Bad news for TFW under food service processing their LMO

[stopDA]

Not true. I applied at Macdoanlds when i was fresh out of high school. I would have loved to have worked there. But they didn't even interview me. My cousin worked at macdoanlds for many years, and was trained by them and eventually became a manager. It was a great experience for her too. And she stayed so long with them because it was indeed a decent job and they offered her raises based on her increasing experience, etc.

Now, if you are a Canadian, MacDonalds says they would prefer not to hire you. The CEO has admitted that!

"Here's the kicker. The kicker is there's an element of truth in each of these stories," Betts said. McDonald's Canada has agreed to a third-party investigation of all locations that use temporary foreign workers. "What we've got to do is fix what we have in the restaurants concerning the temporary foreign workers.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mcdonald-s-canada-ceo-calls-foreign-worker-controversy-bull*censored word*-1.2621151

( This link probably wont get posted because it has a swear word in the url lol )

You're just copying and pasting single lines of text from articles and completely spinning around what it actually says. There's some element of truth with the stories because SOME of their restaurants favor foreign workers. With a business as large and widespread as McDonald's, there are bound to be some employers who abuse the TFW program. The last time I checked, those McDonald's restaurants that got blacklisted were owned and operated by someone else, not corporate McDonald's. Maybe that McDonald's you applied to was probably abusing the program or maybe they didn't hire you for some other legitimate reason. The CBC really is launching a smear campaign against TFWs and people who employ them. They're just fishing for isolated cases of abuse in order to keep this smear campaign going. They never report on the matter objectively.

 

[wins26]

Again, I'm not sure where you are getting your information. Minimum wage is now $11 per hour and the law mandates that all employers must pay overtime. If you are not receiving this, there are plenty of avenues for you to file a complaint.

You are correct that the job isn't easy. But does that mean we should hand out work visas and PR to all workers who have difficult jobs? Or, should we pick those people who will further the country and promote the economy, as the entire immigration program was designed to do?

Here in Alberta the minimum is 9$ different province has different minimum wage. When I was a caregiver I got only 9.62$ way back 2 years ago and they raise it I guess now for like 10.12$ around like that. Food service here as well. You get 9.75$ if you are open permit holder. Canadian or PR

 

[torontosm]

Here in Alberta the minimum is 9$ different province has different minimum wage. When I was a caregiver I got only 9.62$ way back 2 years ago and they raise it I guess now for like 10.12$ around like that. Food service here as well. You get 9.75$ if you are open permit holder. Canadian or PR

The minimum wage in Alberta has been $9.95 since last September. If you are getting less, you should speak to your employer.

http://srv116.services.gc.ca/dimt-wid/sm-mw/rpt2.aspx?lang=eng&dec=5

 

[stopDA]

You are absolutely correct that the comments on some of the public news sites are filled with nonsensical hatred from people hiding behind the anonymity that the Internet affords. However, just as you said that TFW's differ in terms of background and can't be labeled, Canadians too can not be stereotyped. The people making those comments represent a very small segment of the overall population, and shouldn't be considered representative of all Canadians.

My comments on this forum are not intended to be personal in any way. My issue is with the structure of the system that the current government has created, and I think immigration reform is desperately required across the board.

Well, I just hope you're right about those people being a minority. Meanwhile, there are genuine labor shortages in the restaurant industry. Sure, restaurants in large metropolitan areas may be less likely to have real labor shortages. However, natural resource towns where even high school dropouts can get jobs that pay upwards of $30 an hour, really need long-term foreign workers. Being shortstaffed makes a restaurant less likely to sell food to those same high earners who can afford to east out regularly. Nobody wants to spend more than 15 minutes waiting on fast food, so workers are needed. Simply raising the wages isn't going to do anything. Raising the wage from $12 to $15 would still make people prefer the natural resource jobs that offer twice as much money.

