Up to 2,000 Chinese miners on their way to BC

[gopher]

"can't do safely"


Sounds like the same type of excuse people use to import labor from overseas into here. There are plenty of people in the ghettoes and rez's who will gladly fill any such job if it was given to them. While Canada doesn't have a ghetto problem like we do, you do have rez's where there is unemployment. To deny these folks those jobs is crapola.

 

[Trex]

Up to 2,000 Chinese miners on their way to British Columbia to fill jobs Canadians can't do safely



An initial group of 200 Chinese citizens will begin to arrive in British Columbia in coming weeks to work at new mines in the western Canadian province.

The full time workers – whose number could grow to as many as 2,000 eventually – follow $1.4 billion in Chinese funding for two of four coal projects in the northeast of the province announced in November
.
The Vancouver Sun reports up to 800 Canadians would also be employed by the four coal mines, but according to one of the mine developers Canadian Dehua International Mines, Canadians "just don't have the experience" to operate underground equipment safely and that "without the Chinese and the technology they're bringing … these particular mines would not have been developed":

Stephen Hunt, western director for the United Steelworkers union, ridiculed Tuesday the suggestion Canadians couldn't be trained to work underground.

"Bull****," he said of [Canadian Dehua CEO John] Cavanagh's assertions .



more


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Chinese+workers+fill+mining+jobs/7366971/story.html#ixzz28unU2hhU

I heard it was 6 million.
Horking in public,spitting on sidewalks and pushing and shoving in bus lineups would now be taught in school.
Seriously.

 

[tay]

Feds cry helpless as company refuses to produce proof it adequately sought miners in BC.


Employers wishing to use temporary foreign workers could be spared the hassle of proving they are legitimately needed depending on a court ruling this week.

Last Wednesday lawyers representing two Canadian unions squared off in court against lawyers representing the Canadian government over who controls documents related to a mining company's application for Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) permits.

To be granted such permits, companies must provide a Labour Market Opinion showing they attempted to find Canadians for the position without success.

In December, a Federal Court judge ordered the Ministry of Human Resources and Skills Development to hand over all documents related to the permits to the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 114 and the Construction and Specialized Workers Union Local 1611.

The unions contend they need to see the documents HD Mining used to determine there were no Canadians available to work in its mine as part of a case to have a judicial review of the permits conducted.

But some of the documents -- such a resumes of Canadian workers who applied to work at the project -- are still held by HD Mining and the company refuses to give them to the government.

Now the HRSDC Ministry is in court arguing it has no control over the documents, despite sending three letters to the company demanding they be released last month.




Outside of court last week, lawyer for the unions Charles Gordon said if the judge rules the government does not have control over the documents it will set a precedent that leaves HRSDC powerless to enforce its own regulations.

"The shocking part of the federal government's position is that if they don't have control over the documents it means that companies can say they've done things that are necessary for them to get their LMOs without having to show that they did so," said Gordon.

"It means that a company could come in and say, 'Hey, no qualified Canadians applied for this job, but we're not going to show you the resumes that we got and you'll just have to accept that.'"

more

The Tyee – Harper Gov't Asks Court to Rule It Powerless on Key Chinese Miner Issue

 

[Goober]

Seems the company was leery of providing resumes of Canadians not hired.

Mining firm agrees to release applicants

“For example, it is possible that some or many of the persons who submitted résumés had not notified their present employers that they were searching for other employment.”

Two B.C. labour groups are seeking the résumés as part of a court challenge to federal government decisions that cleared the way for HD Mining to hire up to 200 Chinese workers for its Murray River coal project near Tumbler Ridge.

Before they can hire workers under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, employers have to obtain a Labour Market Opinion, which requires, among other things, employers to show what efforts they made to hire Canadians.

HD Mining has said it was not able to hire qualified Canadians for the positions, a statement the unions dispute.

The résumés “come down to one of the major statements that HD Mining said to the Canadian government,” said Mark Olsen, business manager with Construction and Specialized Workers’ Union Local 1611, said on Thursday. “They said we have advertised across Canada and although we have received some résumés, we could not find one qualified Canadian to take a job at the Murray River project.

“If you’re saying that, let’s see the 300 résumés to see if it’s true.”

HD Mining said it expects to provide the résumés by early next week.

 

[taxslave]

They quite probably could not find any Canadian miners for this place. I recall the job postings and among other things it required Mandrin speakers.

 

[Goober]

They quite probably could not find any Canadian miners for this place. I recall the job postings and among other things it required Mandrin speakers.

Why that was put in place will be for the courts to decide. I imagine we have a wealth of qualified miners,
in Canada. May be wrong but it is not an area I am familiar with.

 

[tay]

 

[petros]

The clueless has spoken!