Thursday, June 23, 2016

Liberals stall the decline in foreign workers

The Liberal government is stalling a planned reduction in the number of temporary foreign workers employers can import.

Ron Davidson, speaking for the Canadian Meat Council, welcomed the decision, but said it does not solve the problem of chronic shortages of workers willing and able to take jobs in packing plants.

The Harper administration put a 20 per cent cap on the number of jobs a company can fill with temporary foreign workers and that was scheduled to decline July 1 to 10 per cent. The Liberals are holding it at 20 per cent, awaiting their review of the whole program.

Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk said the controversial temporary foreign worker program needs an overhaul and will announce her plan for more changes later this year.
"I believe this is a prudent step to take as we work to develop a better temporary foreign worker policy and fix some of the problems with the program that emerged under the previous government," Mihychuk said in a statement Thursday.
The previous Conservative government started phasing in a cap on low-wage temporary foreign workers — low-skilled employees paid less than the provincial or territorial median hourly wage — in June 2014, as part of reforms that also included disallowing use of the program in regions of Canada with high unemployment rates.
Those changes followed a series of controversies dogging the program, including reports of fast-food franchise restaurants favouring temporary foreign workers over local employees.
Employers who first began hiring low-wage temporary foreign workers before the cap came into effect will still be able to use it for 20 per cent of their workforce.
Those who started using the program after that point, or who are hiring temporary foreign workers for the first time, are subject to a 10-per-cent cap.
All the other program requirements — including having employers ensuring that Canadians and permanent residents have the first opportunities to apply for available jobs — will remain in place while the cap is frozen.

These changes do not apply to the seasonal foreign worker program many farmers use.