Recent protests involving the United Steelworkers regarding the use of Temporary Foreign Workers within Tumbler Ridge’s potential underground mine have raised a lot of eyebrows throughout the Elk Valley. After the November 21st protest in front of Liberal MLA, Bill Bennett’s office, The United Steelworkers served Bennett with an Eviction Notice due to his support of the use of Temporary Foreign Workers over unemployed Canadian citizens, his compliancy in selling out Canadian resources and jobs to foreign interests, his failure to provide adequate job training for local youth, advertising his political opinion in ads posing as news in media outlets and finally, for his support of Christy Clark and her anti labour destructive policies.
Because Unions have challenged HD Mining to prove they have done an adequate search for trained Canadian workers the opportunity for this mine to begin production may be postponed. “There is no reason to train Canadian workers if this bulk sample isn’t taken,” Bennett explained.
Though Jeff Bromley, Financial Secretary of United Steelworkers Local 1-405 disagrees and stated, “it isn’t like this mine came out of the woodwork six weeks ago. This has been in the works for at least four years, allowing plenty of time to train unemployed Canadian workers.”
With a provincial election happening within the next six months, Bennett states, “it’s mostly political, no one said a peep about the Temporary Foreign Workers in the Elk Valley.”
It has been made very clear by the United Steelworkers that this is about keeping jobs within Canada for Canadian people and keeping up to safety standards. “It’s no secret we don’t always side with the Liberal policy,” said Bromley, “Are we politicing? No. We have no problem with foreign workers. The problem is with Temporary Foreign Workers that don’t contribute to our economy. This one is about Candian jobs and the safety of all workers.”
He went on to say, “the workers brought into the Valley were tradesman, and tradesmen are a whole other animal. They’re in high demand.”
It is stated in a video created by Alex Hanson, Local 9346 President, that bringing in Temporary Foreign Workers will be the end of the middle class. The Federal Government allowing these employers to pay their employees 15% less than the average coal mining wage, which is about twenty eight dollars an hour, giving Temporary Foreign Workers a wage of seventeen to twenty-three dollars an hour Bennett has stated, “It is the Federal government that has allowed this to happen, I am not comfortable with that. A worker working within Canada should be making Canadian wages.”
However, among the disagreements between the United Steelworkers and the Liberal Party, Bennett in particular, Bennett has stated, “If the Federal Government sides with the Unions. I will stand behind them.” He went on to say, “I support the need for unions and am in no way, anti union. I support the need for a balance between worker and employer.”
