Changes needed

Re: “RBC banking on trouble; Feds must close loopholes in foreign worker program,” Editorial, April 9.

It is quite clear from the recent stories about the foreign temporary workers program that there needs to be immediate changes to the program and far more oversight by the government.

The first thing that needs to be changed is to stop allowing companies to pay 15 per cent less than the prevailing wage. Was this designed by the government to drive down wages? The second is to review the requests — why are companies allowed to bring in workers for places like Tim Hortons?

Is it really true that they can’t find people to be shift supervisors at Tim’s? Of course, they would have to pay appropriately and Canadians might be less compliant than a temporary foreign worker who can be fired at any time.

If the banks in particular really want to reduce labour costs, perhaps it is time to consider an NHL style salary cap for banking executives. Based on the millions that banks pay their executives, a cap would produce far more in savings than replacing a few workers.

A 50 per cent cut would still leave many executives receiving multimilliondollar compensation packages. That money could be returned to shareholders and employees, and even (although this doesn’t seem to ever enter into the calculations) customers.