Members of one of the province's largest unions are hoping to send a message to the premier and her government that they are not happy about the direction of job opportunities in the province.
On Thursday afternoon, the United Steelworkers (USW) local 1-424 will host a rally outside of Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Pat Bell's constituency office at 103-770 Central St. E.
The action is in opposition to the recently controversial temporary foreign workers program, which facilitated the entry of more than 200 Chinese workers to do exploratory work on the Murray River project near Tumbler Ridge.
"We believe that it's just a strategy to drive down the Canadian standards for wages, working conditions, health and safety, while boosting the profits for the mining companies that are already profitable," said Don Iwaskow, business agent for local USW group.
The rally, taking place between noon and 1 p.m. Thursday, is part of a province-wide circuit of events targeting Liberal MLAs.
"Last fall, [Premier] Christy Clark announced that they were going to have 6,700 jobs created by the investment in the Chinese-owned mine up north. It was supported by Minister Pat Bell," Iwaskow said. "What they didn't tell us is that these are not Canadian jobs and it's pretty clear that it's not the Canadian's best interests that they have in mind here."
According to Iwaskow, the USW takes issue with substandard wages and health conditions offered to the incoming workers on a broad level and that when it comes to Chinese coal miners specifically, the safety record speaks for itself.
"The coal mining industry out of China has the world's worst health and safety records," said Iwaskow. "Nearly 2,000 fatalities in 2011 alone and 50,000 workers have been killed since 2001... If that's what the temporary foreign worker program is going to bring to Canada, well, safety first."
But the union may be barking up the wrong tree, said Bell, as the temporary foreign worker program is a federal entity.
"The steelworkers are certainly free to do whatever they want, but they're probably picketing the wrong office," Bell said. "They should be picketing their federal member."
Earlier this month, the federal government announced the temporary foreign worker program would undergo a review to determine whether or not companies had exhausted their Canadian resources before looking for employees abroad.
"I welcome that, I think it's a good thing," said Bell. "I think British Columbians and Canadians want to know if there are temporary foreign workers coming in, it is only happening when there truly is not anyone available to take those jobs."
The union is also receptive to the review, but only if it's thorough, according to Iwaskow. "It's got to be objective, transparent and it's got to be open to the public, and engage the stakeholders - employers, labour organizations and immigrant support groups," he said. "It's got to be fair to everyone."