 

[dalma11]

The minimum wage in Alberta has been $9.95 since last September. If you are getting less, you should speak to your employer.

in order to apply for LMO the minimum wage you offer must be equal or more then average wage for the region you apply for.
here is an example:

Camrose--Drumheller Region
low - 9.95
median -11.00
high - 15.00

So a foreign worker in this area will get minimum 11.00/h

 

[fkl]

This is a fundamental issue I have with the program, and with the attitude of many TFW's I have encountered. They come here with a sense of entitlement that they deserve to be PR's. that is not the case at all. If you want to be a PR, then apply for one of the PR programs. Of course, most TFW's wouldn't qualify for these programs, and so they use the back-door CEC class to obtain residency. This annoys me to no end becuase qualified doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. have to wait for years to qualify to immigrate to Canada and yet we are allowing nannies and unskilled workers to get their residency sooner? How does that make sense and how is that in Canada's long term interests?

If TFW's want to call this country home and be treated like any other immigrants, as you claim, then they should be subject to the same scrutiny and standards as all other immigrants as well. You can't have it both ways.

Okay now i see where you are coming from. But again, this is how CIC designed their processes. It is not the attitude of temp workers. It is the way the system has been designed by Canadian Government. No formal fast enough procedure existed until today to get some one on PR if he is required by a company.

There is no "sense of entitlement" we are debating. It is about what exactly one is giving vs what he is taking - living under the rules laid down by government.

Being a PR or not never was that important to a foreigner sitting in his home country. When an employer reaches out to him and lay down this path, what ever he considers is a new life which in general is viewed as a long term decision. Last time i checked, the requirements for CEC in general are far higher than a normal FSW like program in terms of qualification.

Please realize that for some people there is no "Canadian dream". I think i easily qualified for several permanent resident programs for many countries in the world including the UK (taking first a Tier 1 / HSMP qualification route) based upon age, education, income, experience, language ability - all the standard criteria for PR programs. However, they were never motivational enough simply. When an employer adds a confirmed decent paying job along with helping through the process - legally and financially, it becomes a different story. So the comparison between a doctor or engineer who applies for a PR, takes years to go through the process, comes here and starts life from zero is simply NOT COMPARABLE to some one who is needed badly by an employer. From government's perspective it is different too - they would rather want skilled immigrants with confirmed jobs rather than people coming over and starting it from scratch. There is nothing wrong with the idea, the latter is just a bit more uncertain and challenging which people with stable careers would simply not be willing to take. Again realizing this, government has introduced express entry programs and hopefully things would get better.

And nannies (no disrespect intended) don't come through CEC. It is only restricted to skilled professions as thought of by the government i.e. those belonging to NOCs 0, A or B

 

[fkl]

FKL, I work in the financial services space, and such policies are used by governments the world over to protect jobs for their own citizens. For example, try getting a work permit in the UK or Singapore right now and you will see how difficult it is. In the Middle East, governments have instilled quotas (as high as 95%) that mandate the proportion of citizens vs. expats that can work in any country. And of course, we already spoke about the system in the US whereby their foreign visa cap is reached within days. So why can't Canada do the same? You seem to believe that it is Canada's obligation to allow anyone from anywhere in the world to move here for a better life. Unfortunately, though, in times like this where the economy is weak, Canada must protect its own citizens first. And if that means temporarily or permanently reducing the number of TFW's, so be it.

I agree that Canada can do the same - put quotas or restrictions. But getting a work permit at least for me for UK or Singapore is pretty much the same process (rather it used to be easier for the UK, because you didn't need a confirmed job offer) merely points based upon income, education and other factors. Recently it has been changed, and that is because UK's economy was affected and they don't have enough well paying jobs. Rather Canada was harder in the sense that process treats most people in the same class (temp workers) i.e. from the perspective of submitting application to doc requirements to processing times, you mostly don't get an edge for being a high skilled resource wanted by a large corporation vs being a care giver employed by an individual Citizen living in Canada.

Again fully agreed with putting restrictions or enforcing the program in the true spirit in which it was designed.

 

[doquer83]

Here in Alberta the minimum is 9$ different province has different minimum wage. When I was a caregiver I got only 9.62$ way back 2 years ago and they raise it I guess now for like 10.12$ around like that. Food service here as well. You get 9.75$ if you are open permit holder. Canadian or PR

Don't waist time arguing w/ him and the likes of him.clearly, he has his facts just based on what he sees on the net. Those who have experienced it first hand, know better.

 

[torontosm]

Okay now i see where you are coming from. But again, this is how CIC designed their processes. It is not the attitude of temp workers. It is the way the system has been designed by Canadian Government. No formal fast enough procedure existed until today to get some one on PR if he is required by a company.

My comments were never aimed directly at any individual TFW, but at the system and CIC itself. The entire program needs to be revamped.

Being a PR or not never was that important to a foreigner sitting in his home country. When an employer reaches out to him and lay down this path, what ever he considers is a new life which in general is viewed as a long term decision. Last time i checked, the requirements for CEC in general are far higher than a normal FSW like program in terms of qualification.

I think if you read some of the other threads on this forum alone, you will see thousands of posts where people are looking to get any job to get to Canada. And, it's definitely not for the wages but solely for the PR status.

Also, the requirements for CEC are nowhere as strict as those for FSW. All you need is 12 months of work experience in Canada, and the program is open to butchers, mechanics, line workers, etc. Compare that to the point system others have to go through and you will find that the vast majority would never actually qualify.

As for nannies, they may not come through CEC but for them, the bar is even lower! To qualify as a nanny, they need a 6 month course (which can easily be faked) and then they need 24 months of work experience in Canada. As I mentioned earlier, I know of several cases where the "work experience" was gained at a relatives house who sponsored them as a live in caregiver. What happened to all the requirements about education, adaptability, work experience, etc. that other immigrants have to go through?

If people aren't looking for the Canadian Dream, then I think the best thing to do would be to eliminate any path to PR for TFW's. I would venture to guess than 90%+ would no longer want to move to Canada if they knew they would have to return home at the end of the term.

 

[torontosm]

Don't waist time arguing w/ him and the likes of him.clearly, he has his facts just based on what he sees on the net. Those who have experienced it first hand, know better.

Yup, I'm biased based on facts (supported by links to government websites) rather than hearsay from someone posting anonymously on the Internet.

 

[adees]

@iammikeywithy. Yes mercan philippines .... Im waiting for my medical referral its almost one month but still theres no update from mercan regarding my medical referral

 

[adees]

Did anyone experienced my status... Last year my visa was approved for quebec but my employer cancelled my contract .. So i had my another employer then my lmo and contract forwarded last april 2 , thus anyone knows if im still needing another medical referral from the embassy ? Since my agency told me i need to wait for medical referral , my medical was last Sept 16 its still valid ... And i was really confuse if my application is afftected by the moratorrium?

 

[stopDA]

According to my latest intel, Kenney himself stated that Service Canada is "in the final phases of a comprehensive review of the program".

I'm wondering what these "final phases" are relative to. Is it relative to the date when the moratorium was imposed, or is it relative to a date in the distant past when they began making changes to the program last year? If it's the former, then this indicates that we won't have to wait past the end of the first week in June for the moratorium to be lifted. It's been 20 days since the imposition of this moratorium, so if we're in the very last phases of Kenney's review, then we shouldn't have to wait more than 20 additional days. By my own definition of "final phases", I think that you can only say such things when you're at least halfway to the point of completion.

However, if these "final phases" are relative to those reforms that began last year, then we may be waiting even longer than 20 more days. The newest news articles say that he plans to be finished with his review and make changes to the program "soon" and "in the coming weeks", so I'm estimating that he'd be finished by the end of August or early September. Last year, it took 4 months for them to put their new rules into effect after those BC mining and RBC scandals prompted them to increase advertising times, charge application fees, etc. This is approximately the amount of time that people wait for LMOs these days and these "weeks" would therefore be more in line with Service Canada's definition of "weeks".

 

[attagirl]

Im really confuse if this moratorium affects gas stations.

 

[Jenog]

Attagirl,

If gas station have a convenience store where the staff directly working in, then it is affected by recent moratorium. Everything related to food sector job are considered on hold. Just be positive that everything will be fine soon.

regards,

Jenog