Letter to the Editor

Re: Minister of Sport, Community and Cultural Development Bill Bennett`s `3 Facts you should know about`:  Chinese Guest Workers in BC Mines; BC Jobs Plan.

Bennett quote: “Recently the Government of Canada have approved some temporary foreign workers to come to B.C.”

`Some` is going to be 200 expected to arrive in the next few weeks and that number could increase to approximately 2,000 Chinese guest workers that, over the next four years, are slated to be brought into B.C. to work in the initial phases of four proposed underground coal mines, owned by Chinese mining company Dehua International Mines Group, near Tumbler Ridge. Two thousand is not `some,` and if they`re only here temporarily, why did the company apply for between 1,600-2,000?

When Premier Christy Clark announced her government’s BC Jobs Plan in 2011, I wasn’t so naïve to expect a lot. Governments of any political stripe make announcements such as these and rarely do they contain anything of any real substance. Clark further claimed on a trade mission in November 2011 to China that “these projects support our BC Jobs Plan and according to the companies will create over 6700 jobs and other economic benefits for British Columbians.”

How naïve of me to expect that those jobs would be jobs for Canadians. Premier Clark didn`t include how many guest workers would be among the 6,700. Perhaps she forgot.

Jobs Minister Pat Bell claimed last year that Canadian mining companies simply don’t have the expertise to conduct underground coal mining operations. Excuse me? We’ve been mining coal in this country – underground or surface – for over 150 years. To say that we don’t have the ‘expertise’ doesn’t cut it and it’s also a cop-out.  Coal mining in this region is something we know a lot about and to say we can only surface mine is a slap in the face of Canadian workers and know-how across this country.

The unemployment rate in B.C. is seven per cent. In the Prince George region it’s 6.9%. Across Canada the number is 7.4%. Is Minister Bell trying to tell the people of B.C. – and Canada – that there are not enough unemployed workers to fill those jobs? The numbers tell a completely different story.

What about the wages? As we know well in this region, high-paying coal-mining jobs are the bread and butter here. The average wage in mining is over $28/hour (here it’s closer to $32), but the federal Conservative government – the body that oversees and regulates guest workers – has allowed the Chinese owners to pay those guest workers 15% less than the average wage.

And the increase to the tax base and economic spinoffs that Minister Bell and Premier Clark talk about? These are guest workers. They stay in camps and send their wages home, to China. They do not buy houses in our communities, buy cars, food in our grocery stores, quads or snow machines for recreation or contribute to the tax base that a Canadian worker would. Now, if these individuals want to immigrate to Canada, start a life here, become citizens, pay taxes. By all means, they should do so. This great country was founded on that principle, not by sending money back to a foreign country.

Lastly, though it should be topic number one, safety. Companies talk about a culture of safety within their workplaces all the time. Given the horrendous amount of people who die in the Chinese coal mines (50,000 between 2001-2011; 359 dead and 94 missing so far in 2012 with 85 alone in August – source; US Mine Rescue Association), the reasoning that the Chinese have ‘expertise’ in coal mining is almost laughable. Workers in coal mines die there, a lot. Expertise isn’t the first word that comes to mind. What happens the first time a guest worker invokes his right to refuse unsafe work?  If he`s even aware of the law, I`m sure he`ll be on the first plane back home.

Were these jobs advertised? You’d think jobs starting at $25 would get somebody’s attention, even if they’re 15% less than the average.

They were advertised on Workopolis, I`m told, and one of the qualifications was speaking Mandarin.

And they were advertised yet again, on the Chinese version of Craigslist. Upon further investigation by the online news source, The Tyee, a reporter posing a potential applicant was told that a fee totaling $12,000 would be required. What year is this – 1880? That sounds suspiciously like a head-tax to me. That and it`s illegal.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a full-time union representative. It’s my job to protect the interests of workers, bargain good wages and ensure safe workplaces. So, yes, I’m a union guy. But this isn’t just about union or not, nor is it about politics. It’s about jobs, people living here mining Canadian resources and saying we don’t have the expertise here in B.C., in Canada, isn’t only a cop-out, it’s and out-and-out miss-truth.

We all understand the shortages of skilled workers – tradesmen come to mind – but it doesn’t give the B.C. and Canadian governments carte blanche to let companies, foreign-owned or not, hire guest workers without first exhausting all avenues in this country. We used to train the workers we needed.

Lest we ask ourselves how long until Teck or a company wanting to open up a new mine in this part of province states that we don’t have the ‘expertise’ here anymore and hires guest workers, at half the price.

These are public resources being mined. They should be mined by people who live here.

Period.

Jeff Bromley,

United Steelworkers

Cranbrook

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