CFIB admits TFWP a disaster for Canadian workers

Edmonton – The CFIB’s proposal for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) would allow the foxes to guard the henhouse. On Monday, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) admitted that the TFWP is a mess, and proposed an “Introduction to Canada Visa” which would still leave immigration decisions in the hands of businesses.

“We should see today’s announcement from the CFIB for what it is: a desperate hail-Mary pass from a group of employers who have become addicted to cheap labour. And we should reject it,” AFL president Gil McGowan said.

The plan floated by the business lobby group includes changing the wages that TFWs would have to be paid, from the prevailing wage rate in a sector, to the wage rate in a business. This would mean a business could ignore market forces and pay significantly less than what is reasonable for a specific job.

“Employers can’t legitimately say there’s a labour shortage unless they’ve increased wages to attract Canadians. The evidence clearly shows that in sectors that make most aggressive use of the TFW program that hasn’t been happening,” McGowan said. “So let’s give the new rules introduced over the summer time to work. Now that it’s a little harder for employers, especially in the service sector, to access the TFW program, they’re going to have to start increasing wages. That’s the way labour markets are supposed to work.”

In interviews in support of their proposal, CFIB president Dan Kelly admitted that criticism of the TFWP was legitimate, and that employers have made excessive use of Temporary Foreign Workers to fill permanent jobs.

“It’s nice to see the CFIB finally admitting that the TFW program is a mess,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “It’s also nice to see them admitting that employers have been using the program to fill permanent jobs, not temporary ones. But they continue to ignore the central issue of wage suppression.”

MEDIA CONTACT:

Olav Rokne, Communications Director, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780.218.4351 (cell) or via e-mail [email protected]