Temporary foreign workers treated poorly, NDP charges

Almost three-quarters of employers of temporary foreign workersinspected by the province in the past year violated employment standards, according to documents released Wednesday by the Alberta NDP.

The government inspection reports were obtained by the NDP through a freedom-of-information request.

"We have a pretty concrete set of numbers that shows that there is a systemic pattern of exploitation within Alberta of temporary foreign workers," NDP MLA Rachel Notley said. "And as citizens, as Albertans, we need to be really worried about that. Albertans don't want to be seen as exploiters of vulnerable temporary foreign workers."

According to documents, government officials found 74 per cent of employersthat were inspected had violated the province's labour code. In the previous year, 56 per cent of employers were found to be in violation.

Half of all violations were forfailing topay workers properly for overtime, vacations and statutory holidays, Notley said.

She calledonthe province to eliminate the temporary foreign worker program and allow those workersalready here to stay.

"It is exploitive and I think it, frankly, undermines the dignity and the human rights of the people that are participating in it," she said.

While inspectors investigated specific complaints, more than half of violations were discovered during random inspections, Notley said.

Figures a 'really good news story,' minister says

Alberta's minister of employment and immigration, Thomas Lukaszuk,called the NDP's revelations a "really good news story", and said he was thankful the party released the documents, because it shows that workers have been educated about their rights.

"The fact that 74 per cent of these complaints are valid complaints, that there is something that needed to be corrected, shows that they're making educated complaints," Lukaszuk said. "They know what their rights are, they know what their privileges are as Alberta employees and they're making complaints that are valid."

In 2006, Ottawa streamlined the process for companies in Alberta and British Columbiato allow them to hiretemporary foreign workers more quickly.

At the time, Alberta wasat the height of an oil and gas boom. Many employers in the serviceindustry found it hard to find help asworkerswere lured away byhigher wages in the energy sector.

But shortly afterwards, complaintsstated flowing in about how workers were being treated.In late 2007, Alberta announced a team of eight inspectors would investigate complaints and carry out inspections.

According to the NDP, there were 74,028 temporary foreign workers in Alberta in 2008.