Stop Temporary Foreign Workers

Globalization, free trade, economic reforms, all have a trickle down effect on wages and job cuts.

 

Listening to the CBC and the president of the Canadian Federation of Labour comes on, yammering about how the Temporary Foreign Worker program is being used to abuse foreign workers. I'm all "say what?" If we want long-term foreign workers, he says, we should let them immigrate and enjoy all the rights and privileges that go along with that. Let them settle down, bring their families, and walk the path to Canadian citizenship. By keeping them on TFW status, says he, we enslave them to the employer: if they quit or get fired, they get deported, and they can get fired for any reason at all. He says he has examples of TFWs being fired for complaining about workplace safety or trying to unionize, and he says the CFL's legal team is currently representing a TFW who was deported after filing a whistle-blower report.

"Do as we say or we'll have you deported." Think about what that'll do for road safety.

 

We all know that this is a skilled trade even though it may not be classified as such. It is a fact that non one is interested in the pursuit of skilled trades. This generation doesn't see this as a career that can last 4 decades and see it only as a place you end up for the sake of survival rather than a chosen passion. Economic migrants will be the end result if they can't attract the local work force to this profession. Its a thankless job where wages have stagnated for 20 years but desperate workers will take it. Young Canadian men and women aren't desperate enough or motivated enough. Most parents also frown upon this kind of work and are still flogging the dream of University.
Economic change has no loyalty to this way off life.

 

We all know that this is a skilled trade even though it may not be classified as such. It is a fact that non one is interested in the pursuit of skilled trades. This generation doesn't see this as a career that can last 4 decades and see it only as a place you end up for the sake of survival rather than a chosen passion. Economic migrants will be the end result if they can't attract the local work force to this profession. Its a thankless job where wages have stagnated for 20 years but desperate workers will take it. Young Canadian men and women aren't desperate enough or motivated enough. Most parents also frown upon this kind of work and are still flogging the dream of University.
Economic change has no loyalty to this way off life.

 

Just look to the UK where they have had EOBRs ( digi tachs) and hourly
pay for many years.
Still paid poorly...

This started years and years ago. No real wage gains.
So who can we get to do it for 1980s wages?

Because there is now way we will pay what the job is worth.

History (The last 20 years makes that clear).
Its no wonder even with unemployment so high you have a
hard time finding drivers.

 

Gentleman.

Ultimately if you want lasting change that is tangible you will have to shut down your trucks and demand that driving be made a trade.
People will have to be licensed through a college with in class time and an apprenticeship that follows. No more driver mills or fly by night companies that hold signing authority. Making driving a trade will kill the TFWP in Canada for the transportation industry.

Making it a trade won't guarantee that your wages go up but the extreme shortage of drivers it creates by not allowing someone to get a license in two weeks will.
A real driver shortage will drive up wages.

Supply and demand.

 

I wouldn`t want to be a pessimist but it will probably not work.

At least it hasn´t worked in this continent. Here you are required to have these classes to obtain a driver qualification card (certificate) and renew it in every 5 years (with additional classes). This basically makes it a trade. I don´t know about other countries and their training programs but here absolute minimum time you could have your CE (class 1) is 4 weeks. In practice it takes even longer, more like 5-8 weeks + the driver qualification training 2 weeks.

Here drivers see this more as a way to pump more money out of the truck drivers (training costs + renewing your 3 cards: driving licence + driver qualfication certificate + digital driver card + ADR (hazmat) if you have one.)

Maybe it keeps 1% of unwanted people out of this industry ... is it worth it ?

 

'nuff said

 

While watching jobs go to Mexico or China truck drivers felt confident that
they where safe. Cannot export my job..
No but we will import cheap labour.

Did not see that coming.

 

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has responded to recent public outrage over the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by telling reporters that the government will be encouraging employers to hire Canadians first. However, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is going full-speed-ahead with absolutely no changes. Minister Kenney merely wants to give the impression that he is doing something about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program without actually doing anything at all. What's next? Shall we call for a boycott of the customers of trucking companies that use Temporary Foreign Workers?

Ministers in our Temporary Foreign Worker government have been gloating over the appointment of star Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to the regal Bank of England. Mark Carney has responded by saying that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is stupid and it's undermining wages for Canadians:

http://www.thestar.com/business/eco..._worker_program_must_be_temporary_carney.html