FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2007

The British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council

NEWS RELEASE Thursday December 13, 2007

BC Construction Unions Call On BC Labour Minister to Follow Alberta’s New Protection for Exploited Temporary Foreign Workers

Vancouver - BC construction unions are calling on BC Labour Minister Olga Ilich to immediately follow the Alberta government initiative aimed at stopping the exploitation of temporary foreign workers – which the unions say is already a problem in BC.

Alberta’s Labour Ministry is setting up advocacy offices and staff to pro-actively intervene on behalf of temporary foreign workers after a series of stories about how they have been exploited there.

But Wayne Peppard, Executive Director of the BC and Yukon Building Trades Council, says British Columbia has already seen serious exploitation of foreign workers, including Costa Rican workers on the Canada Line construction project who are currently pursuing a BC Human Rights Tribunal complaint over their wages.

“BC should be immediately following the Alberta initiative that recognizes the precarious position of temporary foreign workers,” said Peppard. “In BC, as in Alberta, most of these migrant workers don’t speak or write in English, don’t know their legal protections and don’t know who to turn to when they have a complaint.”

The Building Trades Council has written Ilich asking her to act immediately, Peppard said.

Migrant workers in the construction industry are especially vulnerable. Immigration requires that workers be indentured to one employer, said Peppard, while project construction contracts and sub-contracting make it easy for employers to exploit workers.

“Temporary foreign workers are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals from their employer,” said Peppard. “Some employers intimidate and coerce migrant workers to accept intolerable wages and working conditions under threat of being sent home.”

“Random spot checks of employment standards are the only way to monitor and enforce basic rights for these workers” Peppard added.

The Building Trades call for action for migrant workers follows a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) on the vulnerability of new immigrants in the workplace. That study Workplace Rights for Immigrants in BC: The Case of Filipino Workers shows that immigrants frequently work in unsafe conditions with little or no access to information about their basic rights. “Landed immigrants have the advantage of being able to change employers. If migrant workers end up working for a bad employer, they are often stuck in intolerable situations” Peppard said.

“All temporary foreign workers must be oriented to the laws that protect their labour rights and a safe place to turn to for help when they need it and this must be backed up by effective monitoring and enforcement for compliance.” concluded Peppard.

For more information: Wayne Peppard, BCYT at cell 778-388-0014 or 604-291-9020 or Bill Tieleman, West Star Communications, at cell 778-896-0964 or 604-844-7827. Website: www.bcbuildingtrades.org

For further information contact 

the BCYT-BCTC office:  604-291-9020

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