+labour+shortage/7402394/story.html#ixzz29gisY9jR
A major B.C. labour organization is denouncing the "mass importation" of Chinese workers to mine coal in the northeast part of the province, saying it is "preposterous" to suggest British Columbians don't have the skills to fill close to 2,000 full-time jobs destined for foreign workers.
"We want to register our grave concerns about the uses and abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program as it relates to projects in British Columbia," the organization told Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Christy Clark in an open letter on Monday.
It was issued by the Bargaining Council of the B.C. Building Trades Unions, made up of 15 unions representing 35,000 craft construction workers, including underground miners.
"We believe this mass importation of labour is completely unnecessary and is simply a strategy to employ lower-paid workers who are compliant with the culture of coal mining in China," wrote BCBCBTU President Mark Olsen. "The coal mining in that country is patently unsafe and the industry there shows little regard for the life, health and wellbeing of the workers in that country."
The organization was reacting to the disclosure in The Vancouver Sun that a consortium of companies, mostly Chinese, are planning to bring anywhere from 1,600 to just under 2,000 Chinese nationals to B.C. in coming years to work in four proposed underground mine projects.
Permits under the TFW program have already been issued to 201 Chinese nationals to work in the most advanced of the four, the Murray River project near Tumbler Ridge, which is at the environmental review stage.
B.C. Jobs Minister Pat Bell said Tuesday he has no concerns that worker safety will be compromised or that workers will not receive fair wages at the Murray River project. He said he suspects the "election cycle" - B.C. voters are heading to the polls next May - is motivating union opposition in this province to the TFW program.
Bell said there is no basis for unions like the United Steelworkers to make claims they have members who can fill those jobs. He singled out one example, an underground coal mine in Grande Cache, Alta., where Steelworkers members are already employed yet temporary workers were brought in to provide additional needed labour. The mine is advertising for more underground coal miners on its website.
卑诗招聘中国劳工持续发烧∶资方为低薪找华工 加拿大家园 iask.ca 2012-10-17 09:21 来源: 世界新闻网 作者:
劳工团体高分贝严词批评卑诗引进中国矿工。（网路照片） 家 园 论 坛
卑诗招聘中国劳工议题持续发烧，代表15个工会的卑诗建筑贸易工会谈判委员会（Bargaining Council of the B.C. Building Trades Unions）向总理哈珀及卑诗省长简蕙芝发出公开信，严厉批评大规模引进中国劳工采矿的做法，认为这是聘用低薪矿工的手法，与加拿大的产业职场文化将格 格不入。
http://www.iask.ca/news/canada/2012/1017/161779.html
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It's the new global feudalism.
Here is an article explaining what anyone with a brain knew all along. Miners can be trained in a 6 week course and they are doing it south of the border as we speak. Gee running that equipment looks way beyond the comprehension of Canadian unemployed workers, grrr!!
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/10/30/BC-Chinese-Miners/
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Two unions seek federal court muscle to oust foreign workers from B.C. mine
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/unions+seek+federal+court+muscle+oust+f...
So what have the BC Liberals discovered, apart from getting caught in their dirty little secret with the feds about how to undermine Canadian workers?
B.C. to probe report foreign workers made to pay fees for jobs
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-to-probe-report-...
B.C. unions want foreign worker permits cancelled
Jobs Minister Pat Bell says it's hard to recruit Canadian workers for underground mine
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/05/bc-chine...
B.C. unions go to court over Chinese miners
http://www.mining.com/b-c-unions-go-to-court-over-chinese-miners-45531/
I remember, not that long ago, a situation involving Chinese workers in Alberta, when one of the workers died, and it was only because his widow started making inquiries about any benefits, it was then discovered that their employer had forced the Chinese workers to sign over power of attorneys to the employer over their bank accounts, paid them wages that were at least min wage in Canada, for all to see the size of their pay cheques, and then quietly when no one was looking, the employer deducted most of the money back each pay, so they were paid a pittance. Something like the scam about the Costa Rican workers who were paid $3.77 an hour working on the Canada Line in BC for Seli, until Mark Olsen, Business Manager of CSWU Local 1611, yes the same union, and others got involved, and won a 2.4 million dollar human rights case settlement for those poor workers.
This whole thing reeks of scam, scam, scam!
