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19 mars 2013

Labour Speaks Out

En anglais seulement

VANCOUVER - Controversy over the federal government decision to grant HD Mining a Temporary Foreign Workers permit to bring 200 coal miners to BC from China rather than hire qualified Canadians has prompted a union challenging that permit to launch a new website about the issue.

And that website - titled Labour Speaks Out - http://labourspeaksout.com - is also accepting individual public donations to help cover the costs of expensive Federal Court legal action that will see a judicial review of the permit April 9-11 and the BC Building Trades unions' campaign to win changes to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program.

Brian Cochrane, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115, the province's largest heavy equipment operators union, says he came up with the idea after getting continual supportive emails from members of the public asking how they could help.

"Amazingly, people wrote me saying they wanted to make contributions to the significant legal and others costs of this campaign," Cochrane said. "We created this website to provide detailed background information about the Temporary Foreign Workers Program but decided to let those interested donate through PayPal and their credit cards."

Tom Sigurdson, BC Building Trades Council Executive Director, says the union's website is a welcome development given the enormous costs incurred by the Council members to date.

"While we don't expect the new website will raise a huge amount of money, I have to say that every dollar helps because the Building Trades unions are fighting in court against both the federal government and a multinational corporation with very deep pockets," Sigurdson said.

"The legal and related costs to date are over $200,000 so our members really appreciate any help whatsoever from concerned Canadians to defray these expenses," Sigurdson says. "We are fighting this case on behalf of all Canadian workers, who have a right to expect they would be first in line for jobs in their own country."

Cochrane says the Labour Speaks Out website features a timeline with links to media reports on the HD Mining case, so members of the public can learn more about what has happened to date - including HD Mining rejecting the job applications of 300 Canadians despite evidence released through the unions' court action that showed many had years of experience and training in coal mining.

We have our own perspective that the Temporary Foreign Workers Program urgently needs an independent review on top of the judicial review we will argue for in Federal Court next month but I think we have pretty fairly included all perspectives in the media reports linked on this website," Cochrane said.

The website also includes a poll and background information on the union position on Temporary Foreign Workers.

The legal action was launched by IUOE Local 115 and the Construction and Specialized Workers Union Local 1611 last year and has passed several tough legal hurdles, Cochrane noted.

The website Labour Speaks Out is at: http://labourspeaksout.com

For more information: Brian Cochrane, Business Manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115 and BC Building Trades Council board member, cell 604-240-0827 or office 604-604-291-8831 or BC Building Trades Council Executive Director Tom Sigurdson, (778) 397-2220 or cell 604-353-3532 or Bill Tieleman, West Star Communications, cell 778-896-0964 or 604-844-7827.