October 16, 2008

Temporary Foreign Workers

British Columbia government offers emergency funds to Golden Ears Bridge workers

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Vancouver

Temporary foreign workers who walked off the job at the Golden Ears Bridge project received a temporary reprieve from some of their money troubles.

Eighty temporary foreign workers from Serbia walked off the job late last month at the $808 million construction project after not being paid for two weeks by Baulex projects Ltd., a European sub-contractor.

They survived for more than a month on their own before the B.C. provincial government provided them with some emergency cash.

The union representing the Serbians worked with the B.C. government to get each worker about $600 in funds for rent and food.

“The provincial government kicked in to help out,” said Dean Homewood, business rep of the Construction and Specialized Workers Labourers Union.

“There were 71 guys who got cheques.This will not be a one time thing, but we are hoping to get them back to work as soon as possible. These guys like to work, so it was really hard to get them to take the money. ”

The other workers have already moved and the union is in the process of tracking them down.

Those workers must fill out some extra paperwork, but they will also receive some emergency funding.

“We appreciate that the B.C. government stepped up to help, but the federal government still bears the lion’s share of the responsibility for this foul-up and needs to get working on a solution,” said Homewood.

He said that the workers are entangled in a web of serious problems created by a lack of monitoring and enforcement by the federal government.

Homewood added that the workers need a number of things still owed to them, including their back pay, reimbursement for their airfare to Canada, permits to allow them to work for a different employer, and assurances that the new employer will pay their airfare back to Serbia at the conclusion of their work here in Canada.

“Our federal government has a responsibility to ensure that foreign workers who are recruited to work in this country are treated fairly and with respect, and that promises made are promises kept,” he said.

“The treatment these 80 workers have experienced in Canada is shameful and needs to be corrected.”

The union also wants the federal government to address problems with Employment Insurance.

“These guys had EI (Employment Insurance) deducted from their paycheques,” Homewood said.

“They are supposed to have the same rights as Canadian workers. If this is true, they should be able to collect EI.”

Baulex was delinquent in payments to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Those payments included income tax, as well as CPP and UI premiums and Baulex deducted the payments from the 80 workers’ paycheques. The CRA froze its bank accounts.

Under the temporary foreign worker program, work permits are issued to allow workers to be employed by a specific company. If that employer goes out of business or fires or lays off workers, the workers must return to their home country.

They are not allowed to seek other employment for the remainder of their work permit. The labourers union recently organized the Serbian workers and began to work on a number of problems they faced with their employer, including non-payment of the airfare from Belgrade to Vancouver, as stipulated in their agreement.

Baulex was also responsible for paying their return airfare, but the company has virtually disappeared.

According to the union representative, its president returned to Belgrade.

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