Province and Mining Company Failed Northern B.C. Workers Says B.C. Labour Leader
Friday, October 26, 2012 @ 12:33 PM
Prince George, B.C. – The issue of Chinese mining workers coming to B.C. was front and centre at the College of New Caledonia today.
B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair was at the College, where he reiterated his call for the Provincial Government to suspend the temporary foreign worker permits for the Chinese workers hired by HD Mining for exploratory work in the Murray River region.
Sinclair says CNC has an excellent and comprehensive trades training program that provides skilled workers for northern resource industries, including mining with courses available at the campuses in both Vanderhoof and Quesnel.
He says with support from the company and the Province, CNC could have been prepared to provide the specific training that may be needed for the long wall mining process .
He says both the United Steelworkers and the BC Federation of Labour have heard from a number of apparently qualified applicants who were not even granted interviews. “To the average person, it looks like this company never intended to hire any locals,” said Sinclair. “That’s clearly not how the Temporary Foreign Worker program is supposed to work.”
“Canadians are known around the world as leaders in mining safety and mining technology,” said Sinclair. “Chinese mines are known around the world for their death rates, with more than 50,000 Chinese workers killed in mining accidents since the year 2000. It defies credibility when HD Mining says Canadians are not qualified to do this work.”
Comments
He’s lunching at the coast, plotting the end of the free market!
Only Pat Bell would think of the Chinese.. it means another trip to China.. when he is no longer in office he will continue to travel thanks to all his air miles.
I am aware of individuals who were not even asked for an interview.. lacking one qualification – Mandarin.
Pat is used to paying the minimum wage – just ask the employees at Wendy’s.
I say “shame to this government” for allowing this to happen.
Oh how about going to Ireland as well..same garbage.. more trips.
Voice your protest next next election!
Need more than a trades program, need companys to belly up and start funding not just taxpayers, they want the mines and profit fine put up some of your own money
Good think Sinclair wasnt around when we built a railway to found this country…
“Need more than a trades program, need companys to belly up and start funding not just taxpayers, they want the mines and profit fine put up some of your own money”
How about a surtax of those corporations that rely on the trades to a significant extent in their operations? The money raised could go directly to educational programs for the trades.
I like to this of this as a “user pay” model ;)
I heard it was an underground coal mine. Seems a bit scary…..
Ya load 16 tons of #9 coal, what ya get. Another day older and deeper in debt. Oh St Peter’s dont you call me now, cause I owe my soul to the company store.
Sure hate to be those workers in a foreign country.
So would it be the mine act or Worksafe BC who will be monitoring the safety on the project??????
Chinese coal mine in BC, fat chance you would find a BC mines inspector or WorkSafe Inspector who would be stupid enough to go inside the mine to check it…..lol
I come to BC to die for China in a coal mine.
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Gotta love google translate.
The whole North American economy is based on workers from other countries coming here to do the dirty work. Ask your son or daughter if they want to go north, live in the armpit of the planet and make good money underground coal mining. They will tell you to shove it you know where. The young workers today wnat to sit in offices on comfy chairs and go to dinner and Canucks games. They don’t want to live in an Atco trailer, line up to eat, crap in a bucket and work outside (or worse yet, in a mine hole).
It’s like Mexican pickers in California. If you managed to get the locals to pick the fruit, it would take forever, it would be damaged and would cost 5 times as much. Don’t fault the workers or the government. THis coal thing would go south pretty quickly if the price of caol continues on it’s downward slide. Then we will all be bitching and whining because there are not jobs for anyone.
We want the chinese money. Without it, it’s just another black looking mountain or a big pile of oily sand.
“The whole North American economy is based on workers from other countries coming here to do the dirty work.”
My father came to Canada in 1953 with trade masters papers as a goldsmith. He ended up pumping gas while taking evening courses in accounting at a then almost new Carleton University operating out of a high school in Ottawa.
My mother was a photographic technician …. but there was no need for that in Canada either … so she did house cleaning and ironing …. and eventually became the right hand person for one of the world’s most famous and prolific photographers ……
PGguy is right on the money!
We needed such people then and it looks like we keep on needing such people. We have a huge country with lots of riches. There is one important resource we are missing. We do not have enough people.
