Chinese miner launches human rights complaint against union
A Chinese miner employed to work in a controversial northern British Columbia coal mine has launched a human rights complaint against the United Steelworkers Union.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/13/bc-chine...
What an enterprising fellow! Got a hold of company letterhead to file a complaint against the union! And using the oh-so-democratic Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act!
I nominate this "miner" for promotion to chief communications officer and legal counsel for HD. He's on the move all right.
Asshole.
"All this is is a race to the financial bottom and if these workers don't want to join a union here they can fuck right off back to where they came from in China!"
Jesus, dude. Are you trying to make your post into Exhibit A for HD's lawyers?
Surely there is a way to criticize scabs that doesn't involve telling immigrants to "fuck right off back to where they came from".
I agree, VOTD.
But just a minor point: These are not immigrants. We want and need immigrants. We don't need foreign temporary workers.
So all temporary workers are scum scabs. I'll remember that the next time I am at a park and there are numerous Filipino nannies around. Or is it just because these workers are Chinese that they should be denied access to our laws that protect against racism and other types of discrimination.
What I don't understand is that in all the coverage of the Alberta beef industry and its tainted meat our MSM never mentioned temporary workers. Hell we have foreigners in Canada working at Tim's as temporary workers. Apparently there is very little oversight of this program and the criteria for determining a "labour shortage." We have high unemployment but we don't have Canadians capable of being trained to make donuts, look after children, work in meat packing plants or dig coal. Except for the coal mines Mandarin was not a prerequisite but that has become the emphasis of the story and it sure looks xenophobic against a particular race. All hail the Asian Exclusion League one of BC history's finest hours. Out of the 450,000 temporary workers already working in this country the focus and comments about these 200 miners sure looks like anti Chinese racism.
Not to be a pain, but the fact that many of the Brooks workers were on temporary visas and had no other options was covered in the regular media. It was brought up when that horrific bus crash happened last year, and in a number of other cases I can remember. So I agree that it doesn't get enough coverage, but it is not ignored.
Yes it got reported as a minor aside with no relevance to the story. The MSM always prints a snippet of that kind of thing while highlighting other things. That way it gets some people to believe that it reports fairly. That strategy apparently fools a lot of seemingly intelligent people.
Some pretty harsh language here, and I have heard things from people upset with foreign workers that would knock a skinhead's Dr Martens off. We are headed for a replay of the ugly interracial friction over immigrant labour that Canada experienced in the early 20th Century. And remember that the 'head tax' was actually a tariff on imported labour. The difference is that Canadians are now feeling squeezed at both ends, since wealthy immigration is having an effect on the housing market:
http://www.vancouversun.com/Opinion/Op-Ed/Unaffordable+housing+damaging+...
the business lobbies have been framing any criticism of immigration policy as 'racist,' and Mr Li's use of the Human Rights Machinery is a new twist to this. Expect similar challenges, if things like foreign investment in real estate are restricted. And some progressives think any criticism of foreign investment is 'racist':
http://rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/ndp-says-no-nexen-deal
"Being opposed to foreign takeovers is a good thing, highlighting the Chinese nature of the deal is racist and highlighting the government nature of the company means the NDP is anti-socialist and that is a lot further to the right than the NDP like to claim for their politics."
Canada's immigration policies have not been crafted for Canadians. Rather, business lobbies (employers, banks, REITs, developers) like to have two things: large-scale immigration for fueling real estate demand, and cheap labour. The former is having negative effects on the environment (urban sprawl, escalating water consumption, landfill use), actuarial problems for the healthcare system (family reunification and elderly, ill immigrants), and housing affordability; the latter is eroding workers' wages and job security. But even the NDP is merely proposing more of the same policies peddled by the Conservatives. And the 'r'-word is trotted out in ad hominem attacks against anyone who dares question Canada's immigration policy. Progressives need to take a hard look at where Canada's immigration policies are taking us.
I agree, VOTD. But just a minor point: These are not immigrants. We want and need immigrants. We don't need foreign temporary workers.
Point taken.
Indeed if these were immigrants then it would be a different story. Growing up in Sudbury in the '50's and 60's meant that I lived in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the country. That was because many of the miners were immigrants and refugees who had escaped from behind the Iron Curtain. We don't need temporary workers we need immigrants.
No doubt he will be made foreman,
Why is Spinkus hiding as she obviously put the chinese worker up to this bullshit
Where are the details of racism as there has not been any that i am aware of.
They are basically scabs
This is all about contractor's greed and a race to the bottom
And stop getting so squimish about calling a spade a spade - no wonder the left loses almost every battle it goes into
By the way there are lots of filipinos here living legitimately in canada with underground mining experience that would love these jobs and dont think for i sec they are not paying close attention to how canadian workers are being treated by their very own governments in bc and canada
And stop getting so squimish about calling a spade a spade - no wonder the left loses almost every battle it goes into
North Report it appears you just don't get racism. This statement highlights your lack of knowledge and sensitivity on the subject.
And stop getting so squimish about calling a spade a spade - no wonder the left loses almost every battle it goes into
North Report it appears you just don't get racism. This statement highlights your lack of knowledge and sensitivity on the subject.
Thanks Sven for that piece. It notes that since at least 1928 it has been considered a slur against black people. After 75 years of being told it is insulting maybe it is time for some white people to get it.
You want to talk racism - just wait until some of canada's ethnic minorities, many of whom have underground mining background and
who have selectively been excluded from these jobs get going on this issue.
Vancouver sun
Dec 15
Canadian workers get the shaft in their own coal mines in canada
What about the blatant racism being displayed by hd mining who are refusing to hire one miner who is not from china even though over 300 canadians of different ethnic backgrounds have already applied and not one was hired
This human rights complaint by hd mining is bogus and the media need to get their act together on ths
What is really going on here is hd mining are breaking canadian laws ad this hr bullshit is a just an attempt to divert attention away from their dirty deeds
I think that it's very important that we don't use potentially xenophobic language when talking about this situation.
We're being setup by this corporation and the Harper government who want to divide workers against workers. It's just a new spin on a very old tactic.
Yes indeed there were ads looking for Mandarin speaking workers. I suspect that there are hundreds if not thousands of unemployed and/or underemployed Mandarin speaking workers in Canada with mining and/or engineering experience who could do these jobs.
