Temporary Foreign Worker Program

[hobbyguy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jason-kenney-to-get-an-earful-from-provinces-who-need-low-skilled-workers-1.2703017

The more I dig into this whole situation, the more I think that the issue is not "provinces who need low skilled workers". It is provinces/businesses that want low wage workers. If the labor market operated under "free market" rules (I think we are supposed to be a "free market" country), then the "issue" would go away.

This article points out how some employers in North Dakota (with similar issues to Alberta) are shooting themselves in the foot. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/23/1279886/-the-Dakota-s-Self-Inflicted-Labor-Shortage#

The writer is not alone in his sentiments. If the wages/hours/basic conditions were attractive, even I might consider coming out of retirement and working for a year or two. However, crappy housing, inflexible or too long hours, and less than attractive wages won't do it. Old Fs like me aren't going to come out of retirement to fill jobs, even temporary ones, unless the package is very attractive. So there is whole segment of the population that could be attracted to take some temporary work, if the employers chose to do so.

Further to that sentiment, one of the responses to the TFW that is showing up is that Canada should reform EI to force people to take the low wage poor conditions jobs. If that isn't an admission that the "free market" for labor has broken down, I don't know what is.

In reading about the situation in North Dakota, the dynamic is obvious. Restaurants that are paying $25/hr to attract wait staff are able to get staff. Companies advertising for welders at $15/hr are claiming a labor shortage.

So in this I actually agree with one of Jason Kenney's comments where he intimates that the TFW program is being used for wage suppression. The issue isn't a "labor shortage", it is a "pay/conditions shortage".

People in Canada understand boom-bust cycles. In the past, boom towns paid really big wages to attract people - and they came. (In my case, I left an $8,000/yr job in Vancouver to take a $32,000/yr + room and board job in a remote area - and the job I took was low skill - pick and shovel). The same would happen in Alberta, and does happen in Alberta - just look at all the folks from the Okanagan that work there. The problem is the employers that want to have their cake and eat it too - boom town profits without boom town pay rates.

To a large extent this situation has been created by the ill advised changes to the TFW program. The Paul Martin government opened the door a crack, and the Harper government threw it wide open. Like junkies, some employers have gotten hooked on "the low wage keep yer mouth shut and do whatever I tell ya or you'll get deported - while I make big profits" drug. Now those employers are going to have to go through withdrawal - and of course they are screaming like heck. They want "free market" profits, but they don't want "free market" wages.

The ideological stance of the Alberta conservative government has something to do with the whole mess as well. Does it make sense that Alberta has the lowest minimum wage in country? And then complains that Alberta can't attract enough low skilled workers? And the Alberta government want "their own special TFW program"??

Alberta also has the highest average expenditures for food, shelter, clothing and transportation of any province. So when considering a move there, a Canadian from another province has to consider those extra expenses.

The figure I saw for rent for a 1 bedroom apt. in Ft. Mac is $1,800/month as one example. The Alberta minimum wage (lower for for some sectors) at 40 hrs per week earns you about $1,650/month.

Smaller cities in Alberta have large chunks of population making $12/hr or less. So the "boom" areas crying "shortage" aren't even attracting those people.

What is out of balance is not a "labor shortage". It is definitely a "pay shortage".

[wanderer]

They are discussing some of these issues regarding Ric's Grill here in Kelowna:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=57873&start=45

[Captain Awesome]

They are discussing some of these issues regarding Ric's Grill here in Kelowna:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=57873&start=45

Yeah, not anymore.

[wanderer]

They are discussing some of these issues regarding Ric's Grill here in Kelowna:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=57873&start=45

Yeah, not anymore.

Ya I see that.

[hobbyguy]

The murky world of the folks recruit TFWs: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/temporary-foreign-worker-agency-actyl-group-sues-mcdonald-s-canada-1.2723240

"In the company's statement of claim, Actyl alleges McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd. breached its contract when it failed to pay the agency certain "service fees" for immigration services it provided the franchisees.

