Vancouver, BC – A group of BC unions are airing a hard-hitting radio ad, aimed squarely at Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program.
“For years, we have said the Temporary Foreign Worker program is a bad program for Canada and a bad program for the workers who come to Canada,” said B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair. “This ad is in support of our call for a moratorium on the program while a full review is conducted.”
The federal program has come under increasing fire in recent months, following revelations that a China-backed mining company had plans to staff its mine almost exclusively with Temporary Foreign Workers, and subsequent revelations that seemingly qualified Canadians who applied for the jobs weren’t even granted interviews.
“Ministers Diane Finley and Jason Kenney promised a public review of the program last November, but we’ve heard nothing since,” said Sinclair. “British Columbians are demanding accountability from the federal government and not getting it. BC Liberal Jobs Minister Pat Bell has acknowledged Canadians have no confidence in the federal government’s program.”
The ads, airing in conservative MP ridings in the Lower Mainland and BC’s interior, call for those MPs to stand up for jobs for British Columbians. “Stephen Harper’s reform coalition started with the idea that MPs had a duty to represent their constituents. Are Conservative MPs in BC up to the task?” asked Sinclair.
There are currently more than 70,000 workers in BC under the program. They do not have the right to switch jobs if they are treated poorly, or receive a better offer from another local employer. If they raise concerns about safety or working conditions, they are often sent home.
The advertising is sponsored by the BCFED, BCGEU, CSWU, IUOE 115 and USW.
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For more information, contact Michael Gardiner at 604-436-7030.
Listen to the ad here: Temporary Foreign Worker Radio Ad (reference only - do not download)
Ad Copy
WORKER 1: I’m qualified. I could do a lot of these jobs —but like most of the guys here, we aren’t being given the chance.
WORKER 2: I heard three hundred Canadian workers applied for two hundred jobs… and the company rejected all of us?
ANNCR: Experienced BC workers are being shut out of jobs in their own backyard…Because government has opened the door for mining companies to import cheap labour with no rights and no protection.
WORKER 1: Our politicians should be on the side of BC jobs for BC workers… So why aren’t they?
ANNCR: A message from BC workers.