Monday, June 30, 2014

Nevermind The TFW's....Here Come The ICT's!

ButWhoWillActuallyGetToRideAllThose
SparklePoniesVille


ICT's = Intra-Company Transfers to be precise.

Never heard of them, you say?

Well...

There out there.

And Alison has done a whole lot of digging and dot connecting to come up with the story:

Then there's the ICTs - Intra-Company Transfers - also not reliant on LMIAs to safeguard Canadian jobs because they were created to allow multinational corps to move their skilled workers easily from country to country.
{snippety doo-dah}

...In BC, eight US construction workers were granted entry to BC by the CBSA under an ICT after a US company got the contract to build a wood-waste storage building near Prince George. These "specialized workers" included a former rancher and an apprentice roofer and produce clerk. Yea NAFTA! and all that, but don't we have enough ranchers, apprentice roofers, and produce clerks looking for any kind of work in Canada already?

Asked about the union-backed court case protesting import of the eight US workers, (FedCon Minister Jason) Kenney referred reporters to Chris Alexander, but a year ago he stated : "The obligations we have have for intra-company transfers are often hard-wired into trade agreements."...

{snippety doodle-dandy}

...TransCanada, once billed in the US as "an American company with operations in Canada", is slated to build a $1.9-billion pipeline link for Kitimat LNG project.

In February (Snooklandian Minister) Mr. (Rich) Coleman announced there was "no question the industry will be looking to foreign workers to get up and running", and in March he touted the importance of being on

"a continent with a lot more people south to us ... so we have access to other skilled labour on the continent and there are people who are very good at doing certain jobs - specialized welders." One presumes he isn't referring to the TransCanada welders on the southern leg of the Keystone XL Canada to Texas project :

"Over 72 per cent of welds required repairs during one week. In another week, TransCanada stopped welding work after 205 of 425 welds required repair.


Inspections by the safety agency found TransCanada wasn’t using approved welding procedures to connect pipes, the letter said. The company had hired welders who weren’t qualified to work on the project because TransCanada used improper procedures to test them."...



Please go and read Alison's entire dispatch.

There is a whole lot of good stuff there.

And as you're reading it think about how these fine corporations will do just about anything to decrease their labour costs in countries they simultaneously do their best not to pay taxes in.

Put another way...Cheap labour in + Expensive taxes out = Big profits for the very few while everybody else (including the people who keep voting for the enablers against their own best longterm interests) gets screwed.

It's like Thomas Frank's Kansas book has gone global.

In other words...We are all Toto now.


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And my apologies to Alison for pulling so much of her post and putting it up here - it really just is that good...Now, go read it all!


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3 comments:

e.a.f. said...

I did read it all. I also read Montreal Simon's blog which reported on the foreign pilots Canada is hiring for the Armed Services. its cheaper to bring them in than train Canadians. No wonder kids can't get decent jobs in this country.

it is disgusting the way this country wants to import workers and not train their own citizens. We have a new crop of kids graduating from high school. How many of them would like to be trained to become welders and pipefitters?

If the shipyards bring in one foreign worker we ought to put up picket lines. That's our tax dollars, which were supposed to provide jobs for Canadians. Now we find out they will be brining in foreign workers? Nice going Harper.

There is some nice material here for bumper stickers. Now if the opposition parties would just pick up on this and give it some legs, they might have something to work with and Harper might have something to worry about. We as Canadians might be able to get some of our jobs.

We have to admit Americans to Canada to do work Canadians could/should be doing. The Americans are starting another of their "buy American" for federal government procurements. Its about time the Canadian government gave some priority to its taxpaying voting citizens.

RossK said...

Thanks eaf.

And thanks for heading over to Alison's to read her entire post.

In the comments she notes that she most grateful for the arrival of folks from here and from The Galloping Beaver.

I think this is something we have to do more often in the Lotuslandian Bloggodome - I'm going to write about that soon.

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Anonymous said...

Australia is having their own foreign worker 'issues' too.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/leaked-report-raises-concerns-over-457-visa-20141018-117wfc.html

Leaked report raises concerns over 457 visa

- Heath Aston, The Sydney Morning Herald

The unredacted version of the report, obtained by Fairfax Media, reveals the names of 1800 visa holders and the companies that employ them – or in many cases, the companies that used to employ them.

The audit, which involves less than 1 per cent of the 200,000 foreign workers in Australia, raises concerns over 40 per cent of 457 visa holders, including evidence that many are no longer working for their nominated employer or are not being paid at the rate at which they were promised.

The report also raises questions about the widespread use of the visa, which the government insists is available only to employers who "cannot find an Australian citizen or permanent resident to do the skilled work" they require.