405
So we exploit Chinese workers here in Canada, while China exploits workers there. We need to organize every worker on the planet.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201211050082
This is purely and simply a vicious attack on working people, and the unions that represent them. The unions were never ever consulted or asked for manpower, and found out about this sham by reading an article about it in the mainstrteam press.
Up to 2,000 Chinese miners on their way to British Columbia to fill jobs Canadians can't do safely
http://www.mining.com/up-to-2000-chinese-miners-on-their-way-to-british-...
The point that being lost in all this is that we shouldn't be extracting the coal in the first place. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet, it should be left in the ground. The union, company, and government are merely arguing who gets the economic benefit from cooking our planet. At the end of the day the planet still gets screwed regardless of who extracts the coal and at what pay rate.
No wonder BCers want rid of this BC Liberal government- jeesh!
The only concern for Bell here is that he got caught.
Publicity Could Hurt Miner Recruitment Fees Probe: Bell
BC's jobs minister worries media coverage may cause sources to clam up
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/10/26/BC-Miner-Recruitment/
Well said.
So has anyone calculated the net pay they would get after the heavy "recruitment fee"?
What is the relationship between the "recruiter" and the employer? If the two are related then the amount being earned is all the more fraudulent.
this takes nothing away from the important observations made above.
Unions Want to See What's in Chinese Temp Miner Permits
Admitting 'problems' with program, labour minister launches review but unions want more transparency.
By Jeremy J. Nuttall, Today, TheTyee.ca
Labour minister Diane Finley: 'We are not satisfied with what we have learned about the process…'
Longwall coal mining is hardly the rare, elite skill politicians want us to believe.
Heavy fee, promise of eased immigration part of package, Tyee investigation reveals.
BC's jobs minister worries media coverage may cause sources to clam up.
Unions that filed a request for a judicial review of permits allowing miners from China to work in British Columbian mines haven't been satisfied by news the federal government will review the case.
A spokesman for the unions said that's because despite news the federal government will examine the use of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program by B.C. mines, its attempt to have the permit applications for the workers released has been denied.
Federal Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley said in a statement Thursday the ministry is concerned about the process that led to the workers' presence at mines run by HD Mining and Canadian Dehua International Mines Group.
In order to get a TFW permit, companies have to produce a Labour Market Opinion showing there are not any Canadians who can perform the job.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/11/09/TFW-Review/
http://www.cochranetimes.com/2012/11/09/bc-miner-controversy-sparks-prob...
Employers who want to hire temporary foreign workers must apply for a "labour market opinion" from Service Canada that assesses "the impact the foreign worker would have on Canada's labour market."
"Concerns have come to light, subsequent to these labour market opinions being approved for that particular mine, that Mandarin was listed as a work requirement," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in an October interview with QMI Agency. "I understand HRSDC is taking a look at that to see if that was a valid work requirement."
The NDP, however, wants to see an "immediate suspension" of these permits and has demanded a full investigation to see if Canadian workers were given an opportunity to apply for the positions at the B.C. mine.
NDP immigration critic Jinny Sims also worries about how Canada's temporary foreign worker system operates overall and says a review is "long overdue."
"Companies used to have to search for six months in Canada before they could go look for overseas workers. And now...it is just six days before being allowed to hire workers from overseas.... The system is being abused," she said.
Sims also criticizes the government for allowing temporary foreign workers to be paid 15% less than other employees.
"They're helping their business friends to bring in cheap labour," Sims said. "That also suppresses the wages for Canadians here."
We have a CON government in charge now. A government that supports financiers and investors, not Canadian workers. Spin is what is what we get from this government and their spokepersons. Diane Finley is an insider that is given this job, to spin. She has no intention to stand behind Canadians' jobs and working class families daily struggles and her eagerness to please 'The Harper' says it all for me.
She can keep on sucking on her cancer sticks as it pleases me. Hopefuly she will get the grand visit of the big "C" and we can rid ourselves of another self-interested CON-player.
This is the unions' application: http://iuoe115.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/JudicialReview-TFW.pdf
Don't think for a second Harper is going to protect workers in Canada - we have already seen his efforts
And what's the problem with HD Mining's approach anyways - all you have to do is be able to speak, not one of Canada's two official languages, but a specific foreign language and you're hired. And if Peter Gall has his way these workers will be paid the going rate, no, not in Canada, but at the rate that they would be paid in China.
The following is an example of the BS
http://www.coalguru.com/north_america/canada_change_entire_temporary_for...