Rules on hiring temporary foreign workers eased

Alberta businesses, frustrated by red tape and delays in hiring temporary foreign workers, received a break Wednesday from the federal government.

Companies with an unblemished two-year history of hiring temporary workers from abroad will be allowed to apply for fast-tracked hiring permission, Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley announced.

“Employers with a strong track record in need of highskilled workers will be able to obtain a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) within 10 business days,” Finley said.

The Alberta Federation of Labour, however, said the announcement isn’t all good news. The new rules will result in lower wages for skilled workers and aggravate problems associated with a temporary foreign workforce, including people staying on illegally after their contracts expire, said the AFL’S secretary-treasurer, Nancy Furlong.

“If there is an ongoing need for workers, why not bring them in as permanent citizens?” Furlong asked, not- ing labour groups were not invited to consultations over the changes.

Until now, companies had to pay workers what is known as the “prevailing wage.” But that requirement now changes in the high-skill trades category.

“For added flexibility, wages up to 15 per cent below the average wage rate will be accepted so long as it can be clearly demonstrated the same wages are being paid to Canadian workers,” Finley said at Wednesday’s news conference here.

Furlong argued that 15 per cent rule “interferes with supply and demand forces in the economy.”

But getting that break on wages is a key factor to Ron Buchhorn, whose company runs a manufacturing business in Alberta and desperately needs welders and heavy- duty mechanics.

“Manufacturing cannot compete with wages in the primary industries — oilsands and mining and potash,” said Buchhorn, vice-president of human resources for Advanced Engineering Products. His company is looking for 80 skilled workers for its operations here and in Saskatchewan.

In Alberta, “we can’t compete with fly-in” work camps around Fort Mcmurray, which pay high wages and cover housing costs, Buchhorn added.

The company, which received the first speedy LMO on Wednesday, has looked for workers in Ontario and the Maritimes, but can’t find the people it needs. These new rules “will enable us to increase our manufacturing capacity and increase service so we’ll be more successful,” he said.

Under federal rules, employers must apply for LMOS before they can hire a foreign worker. The company must prove it has made an effort to recruit locally and within the country. If that was not successful, the company must then apply to Service Canada for permission to hire someone for a two-year period from outside the country.

But the process to get an LMO has been taking months, which is too long for many companies, says David Maclean, spokesman for the Alberta Enterprise Group, a business group that lobbies on economic issues.

“The temporary foreign worker process, as it stands, was too burdensome, too cumbersome, too complicated and there was too much red tape,” said Maclean. “It just wasn’t working to meet the needs in this economy.”

The new rules apply to skilled labour categories only and the federal government expects to process about 150,000 temporary foreign worker applications from across the country this year, said Finley.

Finley said the new system will cut paperwork for businesses since they’ll be able to apply online. New compliance monitoring will ensure companies are treating workers fairly, she said.