Temporary Foreign Workers

Cundal and Seaman discuss the many ways in which the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is abused and the effects of this misuse on the workers. Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) are working jobs that should be classified as long term positions, not short term. This incorrect classification affects a worker’s salary, healthcare plan, pension, vacation pay, and sick days. Cundal and Seaman also address the ways in which TFW are more susceptible to employer abuse than other workers. Temporary Foreign Workers must apply for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) before switching employers, which can take up to five months; most workers cannot afford to live without a source of income for this length of time. This usually compels workers to keep serious issues private. Many workers are also uninformed about their basic rights, which often leaves them exposed to mistreatment or abuse by employers. Cundal, an immigration lawyer in Calgary and Seaman, a human rights and civil liberties researcher wrote an unbiased and fact based article using a wide variety of sources including articles, reports, and newsletters. Cundal and Seaman provided an extensive reference list in addition to footnotes to support their writing. The authors not only address the human rights issues faced by TFW’s, they also identify ways in which these issues can be resolved. Cundal and Seaman however, fail to provide information on how many TFW are affected by employer abuse and exploitation. This information is

I believe the parties in this negotiation are the employee and employer who are negotiating. While the third side is the information available online or people who are currently working or have worked in the employee’s field of interest. These third side could help complementing information to employee in order to become well prepared and well equipped with necessary knowledge.

Education along with work experience are vital resources that immigrants convey to Canada’s industry. However, this is not the scenario for many new immigrants, who struggles to get past the preliminary credentials check-up process. In 2007, a report showed that “foreign credentials of 340,000 Canadians or permanent residents of visible minorities have not been recognized” (Andrew Cardozo and Ravi Pendakur, 2007). In addition, a number of unemployed immigrants within that year accounted for the loss of $4.1B in Canada industry. In context, it shows that immigrants have a higher education than Canadian-born, “Statistics show that 47.5% of immigrants, aged 25 to 34, have completed university, compared to 26.6% of Canadian-born, workers” (Canadian government). This shows the proximity of ignorance and prejudice towards hiring an immigrant in Canada. To connect, these contempt results can give rise to many levels of distress, anxiety and psychological problems that can deteriorate and provoke health problems. A study done by Kate Strully at Harvard University concluded that “people had an increase of 81% chance to develop a mental illness after being unemployed” (KW STRULLY -

“An immigrant who can bring with him work for twelve people is to be welcomed with open arms even in a industrial colossus like the United States - welcomed anywhere it would seem but in Canada...Not only have the refugees brought work, but they have brought new customers”, (Document, 9).

When it comes to work in Canada, it is totally evident that each workplace is unique. It has its own culture and unwritten rules which every newcomer should know and be familiar with them. In fact, when the new immigrants come to work in Canada they face various difficulties and challenges in their jobs. It is precisely for these reasons, the majority of the experts in the Canadian workplace culture confirm that there are some common tips which can help the newcomers to integrate into the Canadian workplace successfully.

Immigration is one of the most important issues that the United States faces and thus has misperceptions such as how immigration affects the workforce and economy, the size and composition of the immigrants, and the budgetary impact of unauthorized immigration. As of 2012, more than 40 million immigrants lived in the United States, the population accounting for about 13 percent of the total population of U.S. The same year showed that unauthorized immigrants were 11.7 million, accounting for 3.7 percent of all the people of the U.S and roughly 5.2 percent of the labor force. Most of the illegal immigrants are Latino who is primarily from Central America and Mexico. 46 percent of all the immigrants in the

In this documentary about Mexican’s workers experience in Ontario, Canada, Min Sook Lee addresses the issue of the Foreign Temporary Worker program. Specifically, El Contrado demonstrates how Mexicans come to Canada in order to work during several months under bad working conditions. Those workers have to leave their family constantly in order to help them financially. They work 8 months a year, which means that they are home in Mexico only for 4 months (El Contrado). Maximo left his family behind; unfortunately, he cannot even for four months in order to see his son as he is illegal in Canada. As those Mexican workers, Maximo experienced bad working conditions. Here he briefly talks about working conditions and explains how he wanted to get

Immigrants today now have the privilege of entering and residing in Canada but along with this privilege, there are also barriers that impede their integration and deprive them of equal opportunity in the society. The undervaluing of foreign education and credentials has emerged over the years as a huge obstacle faced by recent immigrants who seek employment in the areas that they have been trained, and worked in for decades in their respective home countries. For years, newcomers in Canada have been denied inclusion into the Canadian labour market simply because of policies that were

Since the conservation government was completely defeated by liberty party, the disputed program, Temporary Foreign Workers program(TFWP), will continue to implement or not in which liberty government may top agenda. TFWP, the law has been started by conservative government on restrictive visas and do not have the rights to permanent residents from the fall of 2011 to now. Their purpose to the country and employment are trying to not taking jobs and opportunities away from Canadians.

Instead, the more easily manipulated and cost-saving TFWs are being chosen over local workers. This allows for violations of a TFW’s labour rights and has broad economic consequences. When TFWs are employed, wages and working conditions are driven down within that sector, and unemployment is raised amongst local workers. The solution is to fundamentally alter the TFWP and allow access to permanent residency for all low-skilled workers. This results in higher labour standards as well as greater worker mobility and social support. Permanent residents have the ability to receive education, as well as employment insurance, and further benefits. Additionally, when workers have the ability to gain permanent residency they have less fear of retribution from voicing their concerns and pursuing legal action. Workers should also be allowed work permits tied to their sector or province instead of one employer so that they have the ability to freely change jobs. This allows competition by providing incentive for employers to pay and treat employees fairly, which would help alleviate the current string of labour rights abuses. On a basic level, there need to be more multilingual resources available for TFWs during the recruitment phase to increase understanding of the TFWP as well as of their rights and liberties in Canada. There also needs to be resources available in the country to help workers overcome the societal and cultural barriers. Once equal labour rights are ensured for all workers and they receive equal pay for equal work, TFWs will fill their original purpose: to fill temporary labour shortages. All these solutions would ultimately amount to a more ethical, fair and flexible Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker

Even though Canada’s TFW program is seen as a model for other countries to follow, there remain issues of marginalization among foreign workers. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Canada’s program “allows Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals to fill temporary labour and skill shortages when qualified Canadian citizens or permanent residents are not available” (CIC, 2012, para. 1). Tracy Lemieux and Jean-François Nadeau (2015), researchers from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), suggest that Canadian employers are choosing to employ foreign workers in low-skill occupations when most domestic workers possess the skills to fill

Kurtzberg, T. R., & Naquin, C. E. (2011). The essentials of job negotiations: Proven strategies

However, beneath the iceberg, we have value, beliefs, norms and assumptions. These are all important factors of the negotiator that a negotiator who is unfamiliar with the culture would not be aware of if they simply showed up to the negotiation without first conducting research (Thompson, 2014).

Negotiation is a complex process. Fells (2009) defines negotiation as “a process where two [or more] parties with differences which they need to resolve are trying to reach an agreement through exploring for options and exchanging offers” (p.3). For most employers, salary negotiation is standard and expected. For the prospective employee, negotiating a salary and benefits package requires knowledge of negotiation tactics and an understanding of his or her desired outcome. Furthermore, effective negotiation requires the negotiating parties to adapt his or her tactics and approach to the environment (Korobkin, 2014). Negotiating salaries is unique because the stakes are

A cultural barrier between employers and employees can be a detrimental effect to not only the business, but to everyone involved in that business. Unless overcame, said barriers can create serious conflict within the firm. Without proper clarification on company standards, people with language barriers may have a difficult time adjusting to their position, and make mistakes along the way. For example, a man who just arrived from the Philippines may take time adjusting to the culture/language of Canada. This means that he may have a chance