Mcdonald’s investigation expands
Individual franchisees are responsible for posting jobs locally, company says
Ottawa expanded its investigation into claims McDonald’s discriminated against Canadian employees in favour of temporary foreign workers on the same day two unions filed a court action challenging the program in another case.
The foreign worker program has faced a barrage of criticism in recent months amid allegations that certain employers are flouting rules designed to protect Canadian jobs and foreign workers from abuse.
The federal government’s investigation into McDonald’s started with three Victoria restaurants owned by a single franchisee, who allegedly brought in temporary foreign workers when there were qualified locals available to do the job.
On Monday, Employment and Social Development Canada announced it is investigating reports that two other franchises, in Parksville on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and Lethbridge, Alta., misused the program. They are suspended from bringing in more workers pending the outcome of the government’s investigation, said Alexandra Fortier, a spokeswoman for Employment Minister Jason Kenney.
“We take these allegations very seriously and immedi- ately launched our own investigations,” McDonald’s Canada said in a statement on its website. “In addition, we have launched a comprehensive review of all corporate and franchise-operated restaurants across the country to ensure our operations are fully aligned with the requirements of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and consistent with our McDonald’s values.”
Meanwhile, two unions filed a court action Monday alleging an Oregon-based company working on a cogeneration plant being built by Conifex in northern B.C. dumped a local crane operator they had hired in favour of American workers.
The incident near Mackenzie involved eight to 10 U.S. employees, but sets a troubling precedent in light of major LNG projects on the horizon likely to involve thousands of employees in northern B.C., said Brian Cochrane of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
“Our expectation is that there should be policy in place that protects our interest and it seems like every time we turn around there’s another issue ... cropping up.”
Federal rules stipulate employers must post jobs locally and nationally before the government will authorize them to bring in workers from abroad. Once they have that permission, in the form of a Labour Market Opinion, employers must give foreign workers full-time hours since they are moving to Canada for the job, said B.C. Federation of Labour spokeswoman Irene Lanzinger.
This leads to fairly regular complaints from Canadian workers about losing shifts to foreigners, especially in the fast-food industry, she said.
Dozens of job postings at fast-food outlets across Western Canada on a recruitment website aimed at foreign workers specify that they are full-time positions, but that “Part-time applications from Canadians or people in Canada with their (permanent residence) are also accepted.”
The employers would have had to post the full-time jobs locally before receiving authorization to hire internationally, Fortier said, but could not confirm that the businesses had done so Monday.
A spokeswoman for McDonald’s Canada, which accounted for the vast majority of the postings, said individual franchisees are responsible for posting the jobs locally and nationally.
The government’s investigations into the McDon- ald’s franchises suggest this process is broken, said NDP MP Don Davies, the party’s deputy immigration critic, who represents Vancouver-Kingsway.
The Harper government has “allowed this program to get completely out of hand and there are abuses and manipulations of this program all over the country,” he said. “We think that’s primarily a failure of the government, whose job it is to make sure that these immigration programs are being administered properly.”
The government is reviewing the temporary for- eign worker program and has introduced stiffer penalties for employers that misuse it, including banning them from using the program for two years, identifying them on a public blacklist and introducing legislation to impose “significant” fines, expected next year, Fortier said.
But there is still “a huge problem with enforcement of the rules,” Lanzinger said. The Federation of Labour is calling on McDonald’s Canada to stop using the Temporary Foreign Worker program and has floated the idea of a public boycott against the restaurant chain.