Several maritime union leaders claim shipping-related employers may be misusing Ottawa’s foreign worker programs, prompting concerns of wage depreciation and safety challenges in the industry.
“One of the challenges is that the wages that are being offered are lower than any Canadian seafarer, or anyone who would work on a vessel would accept,” said Eric McNeely, provincial president of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union, whose members staff BC Ferries vessels.
In a letter to the federal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour dated Jan. 30, McNeely and four other maritime union leaders suggested that a loophole in Ottawa’s temporary foreign worker program is allowing shipping-related companies to justify hiring foreign workers.
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