Reporting temporary foreign worker program abuse

eyeball · April 29, 2014

I would like to report what appears to be an abuse of the TFW program by a very high-end resort where we live.

My wife responded to advertisements for employment at this resort at least three times during the past couple of years for any of a number of full time positions being advertised in our local paper. My wife was never responded to or contacted once. When she related this to a job search councillor at our local Career Centre she was informed she was wasting her time because the resort's advertisements were only to show they had made an effort to meet their staffing needs with local residents to qualify for the TFW program. Given my wife's credentials and experience it's impossible to believe this effort was sincere.

How am I to handle this? Does anyone here have any experience with making anonymous tips or convincing someone else to do so? How anonymous is anonymous these days? My wife gets pretty emotional about it and I get pretty angry especially given how much grief this caused her and us when she had to move away to find work. My wife has since found employment here at home but I think she is afraid that complaining about the TFW program will cause problems for her because her new employer also employs TFW's. I'm not so jaded or paranoid that I imagine someone in Ottawa will call her new employer to let him know he has a potential trouble-maker on his payroll but I wish I could convince my wife of that. That said we do live in a small town so what happens when employer's tongues start wagging? We have a friend who appears to have lost her chance at a job recently for saying the U word within earshot of someone. Another concern is that if the tip causes an investigation will she be called to testify? It galls me to just ignore this and not say something but my wife would rather try to put it out of her mind than fight it. The quiver in her lip when the topic comes up kind of indicates it's still left a pretty raw sore. The set of my jaw probably indicates my inner turmoil.

I wonder how many other families and individuals are affected in similar ways? People's self-esteem and sense of worth is often very closely tied to their ability or inability to work and provide and produce. On top of everything else that's racing down around workers in Canada these days I think this TFW program bears down on people in ways that aren't always obvious that are inhuman and soul crushing in their effect. I fail to see how pissing off or demoralizing people in this way is supposed to help engender a better work ethic never mind make Canada a better place.

http://www.edsc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/index.shtml

Edited April 29, 2014 by eyeball

Shady · April 29, 2014

I don't like all of this anti-foreigner sentiment that seems to be spreading and acceptable.

eyeball · April 29, 2014

Absolutely it's unacceptable. I think if Canada needs more people we should allow more immigrants in and treat everyone the same.

As it is I've heard people refer to TFW's as the boss' bitches.

The TFW Program as its being managed is causing some Canadians to get ugly.

WestCoastRunner · April 29, 2014

I would like to report what appears to be an abuse of the TFW program by a very high-end resort where we live.

Report it to the CBC in Vancouver or the Vancouver Sun. They will investigate it if there is a story there!

eyeball · April 29, 2014

I'm sure they would but I doubt my wife will be at all interested in the potential for publicity. There is definitely a chilling effect at work...so to speak.

waldo · April 29, 2014

fwiw:

Michael Hardner · April 29, 2014

Nice find Waldo.

eyeball · April 29, 2014

I linked to that as well in the OP. I'm going to show it to my wife and see what she thinks.

I can't just ignore her trepidation and unwillingness and take matters into my own hands.

Edited April 29, 2014 by eyeball

guyser · April 29, 2014

Tell her after you have done it !

Just dont put her name on it or that couch will be alllllll yours for sometime.

eyeball · April 29, 2014

No, I won't do that...this issue has already generated enough betrayal thanks.

Michael Hardner · April 29, 2014

I linked to that as well in the OP. I'm going to show it to my wife and see what she thinks.

I can't just ignore her trepidation and unwillingness and take matters into my own hands.

True - but the time to act is now, when this is big in the news.

eyeball · April 29, 2014

I know, and recall I said this occurred over the last couple of years. I'm betting there's a leaky dam somewhere with a bunch of nervous bureaucrats and politicians who are running out of fingers. Maybe if it breaks there will be a flood of similar stories.

So where are the Liberals who started us down this miserable road?

It's easy to say blow the whistle until you're the one holding it.

Edited April 29, 2014 by eyeball

WWWTT · April 29, 2014

I don't like all of this anti-foreigner sentiment that seems to be spreading and acceptable.

At 15% reduced pay.

That's what this all boils down to.

You think employers would care about foreign workers without the 15% reduced pay????

Go forbid employers having to pay their employees "fair market value"!

That term is never used when the employers want to rape/extract more money from their employees!

WWWTT

WestCoastRunner · April 29, 2014

fwiw:

Great information Waldo! This should be reported, definately! It pisses me off when university and college students can't find jobs because of this issue.

kimmy · April 30, 2014

I don't like all of this anti-foreigner sentiment that seems to be spreading and acceptable.

Oh yeah, that's it. People must be mad about the TFW program because they're racist against foreigners. Nice one, Shady. Good job. Your momma must be proud.

-k

GostHacked · April 30, 2014

I don't like all of this anti-foreigner sentiment that seems to be spreading and acceptable.

How is it anti-foreigner to want to have unemployed Canadians first shot at jobs they qualify for compared to temporary foreign workers? This programs seems to have been abused by Canadian businesses to exploit cheap labour. You can bet they are not being paid as much as they would have to a Canadian. And you can bet that they do not have the same benefits as one would expect to give to a Canadian.

