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The Quoddy Tides newspaper -- Eastport, Maine
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April 24, 2015
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Processors hit by changes in Canadian rule
by Edward French

 

   A Deer Island lobster processing plant will be short about 150 workers and the 1.5 million pounds of live lobster that would have been processed on the island this spring will now be done in Massachusetts, because of changes in a federal program that allows foreign workers to be employed on a temporary basis by Canadian companies.
     Stuart McKay, manager of Paturel International's operations on the island, says that the plant could now use up to 300 workers but "will struggle to get 150." Because of the shortage, the plant will be processing only frozen lobsters, with almost no live lobster product. Usually live lobsters account for half of the plant's volume. He adds, "I hope in the summer we can do live lobsters again."
      Paturel has increased its workforce on Deer Island from about 40 employees in 2000 to about 240 last summer, as the company built up its markets. McKay points out, though, that the growth would not have been possible without foreign workers, which the company began employing in 2008. Paturel presently has 62 temporary foreign workers, all from the Philippines. In addition, McKay estimates that 30 to 40 of the Filipinos working at Paturel have qualified for Canadian residency. Over 100 Filipinos are now living in the area, with about 80 on the island.
     However, under a reform of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program announced by the federal government last July, the maximum percentage of workers at one work site was capped at 30%, with the percentage to fall to 20% this July and 10% the following year. McKay says that these rules mean that while the Paturel plant could hire 85 foreign workers last year, it can only hire 48 this year and then fewer than 30 the following year. About 240 employees were working at the plant last summer.
     In addition, temporary foreign workers who have been working in Canada for four years will not be allowed to come back to Canada for four years. Also, McKay says that they will now be allowed to work only for nine or 10 months, but in order to qualify for residency in Canada they have to work for all 12 months of the year. "We won't be able to get them to qualify for residency now," he points out.
     McKay says that this spring Paturel's live lobster processing will be done at the company's plants in Massachusetts. He says that Canadian processing facilities are being "handicapped" by not having enough workers, which is "unsettling for the fishermen." Some processors in parts of Atlantic Canada, including PEI and Cape Breton, have been telling dealers that they will take only a certain amount of product, leading to lobster boats either having quotas or only being allowed to fish on certain days. "It shrinks the ability for the fishermen to market their product," McKay notes. However, he doubts that such restrictions will be put in place in the Bay of Fundy, since more of the product in this area goes to the live lobster market.
     Paturel is not the only area company that has been using the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. Chuck Brown, communications manager for Cooke Aquaculture Inc., says the program "has been helpful in filling job vacancies when there were no Canadian workers available to fill those positions." Cooke Aquaculture has actively recruited workers from Romania and the Philippines to work in New Brunswick, and Brown says that "the vast majority have stayed with us and are now permanent residents of Canada."
     As for the company's operations in Maine, Brown notes that the workforce at Cooke's processing facility in Machiasport has doubled since the facility reopened in August 2014, with approximately 100 full-time, year-round employees. "Our requirement for workers from a relatively small population base both in Maine and in Atlantic Canada means employee recruitment and retention are very important to our operations; we are often advertising for employees or participating in job fairs to recruit workers," he says. "Our first choice is always to fill jobs with local people." He adds, "In the long term, we need to develop and grow the industry in Maine for our plant to remain globally competitive in the supply of Gulf of Maine salmon to our domestic USA market. This means increased production in all areas of the business and increased demand for workers in Maine."

Lobbying efforts aim to change the rules
     In order to find the number of workers they need, the plants and processing associations in Atlantic Canada have been lobbying heavily for changes in the new rules by the Canadian government, but McKay says the government is not acknowledging the problem. He says there have been a few problems with the Temporary Foreign Workers Program in the fast food sector in western Canada and with a bank in central Canada, but "the government is penalizing everybody in Canada for the three or four companies that abused the program."
     McKay requested a meeting with federal Minister of Employment and Social Development Pierre Poilievre to discuss the issue but had not heard back on his request. He believes the federal government "is not concerned that some businesses are suffering" and that "Canada is losing businesses," as companies have to look elsewhere to have their work done.
     However, John Williamson, member of Parliament for New Brunswick Southwest, says that Paturel needs to be attracting local workers. He comments that "under the current rules Paturel needs to widely advertise job offers, which they are currently doing, and offer a competitive wage." Williamson states, "Our Conservative government has said temporary foreign workers are to be used as the last option by companies as Canadian workers should be given priority. That is why Paturel must follow the rules and prioritize Canadian hires. When local workers aren't available they can hire temporary foreign workers as the last resort, but not the first." He adds, "Temporary foreign workers are not the long‑term answer to labour needs as they are meant to be temporary. Companies need to attract local workers, and even in areas of higher unemployment like Charlotte County this could mean raising salaries and benefits so Canadian employees earn a living wage."
     McKay, though, responds that Paturel advertises year-round throughout Atlantic Canada and nationally to find workers for its plant. However, Paturel cannot find enough workers in the area, with residents of Deer Island making up about half of the plant's workforce. McKay notes that about half of the people living on the island are retired and another 15% to 20% are youth, leaving a small number of people for the workforce. Also, other industries on the island such as fish farming and the fisheries need workers.
     McKay says the charge by critics of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program that it drives down wages is "totally not true. We pay competitive wages and benefits, and we pay the foreign workers the same as the local workers." He adds that it's expensive for the company to bring the foreign workers to Canada and house them. The wages that are paid "are based on what we can sell the product for. We compete in global markets on tight margins." Paturel pays its workers $11.25 an hour initially, with the wage increasing to $11.75 after one has experience. McKay adds, "We're trying to hire people on unemployment, but the government keeps giving them unemployment cheques, so why would they want to go to work?"
     Williamson also notes that processing plants that cannot find workers during peak periods can hire additional temporary foreign workers for a maximum of 120 days. "This means a company like Paturel could have 30% of its annual workforce coming from abroad this year and still hire an additional 35% of its annual workforce as temporary foreign workers for 120 days. So for peak periods, temporary foreign workers could total 65% of the company's labour force; that is, of course, only when Canadians are not available."
     But McKay responds that 120-day provision "is not as easy as Williamson says." He says that the number of foreign workers still cannot be more than 50% of the total workforce, which would allow Paturel to hire only 15 to 20 more workers. Also, they can only work for 120 days, and McKay says, "I need them for 12 months a year."
     McKay says that he was "very surprised by the arrogance and lack of support from the local MP and the government levels in Ottawa to the needs of the industry in Atlantic Canada to fill the plants with workers."
     While he is frustrated with the federal government's lack of attention to the issue, McKay says the provincial government is working on a program that may be in place by next year and that would allow more temporary foreign workers to be hired at plants such as Paturel's.

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