Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - April 2007
A shortage of foodservice and housekeeping workers has BC's $9.8-billion tourism and hospitality launching an "aggressive international recruitment campaign" that will deliver Filipino workers to Vancouver Island's west coast, Whistler, and the Okanogan region. The worker shortage has been described as a "crisis" by some hotel managers in the region as their businesses chronically remains short of workers.
Recruitment of foreign labour has been described as "crucial to the continued health of the hotel industry across the country" as Canadians are not responding to aggressive advertising and recruitment. Certain hotels are losing up to forty-two per cent of business because they have been unable to hire sufficient staff.
The Filipino workers entering for the 2007-08 season will be among the first wave accepted under new Temporary Foreign Worker Program rules that Human Resources and Social Development Minister Monte Solberg unveiled on Feb. 23. 2007. The revised program includes a new "Regional Occupations Under Pressure" list where employers may recruit internationally after making domestic recruitment efforts. Key to the program has been the extension of work permits from one to two years for “C” and “D” class foreign workers which. Under the old rules, the recruitment of labour for occupations requiring lower levels of formal training for one-year work permits did not make economic sense. As well, employers can now apply online for federal permission to recruit abroad, and “in the spirit of expediency” HRSDC is streamlining worker-permit processing.
The recruitment of foreign workers requires businesses to invest a significant amount of time, energy, and money. Financial expenses for businesses may include recruitment fees for agencies, return airfare, local health-care expenses, and visa fees. Foreign workers are also incurring expenses such as administration fees to recruiter companies, medical check-up fees, and the cost for a criminal check.
Demographic trends in BC indicate that the aging population will result in declining labour force participation rate from 65 per cent in 2002 to less than 60 per cent in 2025. This rapid exit from the labour force by aging workers will compromise the long-term health of the domestic economy as vacated positions go unfilled. Despite the need for labour in certain occupations, there are critics of the new Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Organized labour organizations argue that the program for BC employers to undercut wages and weaken unions. Rather than global worker recruitment, Wayne Peppard, executive director of the British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council, says a number of domestic options should first be considered. There is a concern that employers are not exhausting their Canadian recruitment efforts and are instead focusing more on regional advertising. Mr. Peppard would also like to see additional income-tax deductions offered to Canadian workers to cover relocation expenses.
Peppard acknowledges, however, that slowing the current trend is near impossible and that his focus is not on stopping foreign workers from coming to Canada, rather on "ensuring foreign workers are schooled on their labour rights and responsibilities."
Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070405.BCHELP05/TPStory/National
