Posted on 04/23/2014 7:27:36 PM PDT by llevrok
VANCOUVER – The Canadian unit of McDonald's Corp has suspended all of its applications under the country's temporary foreign worker program as it undergoes a third-party audit on its use, the restaurant chain said on Wednesday.
The move comes after the fast-food giant was criticized in media reports in recent weeks about its use of the Canadian government plan, which allows companies to bring in foreign workers when there are no local residents available.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported this month that a franchise owner in Victoria, British Columbia, was bringing in foreign workers for three locations while at the same time turning away seemingly qualified Canadians seeking jobs and cutting local staffers' hours.
That was followed by similar media reports involving other McDonald's restaurants in Western Canada, prompting the federal government to launch a probe of the fast-food chain's use of the program.
The company has cut ties with the Victoria franchise-owner, but has defended its broader use of the program, noting that it uses the temporary foreign worker program only as a "last resort" in markets where there are severe labor shortages.
"Of our more than 85,000 employees nationwide, temporary foreign workers account for approximately 4 percent of our workforce," the company said in a statement.
While McDonald's has frozen all applications during its review, the company said, it continues to support the program and expects to continue participating in it.
The company said the freeze will not affect the temporary foreign workers it employs who already have work permits.
McDonald's is not the only company to face a backlash over its use of the controversial program.
The Royal Bank of Canada was heavily criticized last year following a CBC report that U.S. outsourcing firm iGate used temporary foreign worker visas as it worked to replace a few dozen staff at the bank's Toronto investor services division.
The bank's chief executive later apologized to employees said it would offer them jobs elsewhere in the bank.
"Our government will not tolerate any abuse of the temporary foreign worker program. Our message to employers is clear and unequivocal - Canadians must always be first in line for available jobs," said Alexandra Fortier, spokeswoman for Canada's employment minister, Jason Kenney.
Canada blacklisted three Victoria McDonald's locations in early April after investigations related to the CBC report, suspending their ability to employ temporary foreign workers. Four non-related restaurants in eastern Canada were also blacklisted.
Every other country in the world puts their citizen’s interests ahead of immigrants. Except ours.
Seems that no one working at our local McDonalds speaks English which is why I quit going there.
Try making a business work if the only native candidates are semi-literate lazy entitled American kids with lots of self-esteem training. Regardless of color.
We have the chamber of crony capitalists spending 50 million to defeat the TEA Party and ensure they get amnesty and other perks.
“Try making a business work if the only native candidates are semi-literate lazy entitled American kids with lots of self-esteem training. Regardless of color.”
And importing millions of 3rd worlders to function as modern day “coolies” and suck up public services solves that how exactly?
I’m not buying it that California McDonalds can’t take orders in English.
The libs have pretty well hit big on all their agenda : abortion, immigration, gay rights, socialized medicine, environmentalism, a bigger dependent class...etc.
The next salvo will be language. ESL will apply to us English speakers not the latins.
Maybe you should try to run a business before giving uninformed opinions. Like most here you have not the slightest clue of the difficulties of making a service industry business run. If you did you’d know that Mexican immigrants show up for work while the caucasian kids quit without notice. Maybe some businesses have given up on the lazy entitled jerks out of a sense of self-preservation. That’s something more powerful than some need to please some loud mouthed fools on the free republic.
~“Try making a business work if the only native candidates are semi-literate lazy entitled American kids with lots of self-esteem training. Regardless of color.”
And importing millions of 3rd worlders to function as modern day “coolies” and suck up public services solves that how exactly?~
Immediate problems require immediate solutions. Not without a long-term consequences.
Bingo. I’m not a fan of non-border but it is so clear why there is a demand for foreign labor. And it is pure socialsm to address a ‘greed’ of business owners.
Slavery never ended. Instead of being owned, they are rented.
“Seems that no one working at our local McDonalds speaks English which is why I quit going there.”
Same in my area; I don’t know why FReepers who think Americans should take lower-paying jobs than they had in the past assume those jobs are even available to them. In my area it is difficult to get many low-paying jobs without speaking Spanish or Portuguese in addition to English; some job postings are requiring Hindi or Ordu at this point.
“If you did you’d know that Mexican immigrants show up for work while the caucasian kids quit without notice.”
You’re generalizing; too many American adults have lost their jobs to these foreigners, just to save a buck. Years ago many businesses decided it was worth the loss of experience to replace American adults with younger people and foreigners without that experience. Go into a bank today and do anything outside of a cut-and-dry “plain vanilla” deposit or withdrawal, then recall the days when older experienced Americans didn’t have to go running to fetch the single remaining “American Adult” for every other transaction/question.
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