Need Extra Labour? Just Import Some Mexicans.

[petros]

It's nice to know Harper is looking out for the job security of Canadians by allowing Mexicans to temporarily work in Canada and giving them the same rights as Canadians.

Sound far fetched?

Do some reading up on the recently signed Canadian Mexican partnership (CMP) and "labour mobility".

Have a nice day

Mexico, Canada and four participating provinces including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec are developing a pilot project for the recruitment of Temporary Foreign Workers from Mexico to Canada within two industry sectors: construction and tourism/hospitality.

The pilot is expected to be launched late fall with the first workers arriving early in the new year. The unique feature of this particular pilot project is that Mexico’s national employment service will play a role in identifying the eligible candidates for employers, who would then make the final decision regarding potential workers.

In the first year, the objective is for 2,000 workers to be identified through this initiative and split evenly among the four provinces. Each province can expect to receive approximately 500 workers divided between the two sectors. Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba have confirmed the following occupations for Mexico’s recruitment: within the hotel and lodging industry: front desk clerks and housekeeping attendants; within the food and restaurant industry: cooks, kitchen helpers, food counter attendants and food and beverage servers (Manitoba only).

The pilot project will allow for workers to receive up to a two-year work permit, consistent with the Labour Market Opinion. Employers will still be required to seek a positive Labour Market Opinion from HRSDC/Service Canada, and workers will still need to apply to CIC for a work permit. Employers in Alberta and British Columbia will be asked to absorb the costs of English testing, medical assessments and work permits in exchange for their participation in the pilot.

Well isn't that nice? Apparently you only need grade 3 to apply if you're a wet back.

 

[damngrumpy]

First of all Wet Back applies to Mexicans that come into the United States illegally and
these people enter our country legally and with papers therefore they are not wet backs.
For you information there is a process and has been for about five years now. Mexican
labour can be used as long as prospective employers put ads in papers announcing that
work is available at minimum wage and if no one applies the employer can in fact make
the move to apply for Mexican labour.
Where was the outcry when it was first proposed, and just for your information there is
also Jamaican labourers under the same program. That dates back about twenty years
in Ontario, especially in the Ontario Tree Fruit Industry.
This has been going on for a long time in Ontario and BC.

 

[petros]

I could careless about the moisture of their skin or paperwork.

For your information things have recently changed and it isn't veggie workers in Ontario.

You really should check into the new proposals.

 

[damngrumpy]

Agriculture is where it started and if its legal its the new reality because Canadians
didn't pay attention to what is happening around them. The time to scream was in
fact five years ago. The attempt to bring down wages and working conditions started
and we let them do it. So many Canadians cheered when we made deals with the
third world for global trade and with others in North America. We all thought this
would make us wealthier and goods cheaper. Sure, we sold out our own country
for a few beads and trinkets. Not only that after all this time about tens years of WTO
talks are going nowhere. It is time we took an economic nationalistic approach.
At present no one complained and now we see foreign workers because Canadians
won't work for minimum wage.
No I don't think Canadians should work for minimum wage. We should have nipped
this in the bud a long time ago and we didn't so lets hear how we are going to turn this
around.

 

[petros]

Construction and tourism workers don't sound all that fruit picky temporary to me. There are also Canadian funded "human capital" and "social housing" projects IN MEXICO.

Last I check Mexicans weren't paying taxes into the Canadian budget.

Social development at home is taboo for the Cons but fine and dandy for foreigners?

**** that!

Once the door is open it's open. I'm pepared for the mass exodus of Americans that has started to flow into Canada but Jeepers H Crackers I'm not going to foot the bill for Mexicans.

Digging around through some of the stink tanks and trilateral talks the Neo-Com (com for commie) jackasses in Ottawa are considering giving Mexican transient workers EI and other social benefits for working in Canada.

How do you feel about paying for the healthcare of the transient workers? Full Canadian rights includes access to healtcare without a fee.

What the **** is Harper doing?

