What's All the Fuss about Foreign Workers?

Three Issues Intertwine to Create Powderkeg in Fort McMurray

June 2005

By Jason Foster
AFL Staff

In recent weeks, Albertans' TV screens and newspapers have flickered with trades workers rallying, marching and protesting against "foreign workers" in the oilsands. One woman walked from Fort McMurray to Edmonton to highlight the problem. The stories never garner the front page, but the issue doesn't seem to be fading away either.

Quite understandably, most Albertans are probably scratching their heads wondering what all the fuss is about? Is this just a group of privileged unionists using xenophobia to keep out newcomers? Or is this a case of employers finding new ways to undercut their wage costs? How is a citizen to make sense of it all?

This is a complex issue that has become oversimplified. As a result, the real issues are being drowned out by a cacophony of charged rhetoric. It is time to take a step back and look at what is really involved.

It is really three issues that intertwine to create a labour relations powderkeg in Fort McMurray.

Cabinet Order Goes Bang

The story begins with an arcane and little-used section of the Labour Relations Code, called Division 8 (actually Part 3, Division 8). In December 2004, the newly elected Cabinet quietly passed an Order-in-Council applying special provisions of Division 8 to the $10 Billion Horizons Oil Sands Project. Horizon is one of the numerous construction projects near Fort McMurray to expand oil sands extraction in the area. The company who owns the project is Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL). It is expected up to 6,000 workers will work on constructing this project.

The Order-in-Council permits CNRL to bypass standard labour relations procedure by negotiating only one master agreement for the entire worksite, forcing all workers to agree with the working conditions set in it. The usual arrangement is that a contractor negotiates separate agreements for each trade working on the job (carpenters, electricians, etc.). The government says this is to streamline negotiations to allow the project to move ahead quickly.

Alone, this special treatment would be an irritant to the building trades unions, but would be of no special significance. However, this particular cabinet order coincided with two other events.

Sweetheart Deal Turns Sour

The first event is that CNRL immediately began negotiations for the Horizon omnibus collective agreement with an organization called the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC). It has the legal status of a union, but it operates in a "non-confrontational" manner with employers. Their decision to collaborate with employers does two things. It means its members get inferior contracts compared to other more independent unions. Second, employers tend to use CLAC to keep out other, stronger unions. In other words CLAC often finds itself as a tool for employers to keep wages down and employer control up. It is often charged that CLAC does not provide enough democratic control of the union to its members - operating behind closed doors to cut special deals with employers.

In recent years, CLAC has been a threat to workers in construction, as it has used sweetheart deals (where the employer gets more favourable conditions) by driving down wages and other key working condition provisions.

CLAC has since signed a deal with Horizon that offers conditions lower than the industry standard.

CNRL's decision to negotiate with CLAC turned the heat up on the issue, infuriating the building trades unions and suggesting the request for Division 8 exemptions was really an attempt to push down wages and working conditions. It also suggested the government was actively assisting a company to create an un-level playing field for negotiations.

The Provocative Use of "Workers of Convenience"

The second event is what has ignited the smouldering anger of workers in Fort McMurray and across the province. At the same time as it received special Division 8 designation, CNRL also announced its intention to import "foreign workers" to work on the project. CLAC, in its usual collaborative manner, agreed to the idea, allowing them to work under its agreement.

A recent deal between the Alberta and Federal governments allows for a fast-tracking of foreign workers in the oil sands.

"Foreign workers" should not be confused with immigrants. "Foreign workers" is a designation that allows someone from another country to come to Canada to work on a specific worksite. Once the work is complete, they are forced to return home. They earn no rights as a landed immigrant and cannot apply for status. In many ways foreign workers are much like the "flags of convenience" in the shipping industry - consider them "workers of convenience".

Foreign workers are used most commonly in the agricultural sector, working for short periods of time during harvest, and then returning home.

CNRL's announcement is the first time the energy sector has considered using these workers for skilled positions. They claim that the move is necessary because there is a shortage of trade labour in Alberta right now.

There are three problems with the use of foreign workers in the oilsands.

First, it is not at all clear that a labour shortage exists. Studies provide mixed assessments. The building trades unions have said they are able to supply the labour needed for the project - but only at regular industry rates, not at the cut wages CNRL is looking for.

Second, it is clear the foreign workers are being used by CNRL to achieve lower working conditions at the project. They have been struggling to find skilled labour at the rates they are willing to pay. Foreign workers are a way to skew the labour market and avoid the higher wages that tighter labour demand usually requires.

Third, a much overlooked fact is that this is no deal for the imported workers. While they may earn wages not possible at home, they are being exploited because of their vulnerability. While they are here, the basic protections afforded Canadian workers do not apply to them. They are exempt from Employment Standards, Occupational Health and Safety and even Human Rights legislation. They are not allowed to apply for immigrant or refugee status, and can only stay as long as they maintain their employment with their particular employment. If they are fired or quit, they are immediately deported. This makes these workers little more than indentured servants, regardless of rate of pay.

What Happens Now?

Most Albertans are unaware of the impact of these three intertwined issues in Fort McMurray. In that city, the pot is boiling. It has become the major pre-occupation of the industry, the City and the labour movement in the remote northern community. And if it boils over there, it is hard to see how the rest of province won't get scalded.

In an attempt to lower the temperature, CNRL announced it will not import foreign workers for the time being - but it stopped short of ruling it out in the future. So far, this has failed to cool the situation, and labour continues to mobilize around the issue.

It is unknown where things are headed.

What is clear is that we need a clearer debate about this issue. It has been clouded by evasive PR spin on the government and industry side and short-sighted reactions on labours side. CNRL is spinning so fast, they seem like a ride at the exhibition. The "Albertans First" tone of some of the labour rallies has been distracting, at times bordering on racist. All of it has done a disservice to a serious debate.

We need to focus more on the more substantive issues involved: the use of indentured foreign workers who possess no rights, and the practice by industry to use any means possible - non-confrontational unions, foreign workers, government backroom deals - to undercut wages and working conditions.

With the real issues in mind, it may be easier for Albertans to determine where to take a stand. And if they do, we may find a solution to this conflict. If not, it could be a hot summer.

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