I EARNED THIS MONEY. I BUILT THAT THING.
Ignacio Sanchez PHOTO BY BRYNN BOURKE
FIGHTING ABUSES BY companies bringing temporary foreign workers to Canada isn’t about fighting against foreign workers. Quite the opposite, Building Trades affiliates have led the battle to protect foreign workers from unscrupulous employers and uncaring governments while protecting their own members. During construction of the Canada Line, BC Building Trades researcher Joe Barrett discovered some 40 Costa Rican, Ecuadoran and Colombian workers on the Canada Line were being paid less than $4 per hour. Barrett speaks Spanish, and was able to communicate easily with all the workers. A lengthy, costly battle began when LiUNA took up their cause. The battle lasted years, but justice was finally served when a union delegation headed to Costa Rica in January 2013 and personally handed cheques for tens of thousands of dollars to each worker. Building Trades interim executive director Brynn Bourke says that was a proud day for B.C.’s unionized construction workers. “When we connected with them, they were making less than $4 an hour. We had to go to court to ensure that they had the right to make a living wage,” Bourke said. When temporary foreign workers are hired, they are our brothers and sisters and should be treated with respect and dignity, she said. “They should not be brought here under a system of exploitation.”
At the time, a then 27-year-old Ignacio Sanchez, who came from Costa Rica to work on the Canada Line, said the settlement was bittersweet. “Every time I use the Canada Line, I see thousands of people. They don’t know who built it. We were hidden underground in the tunnel. I did the work and I think – this is the place they ripped me off. I earned this money. I built that thing.” Sanchez is now a Permanent Resident of Canada and has made a life here. LiUNA regional representative Mark Olsen said changes need to be made to the Temporary Foreign Worker programs now to prevent further abuses as B.C. prepares for many large infrastructure projects. “They believe they can bring in foreign workers and pay them what they are used to being paid at home,” Olsen said. “On the RAV line, they were paying them $3.57 cents an hour.” The RAV line project was just one bad example of many. Olsen recalls when HD Mining said it needed TFWs because almost no Canadians answered its ads for miners, after it said speaking Mandarin would be a requirement for employment. Matt Carlow said, “If we are bringing in foreign workers, let’s bring them in the right way, let’s pay them properly, let’s treat them properly. Let’s take care of them as though they are British Columbians.”
10 | tradetalk Fall 2021
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker