Check this out;
http://theviewfromfallingdowns.blogspot.ca/2012/04/new-foreign-worker-rulers-push-down.html
What? Employers using the TFW program to drive down the wages of Canadian workers?
Who knew?
Today it is of course a front-burner story that gets lots of traction everywhere. Two years ago our little think-tank was a very lonely voice in the wilderness.
So if you want to stay way ahead of the media big-boys, keep reading this blog!
Showing posts with label Temporary Foreign Worker program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Temporary Foreign Worker program. Show all posts
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Friday, August 23, 2013
Harper's never-ending war on workers
When the RBC "temporary" foreign worker scam hit the fan a few months back, the Harper gang made a lot of noise about drafting "reforms" to the TFW plan. Not that anyone truly believes that these rabid anti-worker ideologues were serious about actually reforming anything, but politics being what it is, Harper & Co. found it necessary to at least blow some smoke up the nation's tailpipe on the matter.
Here's one way to avoid reforms; just fob the entire program off on the provinces or territories! Yes, the government of the Yukon now has carte blanche to bring in as many foreign workers as they'd like! The northern territory has a population of roughly 36,000, of whom over a thousand are unemployed. The Yukon also has one of the highest costs of living in Canada, which has resulted in relatively high wages being required to lure Canadians to the north.
The genius of the TFW program is that you can lure Mexicans and Guatemalans and Filipinos to the north for a lot less than you can get Canadians there. Canadians have come to expect certain amenities like indoor plumbing and a roof that doesn't leak and expect a paycheque that will make that happen.
The Yukon download is just a trial balloon, but if it goes unopposed there you can expect the Harper gang to download its responsibilities for workers onto larger territories and provinces.
In a country with 1.5 million unemployed and millions more underemployed there is no excuse for importing labour other than driving down the wages and living standard of Canadian workers. That's what Harper's corporate constituency wants and that's what they're getting.
Here's one way to avoid reforms; just fob the entire program off on the provinces or territories! Yes, the government of the Yukon now has carte blanche to bring in as many foreign workers as they'd like! The northern territory has a population of roughly 36,000, of whom over a thousand are unemployed. The Yukon also has one of the highest costs of living in Canada, which has resulted in relatively high wages being required to lure Canadians to the north.
The genius of the TFW program is that you can lure Mexicans and Guatemalans and Filipinos to the north for a lot less than you can get Canadians there. Canadians have come to expect certain amenities like indoor plumbing and a roof that doesn't leak and expect a paycheque that will make that happen.
The Yukon download is just a trial balloon, but if it goes unopposed there you can expect the Harper gang to download its responsibilities for workers onto larger territories and provinces.
In a country with 1.5 million unemployed and millions more underemployed there is no excuse for importing labour other than driving down the wages and living standard of Canadian workers. That's what Harper's corporate constituency wants and that's what they're getting.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Globe and Mail back-pedaling on Royal Bank's foreign worker scandal
The Globe and Mail seems to be in damage control re: the story that embarrassed one of Canada's iconic bastions of capitalism last week. Two of the paper's heavy hitters have opinion pieces in today's edition that go to credibility-stretching lengths to downplay the substance of that scandal.
Doug Saunders has it neatly wrapped up. The real problem with outsourcing is that we need the foreign workers to stick around longer. After all, we were all temporary foreign workers at one time, according to Doug.
His fatuous reference to guest workers in Germany in the 1960's neglects to mention that the West German economy had full employment at the time, a phenomenon starkly absent from the Canadian situation today. Were Canada in full employment Saunders might have a point. It isn't and he doesn't.
Then we've got Margaret Wente, The Globe' s in-house plagiarist. She spins a compelling yarn about how it's not avaricious managers displacing workers with their opportunistic abuse of the TFW program; it's technology!
Yup, it's all about computers and algorithms. The entire effort smacks suspiciously of the glib foolishness that Don Tapscott has been peddling for at least twenty years.