If the program staffs mostly unskilled labour positions, I would have to question the validity of the program. If it staffs jobs that require a lot of skill in specific areas, then you may have no choice but to use foreign sources for those specific areas.

If a corporation like McDonalds is in the hot seat for exploiting this program, then the program needs to be scrapped or completely overhauled. There are plenty of unemployed here at home that these jobs would benefit more in the long run instead of shifting the wealth from here to foreign countries and corporations that pay less tax than most Canadians. I do not mind private enterprise, but this gets into exploitation with government consent.

Edited April 30, 2014 by GostHacked

cybercoma · April 30, 2014

More generally, the problem with the TFW program is that these workers are not spending much of their money back in the economy. They're here temporarily and often only here to send money back home. This leaks money out of the economy.

It's great that we have this program in some situations. TFWs are definitely needed and it's good in humanitarian terms as well. The real issue here is the widespread use of the program to circumvent free market economics. There's absolutely no reason a McDonald's needs TFWs. McDonald's here is just the poster child. There are many other businesses that are abusing the program.

bleeding heart · April 30, 2014

I sometimes wonder why "free market" economists, thinkers and commentators spend so much time arguing with those who have differing theories on political economy....and so little time (ie: zero) excoriating those who most despise "free market" economics, and who do the most to effect it: business owners and shareholders.

Topaz · May 1, 2014

One would think that a government would want more of its OWN people working and bringing in more revenues. They should get the businesses to start on the job training and the feds should do more to see more Canadians are put back to work. They have "used" jobs for the reason for being elected but they are failing Canadians and Canadians are the ones that vote!

The_Squid · May 1, 2014

One would think that a government would want more of its OWN people working and bringing in more revenues. They should get the businesses to start on the job training and the feds should do more to see more Canadians are put back to work. They have "used" jobs for the reason for being elected but they are failing Canadians and Canadians are the ones that vote!

Not necessarily. If their interests lie more with corporate profits for their donors/friends, then what happens to workers is unimportant.

eyeball · May 2, 2014

If? It's patently clear how deeply interwoven oligarchy now is in our socio-economic system...make that sociopathic-economic.

Big Guy · May 2, 2014

Here in Southern Ontario thousands of off shore workers from Jamaica and Mexico have again arrived for their seasonal employment. They will purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods and appliances and take them home with them. They keep a considerable amount of money in the area.

You may find the recruitment process interesting. Over the years, the bigger farms have developed a system where the foreman from a town or village will recruit within his village and the whole crew will come from the same place. This assists in supervision during and outside of working hours. They know that anybody who has to be sent home is jeopardizing jobs for other villagers. Many have been coming for years with some in their 20th season.

Very few have tried to stay since their return tickets are closely supervised and they do not have the opportunity to "disappear" in Canada.

There has been some local resentment with some local women getting pregnant with a child with the worker and then he applies for resident status. There are some obviously mixed race children in the area but many of the mixed race couples move to urban centres where more tolerance is shown to their arrangement.

Farmers continue to declare that they have offered these jobs to locals or even those on workfare but either there is no interest or the work ethic is just not there.

It appears to be a symbiotic relationship that has been going on for years with farmers, locals and workers accepting the relationship.

WestCoastRunner · May 8, 2014

There is a map now available for BC and Alberta that indicates which companies are hiring foreign workers and the largest portion were in the food service sector and not in remote areas for resource companies. CBC has an article here.

eyeball · May 8, 2014

It appears to be a symbiotic relationship that has been going on for years with farmers, locals and workers accepting the relationship.

I'm betting there's a symbiotic relationship between obesity, cheap labour and cheap food. Our medical system is bearing most of the load.

kimmy · May 9, 2014

There is a map now available for BC and Alberta that indicates which companies are hiring foreign workers and the largest portion were in the food service sector and not in remote areas for resource companies. CBC has an article here.

I have been thinking about something like this since this controversy broke. I mean, it's great that this person (he's a recent immigrant himself, interestingly enough) has compiled this data and made it available to the public, but it shouldn't be up to a private citizen relying on Access To Information requests to police this cluster of a program. Big thumbs up to Mr Rezel for creating this website, but why doesn't the government have this?

To borrow a plank from Michael Hardner's platform, I think that transparency would really help here.

This information should be provided by Human Resources Canada. That should be part of the deal in hiring TFWs. HRC displays your business name and address, the number of TFWs you have on hire, and the wage they are being paid, date of hire, date of expiry, and a link to the "Labor Market Opinion" that allowed them to hire the TFWs. Obviously the names of the workers would be redacted to protect their privacy, but other than that, there's no reason for this information to be held secret. If there's a legitimate need, and a legitimate LMO to support the decision, there should be no reason for secrecy.

Suppose you or your son or daughter say you've applied at this business and that business and nobody is giving you calls. You could go to the HRC website and look up the employers you applied at, and if you find out "hey, my son applied at this business on this date and they hired TFWs instead" then there could be hell to pay.

Anyway, with McDonalds and the other employers who've been embarrassed the past few weeks, as with RBC last year, it's clear that the companies who abuse this program fear public exposure. They're not sorry for what they've done, they're just sorry that they got caught doing it.

-k