If we want to “grow our tax base” as a city as Councillor Wilbur likes to point out and as even our current provincial government is saying, then we have to import people since we cannot drill for them, cut them down, or harvest them in any other way than to steal them for those places that have them. We need them now and have needed them for some time. If we plant a seed now, it will take 25 expensive years of nurturing before they can be put to work effectively …. and there will be some crop failures ….. ;-)
So, let’s keep on high grading in other countries, put them through 3 or so years hazing exercises such as compulsory taxi driving and macjobs, and then they are ready. Cheapest resources we could lay our hands on. Those are the people who built this country.
As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The big excuse is no one in BC is trained in longwall coal mining. My question is:
How long has this company known it was going to use this method to extract coal, and why couldn’t they have used that time to train local workers. The BS about no Canadian wanting the work is just that, because there was over 300 applicants who applied. That doesn’t sound to me like no one wanted to go and do the work.
The fact they used Chinese labour to build the railroad is irrelevant, it was a different time and way different circumstances, your observation holds no water.
Just what is it with attitudes like PGguy’s? I don’t know who some people hang out with, but a lot of the family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, kids & some of their friends (early 20’s), cousins are all blue collar workers (forestry, railroad, mines)…in fort mac, tumbler, yadda yadda and they don’t have huge expectations of being filthy rich or anything, just making enough money to support a family and retire a smidgen above the poverty level after 40+ years of work. Oh, and coming home alive every night.
Don’t buy into the rhetoric.
good post But.
And Professional, to continue your post, what Worksafe or Mines Inspector knows how to speak Mandarin???? Guess they’ll have to import from China AGAIN! LMAO
Here here Slim2229, here here….lol
wasn’t Cassier an underground mine… couldn’t the former workers from that mine in Northern BC do this kind of work?
I think the key here is Canadian standards. No matter where the workers come from they should at minimum be paid Canadian wages and work under Canadian worksafe conditions otherwise this is just another globalization scam to bring about the lowest common standard.
Right on the money, PGGuy.
“Don’t buy into the rhetoric.”
I never said that every young person wants a white collar job and I’m sure that the people that you know working blue collar are fine people. I’m just talking about the bigger picture here. Canada was built on the backs of people who came here from other countries. I came from a proud racial origin that has hard working Ukranians and Italians in it to name a few. They had crappy railroad jobs and did the heavy lifting to get this country where it is today.
Should we be training our citizens to do that specialized work? 100% yes. If we aren’t (and I personally don’t expect the government to do it all) then we go outsource it to someone else adn get started on a training program right away. This idea that for some reason chinese rules apply on Canadian soil pertaining to wages, benefits, safety etc. is short sighted. 200 workers coming to this country is a drop in the bucket. If the mines starting laying off “locals” in order to circumvent safety rules, wages, benefits etc. and hired a bunch of immigrants at half the rate and none of the safety, I would be the first to scream “foul”.
I guess when they were pushing the new global economy down our throats, this should have been expected.
http://www.kailuandehua.com
from the above site:
CKD Mines was incorporated in British Columbia in 2008, engaging in underground coal mining in Northern BC. CKD’s first coal mine project is located 25 km south of Hudson’s Hope BC, with more than 780 million tonnes of quality coking coal deposit.
CKD Mines has inherited industry expertise from Kailuan Group, Shougang Group, and the Dehua Group. CKD Mines has the abilities and techniques to undertake underground coal mining with attention to environmental protection, safety, and traditional culture protection.
CKD Mines’ activity will bring great benefits to local communities and will result in a win-win situation for all involved parties.
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Here is an interesting comment found on this site:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/mining-work-force
Certification of coal mine workers and supervisors is usually required, with minimum standards set by federal or provincial governments. This is to ensure that miners and officials are aware of hazards and will follow approved procedures where explosive gas and coal dust may be present. Government certification in other mining industries is not usually required, but employers generally provide training programs. These programs range from simply assigning new employees to work with more experienced workers, to formal courses, sometimes with union and government participation. A recent development in some areas is the awarding of certificates of competence to miners who have achieved certain standards of experience and skill. Many companies also provide apprentice training programs for tradespeople (eg, mechanics, electricians).
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So who trains? Sounds like industry has been doing it. Four underground coal mines in all of Canada? Seems reasonable after the past incidents in Canada.
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