Oddly enough, once we leave the opinion pages The Globe has buried another article about the Temporary Foreign Worker program deep in the business section.
Finally we get to the meat and potatoes of the matter. Quoting several actual economists, Tavia Grant informs us that the TFW program displaces Canadian workers and drives down Canadian wages... which is so blatantly obvious that even a pot-addled hillbilly blogger figured it out ages ago.
And that's why Canadians are pissed off about the Royal Bank firing Canadian workers and outsourcing their jobs.
Doug Saunders has it neatly wrapped up. The real problem with outsourcing is that we need the foreign workers to stick around longer. After all, we were all temporary foreign workers at one time, according to Doug.
His fatuous reference to guest workers in Germany in the 1960's neglects to mention that the West German economy had full employment at the time, a phenomenon starkly absent from the Canadian situation today. Were Canada in full employment Saunders might have a point. It isn't and he doesn't.
Then we've got Margaret Wente, The Globe' s in-house plagiarist. She spins a compelling yarn about how it's not avaricious managers displacing workers with their opportunistic abuse of the TFW program; it's technology!
Yup, it's all about computers and algorithms. The entire effort smacks suspiciously of the glib foolishness that Don Tapscott has been peddling for at least twenty years.
Oddly enough, once we leave the opinion pages The Globe has buried another article about the Temporary Foreign Worker program deep in the business section.
Finally we get to the meat and potatoes of the matter. Quoting several actual economists, Tavia Grant informs us that the TFW program displaces Canadian workers and drives down Canadian wages... which is so blatantly obvious that even a pot-addled hillbilly blogger figured it out ages ago.
And that's why Canadians are pissed off about the Royal Bank firing Canadian workers and outsourcing their jobs.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Royal Bank boss apologizes for foreign worker scandal
Not that he thinks the bank has done anything wrong. In fact, he is at pains to make clear the bank followed all regulations.
No, he's only apologizing because they "don't always meet everyone's expectations." How humble!
And when Canada's biggest bank fails to meet everyone's expectations, we are quick to let them know, and Gord Nixon assures us that he's listening.
Nice try, Gord, but I ain't buying it. According to this story, the RBC's arrangement with this particular outsourcing contractor has been ongoing since 2008.
Apparently no one at the bank thought it was dodgy to replace Canadian workers with "temporary foreign workers" for five years, until the CBC broke the story this week.
That smacks of an ethically challenged corporate culture, and hiding behind the "legality" of outsourcing is no excuse.
This kind of dirty dealing is legal because big business' friends in Ottawa look out for big business and not for Canadian workers.
The fact that RBC spent $100 million on this one outsourcing contractor in 2012 alone only comes to light because of a SEC filing made in the US. The Canadian government would prefer not to know what Canadian companies spend on outsourcing jobs, and they would obviously prefer that Canadians don't know either.
Shame on you, Mr. Nixon, and shame on your enablers in Ottawa.
No, he's only apologizing because they "don't always meet everyone's expectations." How humble!
And when Canada's biggest bank fails to meet everyone's expectations, we are quick to let them know, and Gord Nixon assures us that he's listening.
Nice try, Gord, but I ain't buying it. According to this story, the RBC's arrangement with this particular outsourcing contractor has been ongoing since 2008.
Apparently no one at the bank thought it was dodgy to replace Canadian workers with "temporary foreign workers" for five years, until the CBC broke the story this week.
That smacks of an ethically challenged corporate culture, and hiding behind the "legality" of outsourcing is no excuse.
This kind of dirty dealing is legal because big business' friends in Ottawa look out for big business and not for Canadian workers.
The fact that RBC spent $100 million on this one outsourcing contractor in 2012 alone only comes to light because of a SEC filing made in the US. The Canadian government would prefer not to know what Canadian companies spend on outsourcing jobs, and they would obviously prefer that Canadians don't know either.
Shame on you, Mr. Nixon, and shame on your enablers in Ottawa.
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