By Angelo Young - As the Canadian government opens up an investigation into alleged labor violations involving temporary guest workers at franchises of McDonald’s Corporation NYSE:MCD in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, McDonald’s Canada said Monday it’s launching an internal review of hiring practices across its entire Canadian network.
The country’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, as it is officially known, allows employers to hire foreign workers where there is a “demonstrable shortage of Canadian citizens and permanent residents” to do the job. But Canada’s guest worker system has faced increasing scrutiny for its recruitment of lesser-skilled jobs, such as bagging burgers and cleaning hotel rooms while youth unemployment in Canada stands at almost 14 percent. Employers claim there aren’t enough Canadians to do the jobs.
“We have launched a comprehensive review of all corporate and franchise-operated restaurants across the country to ensure our operations are fully aligned with the requirements of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and consistent with our McDonald’s Values,” McDonald’s Canada said Monday. “The Temporary Foreign Worker Program was created to help employers resolve staffing issues and it provides important support for businesses when used as intended.”
The government has launched an investigation into the hiring practices of both corporate-owned and franchise-operated McDonald’s outlets after employees of two separately owned franchises complained earlier this month that locals were being pushed out in favor of the short-term foreign guest workers who were getting more hours while the local hires were seeing their hours and pay cut. Christian Morrow, a 54-year-old assistant restaurant manager who has worked at a Parksville, B.C., McDonald’s franchise for 24 years, told the CBC she was let go from her job because her boss said the guest workers, mostly Filipinos, were better workers.
“What is often called a better work ethic is really them [the guest workers] working under a fear ethic,” Dennis Gruending of the Ottawa-based Canadian Labour Congress, said. He points to three reasons why guest workers tend to do more for less money: They pay recruitment fees for the privilege of working in a developed country like Canada and often have accuse debts in the process; they cannot easily change jobs and in most cases have to leave the country if they’re fired or let go; and employers can use these workers to fill their entry-level positions regardless of an individual foreign temp’s skill level, which can shut out locals from foot-in-the-door positions and help keep payroll expenses down with a pool of foreign temps less likely to ask for raises or complain about working conditions.
In Alberta, franchise operator Dan Brown was accused by his former Canadian restaurant manager Chris Eldridge of housing his foreign temps in cramped living conditions and deducted from their paychecks $400 a month for rent. Brown has denied any wrongdoing and confirmed to the CBC that he employs 90 foreign temps who work full time. He says he pays part-timer less than full-timers but that all full-timers are paid equally.
Migrant rights advocates don’t necessarily want to see the program scotched, and labor economists routinely say such guest-worker programs are necessary to fill small pockets of demand where there aren’t enough locals to meet demand, which can happen in more sparsely populated areas.
Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer for Toronto-based migrant rights organization Justicia for Migrant Workers said employers use the “stereotype” of the hard-working migrant laborer to justify what they really want to: pay workers less and really on a revolving door of employees bonded to them under threat of being asked to leave the country.
“The reason why employers like to use those stereotypes is that they simply want to deny people rights,” he said.
Migrant rights and labor advocate both say that if Canada is facing a shortage of burger flippers, or hotel housekeepers, or other forms of lesser-skilled low wage workers then they should bring workers in on a path to citizenship and given them equal rights to their counterparts in the labor market.
“From pickers to pipe-fitters and burger-flippers, Canadian businesses have become hopelessly hooked on short-term foreign workers,” the Toronto Globe & Mail said in its Sunday editorial. “The program has become a crutch for too many employers – an excuse to pay lower wages, or avoid the cost and effort of training."