08) DON'T BLAME CHINESE WORKERS - BLAME CAPITALISM
PV Commentary
The news that 2,000 coal miners are being recruited in China to work in British Columbia sent shock waves through the labour movement, especially since these workers will be paid below current wages in the industry. But in sharp contrast to the anti-Asian riots by some Canadian workers a century ago, there have been no expressions of racism by trade unions in the current situation.
According to The Tyee online news site, Chinese miners being recruited for temporary work in Canada must pay for the privilege, and their actual wages are less than advertised.
Posing as a Chinese miner, a Tyee journalist contacted two of three companies that placed ads on a Chinese website, and found that the workers are paying fees to recruiters in exchange for jobs in Canada. One recruiter, who claimed to be working for the B.C.-based Canada CIBS Investment and Trade Group, said 30,000 yuan ($4,700) is paid upon a contract being signed in China. An additional 50,000 yuan ($7,800) will be paid over 20 months after arrival in Canada, through $400 monthly deductions from the workers' paycheques.
The advertisement offered jobs in Canadian mines at a rate of $25 to $30 per hour, but according to the recruiter the wage is actually between $22 and $25 per hour.
Speaking on CKNW radio, B.C. Jobs Minister Pat Bell claimed that the company had "undergone an exhaustive search" for Canadian applicants and had "come up empty handed."
That argument does not convince Frank Everitt, president of USW Local 1‑424.
"I just think it's shameful, I think there are enough people in Northern B.C. that they could recruit for the mine," said Everitt. "It's not that we haven't done it, it's just that nobody has put the resources to it and it's a scam to bring guest workers in."
According to the Steelworkers, the three companies involved always intended to hire temporary foreign workers. They received government approval to bring up to 2,000 miners into B.C. to work in new mining operations, by claiming not enough Canadian workers are available. Job postings by the companies list standard qualifications such as mining experience and training certificates, plus "Other languages: Mandarin."
The ads appeared online through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's job posting service, and were placed by HD Mining, Canadian Kailuan Dehua Mines, and Canadian Dehua International Mines Group, searching for hundreds of workers to fill a variety of positions at four mines.
"Never in the history of Canadian mining have we ever seen a requirement to speak Mandarin mentioned in a posting for a job in a Canadian mine," says Steve Hunt, the Steelworkers' Western Canadian Director. "A requirement like that automatically eliminates the vast majority of Canadian job applicants from consideration. What possible justification can the company provide for requiring Mandarin to be spoken in a mine in B.C., other than being a convenient and disingenuous way to claim there are no qualified Canadian applicants?"
This situation appears to be simply another example of the Harper Tory government's cheap labour strategy. While cutting back on immigration and refugee numbers, the Tories have expanded the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and allowed employers to pay temporary workers 15% below the standard wages. It appears that in this case, the differential will be in the 30% range or even higher. There are now an estimated 300,000 temporary foreign workers in Canada, triple the number of a decade ago, employed in virtually every industry and region of the country.
Understanding that the government/employer strategy is pitting Canadian vs. "foreign" workers, the labour movement is reaching out to temporary workers, offering assistance in standing up for their rights. This struggle will be ever more crucial as right-wing forces try to blame foreign workers for high unemployment and falling living standards.
It is probably no coincidence that neo-nazi and white racist movement in Canada, which declined in the mid-1990s, has begun to re-emerge in recent years. Similar trends are seen in Europe, such as the fascist Golden Dawn anti-immigrant party in Greece.
Our problem is not Chinese workers, who have a fundamental human right to seek better-paying employment in other countries. Unemployment and economic crisis are endemic to capitalism, regardless of the specifics of the labour market at any particular moment. Neither is our problem that "bad" foreign companies are hurting "good" Canadian companies. (Tell that one to victims of Canadian-based mining firms in many Third World countries!)
Our problem is the capitalist system itself, and a far-right Tory government eager to help corporations slash wages, working conditions, pensions, and social benefits, in short to increase exploitation with the aim of boosting private profits. The solution is greater unity of all workers - organized and unorganized, employed and unemployed, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, Canadian-born and migrants, young and old, of all genders, no matter what our language or ethnic backgrounds.
As the saying goes, an injury to one is an injury to all. The Chinese miners being recruited to work here are being injured through lower wage rates. Our fight is not to keep them out - it will be to help them win the same wages and working conditions achieved through generations of struggle by miners in this country.
(The above article is from the November 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)