Actyl alleges McDonald's Canada was "unjustly enriched" when it deducted money from the paycheques of its foreign workers and pocketed the deductions instead of paying the recruiting agency directly."

So not only are the TFWs often making crap wages, and often living in deplorable circumstances, but McD's deducts money from their paychecks that is supposed to go to some agency??

I could sort of understand McD's paying a finders fee to an agency for recruiting TFWs on their behalf. But "service fees" to be deducted from worker's paychecks??? Smelly.

I find it hard to believe that the federal government turned a blind eye to this stuff for so long.

I do understand that we need a certain level of participation in our economy by foreign workers. If a plant is being built, and nobody in Canada is available to tune and set up left handed reverse domathingies that only used in the production some weird chemical, then it is understandable to bring in a foreign worker.

The kind of stuff this article points to, however, should not be, nor should ever have been allowed to go on.

It begs the question, how much more of this nonsense is going on, but more carefully concealed??

[Smurf]

I'll bet we are only scratching the surface.

[GrooveTunes]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/canadians-expose-foreign-worker-mess-in-oilsands-1.2750730

[the truth]

10/10 just another reason too scrap the tfw program

[hobbyguy]

Obviously I'm a vocal critic of the TFW program. That doesn't mean that I think that the TFW program should be scrapped altogether.

Generally speaking, "full employment" in a country is defined as 3-4% unemployment. IF Canada had a real unemployment rate of 4% would we be as upset about the TFW program as we are? I think not. Generally, we would say "OK, I understand, there is no Canadian available.".

Unfortunately, and generally for political purposes, the reporting of unemployment has been fiddled. 'We" sense that. Since when is a 20 hr per week minimum wage "job" actually a real job? When we speak of a "job", "we" consider that to be full time (or perhaps near full time) that pays a decent wage. The recent job statistics show that. Full time employment decreased by 18,000 jobs, yet "employment" went up - and the "unemployment rate" went down. Ahem. According to this article, a person working 5 hrs per week but who wants full time work is still considered "employed" http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/11/canada-unemployment-april_n_1508852.html - so the "real" unemployment rate is probably much closer to 11% than to 7%. That's likely the source of the real anger about the TFW program, that honest hard working Canadians are unable to find decent employment, and when employers/government make excuses nobody believes tham because they "feel" the real picture.

What needs to be done is to return the TFW program to reality. That starts with genuine "unfiddled" measurement of unemployment. Then the program can have a "throttle" applied. If unemployment is "full", we allow "x" total TFWs. As real unemployment grows, that number declines. At a realistic point, it drops to something like about 70,000. That's probably about the level at which we "hit the wall" with specialized talents and abilities (movie actors, professors, specialized technicians etc.) and dropping it further would be negative for the economy.

That type of approach would do more to even out unemployment than many might think. If an employer has a good construction electrician, the motivation would become more like "how do I keep this guy employed" rather than "oh well, that job's done, lets lay him off immediately". The most notable difference would come in the development of qualified people. Employers in Canada used to spend 2.5% of their payrolls on training. Over two decades that has declined dramatically, by 2008 to 1.5% and dropping. There is no incentive for employee retention, or employee training IF you can hire "qualified" foreigners easily. The training issue alone could easily provide 1% more jobs - that's 155,000 jobs - and a lot of those in the really worst category of unemployment, youth unemployment.

The other thing that we have to consider is the other changes to foreign accessibility to Canadian jobs that are not included in the "offical" TFW program - like the so called "youth" employment exchange programs that the current government has dramatically expanded. I still can't get my head around calling someone who is 35 a "youth". Especially when that "youth" would be ineligible for reciprocal opportunities in the countries the "youth" exchange workers come from.

So the whole mess needs to be revisited, but no, we can not have zero TFWs. We have to be smart about it.