B.C. jobs minister Pat Bell has told media that HD Mining fell short in looking for qualified local personnel before getting permits to bring in 201 Chinese miners for its Tumbler Ridge underground coal project.
His comments came shortly after HD Mining issued an open letter in response to union claims that it rejected resumes of qualified Canadian applicants.
The letter, issued to the media yesterday afternoon, is requesting collaborative talks with the unions to enable it to continue with its plans to use temporary foreign workers (TFWs) on the project, in exchange for working with the unions on training Canadians for future work.
Despite the government’s previous defence of its TFW program, Bell told media, “There is no question people are angry and I accept that, we accept that. I think that is why when [the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development] steps up and says we are going to do a review of the program, we agree with that.”
In the letter, HD Mining International chair Penggui Yan asked that union cease its litigation against federal government over the TFW program, to enable mining companies to use overseas workers in some cases.
He said that the company has hired many Canadians for above-ground work and construction, and that it has strong support from the community of Tumbler Ridge.
Yan said the company is prepared to discuss a number of issues with the unions, including:
- HD Mining being allowed to conduct its two-year bulk sample work with the 201 temporary foreign worker authorizations issued thus far, and unions discontinuing litigation against the TFW program;
- HD Mining inviting the unions to join with its agreement with Northern Lights College to develop training long-wall underground mining – a type of mining that HD Mining says Canadian workers are not trained in, claiming this is why it looked to China for workers;
- HD Mining inviting the unions to participate in a review of its training and transition plan to expedite the transition to Canadian workers; and
- HD Mining committing to consulting unions before making any future applications to use temporary foreign workers.
BC Building Trades president Lee Loftus told Business in Vancouver the unions will not be withdrawing the judicial review they filed with the federal government regarding the TFW Program.
“This is not about HD Mining,” he said. “Like them, we are probably victims of a program that’s failing.
“This is about future employment for future workers and future generations, and if [the federal government] continues to displace Canadian workers with workers from outside the country, we’ll all be looking for jobs elsewhere.”
Tom Sigurdson, executive director for BC Building Trades, said this is nothing more than a media ploy and that the letter has not arrived in his office.
“If this was a respectful, sincere and genuine offer, they would have delivered the letter quietly, through either a courier service or Canada Post, rather than deliver the letter through the media,” Sigurdson said. “We haven’t even received the letter yet.”
Sigurdson claimed that HD Mining is trying to put its spin on the situation because it is rapidly losing support.
“They have lost at the court, Pat Bell has moved away from being a full-on supporter of HD Mining and their application for temporary foreign workers to being now on the opposite side, it has the minister of HRSDC saying that it has done a poor job of doing their due diligence ... They don’t have an awful lot of support out there.
“If this was a respectful attempt, they failed.”
Wayne Mills, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 115, said, “I’m very glad with the position [Pat Bell] is taking.
“Of the 201 permits that were issued, with entry-level positions, which are very low-skilled, how are there no qualified Canadians to do that?
“They’re still not saying that qualified Canadians will get jobs.”