Despite the global economic slowdown, the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) recruited to work in Canada does not seem to be diminishing. Indeed, a striking total of 251,235 TFWs were working in Canada on Dec. 1, 2008, according to stock data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Considering that the in-flow of TFWs is largely employer-driven, this is surprising due to the fact that domestic unemployment in Canada is increasing and remaining high, 8.7 per cent according to the Sept. 4, 2009 Statistics Canada labour force survey, disproportionately affecting youth and women.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet. We need more wet backs. They should bring their, wives, husbands, gay lovers, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, kids, adopted foster kids and parents too

Yay....pregnant migrants can take EI maternal benfits and their kid becomes a Canadian.......

There is some ambiguity, however, around the question of whether or not temporary foreign workers should be eligible for employment insurance in Canada. According to the Employment Insurance Act, anyone residing in Canada can apply for EI, including new entrants to the labour market, as long as they are available, capable and willing to work in Canada, and meet other transparent requirements (i.e. have worked a minimum number of hours of gainful employment in Canada, etc.). This legal entitlement is confirmed by information on the HRSDC website for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Furthermore, FOCAL has learned from a number of non-profit organizations providing social assistance to temporary foreign workers that some of these workers have successfully received regular EI benefits –albeit after a lengthy appeals process to the employment insurance commission.

One category of EI benefits that TFWs have been able to access with little problem is parental and maternal leave benefits. Eligible parents who are temporary foreign workers can apply for financial assistance for up to 35 weeks under the parental benefits category and for up to 15 weeks under maternal benefits.7 Since 2000, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, through the Agriculture Workers’ Alliance, has assisted SAWP workers gain over $23 million overseas in parental leave benefits, mainly channeled to Mexico.

channeled to Mexico.

This assistance can and does benefit female workers (or the female spouses of male workers), who often bear the brunt of childcare, as well as male workers. Moreover, workers can receive these benefits whether or not they remain in Canada or return to their country of origin (however, an agreement must exist between Canada and the country in question on the portability of benefits for maximum benefits to be accessed). TFWs are also able to collect EI compassionate care benefits more easily than regular EI benefits, since this type of benefit is not contingent on being available for work in Canada.
Yet, the vast majority of foreign workers who apply for regular EI benefits (i.e. temporary financial assistance after being laid-off through no fault of their own) are rejected. Although it is unknown how many migrants have made failed attempts at collecting regular EI in Canada, some reports have put the proportion of TFWs that have accessed these benefits at less than 1 per cent.9 It appears that the administrative process is what is preventing most TFWs from accessing regular EI benefits, rather than any legal restriction. Migrant advocacy groups assert that the government administration rules them out because their work permits are tied to one employer. If they manage to acquire a new job offer, they would still need to apply for another work permit before they could be considered as available to work in Canada, thereby making the need for EI a
#
3
moot point. Considering the amount that foreign workers invest in Canadian social security and pension systems, this seems like a fairly obvious wrongdoing. A general lack of information and misperceptions surrounding the ineligibility of TFWs for EI also do not help matters.

 

[relic]

I don't get out much,meby this isn't so rare,but there ere so many Mexicans in Oxford NS that the titless teller has spanish along with english & french

 

[Bar Sinister]

First of all Wet Back applies to Mexicans that come into the United States illegally and
these people enter our country legally and with papers therefore they are not wet backs.
For you information there is a process and has been for about five years now. Mexican
labour can be used as long as prospective employers put ads in papers announcing that
work is available at minimum wage and if no one applies the employer can in fact make
the move to apply for Mexican labour.
Where was the outcry when it was first proposed, and just for your information there is
also Jamaican labourers under the same program. That dates back about twenty years
in Ontario, especially in the Ontario Tree Fruit Industry.
This has been going on for a long time in Ontario and BC.

Agreed. Use of poorly paid foreign workers to perform jobs Canadians will not touch is not new. Temporary foreign workers have been used in Canada for decades. The problem with the plan has always been that it is open to abuse and exploitation of those workers. I'm not sure of the details regarding the new laws, but perhaps it affords them some protection for a change.