Linamar has been turned down in its bid to hire 15 foreign workers as industrial electricians for its Guelph operations.
The Guelph-based company had been seeking to bring in workers through the federal government’s Department of Employment Social Development Canada because it was having trouble finding and retaining people with that training locally.
It’s original application was denied in 2016 and an application for judicial review of that decision was dismissed last month by Justice Luc Martineau.
Canadian companies can hire foreign nationals as a “last resort” and on a temporary basis to fill skill and labour shortages but must apply to do so and meet specific criteria that the government felt were not met.
Linamar employs 6,000 people in Guelph.
The original ruling determined that Linamar had not made enough efforts to hire or train Canadian workers or permanent residents and that the hiring of the foreign workers was unlikely to fill a labour shortage.
The written court ruling determined Linamar did not sufficiently demonstrate that there is a reasonable employment need, did not demonstrate sufficient efforts to hire Canadians and that labour force information does not support the labour shortage element for that job in the Guelph area.
The ruling left the door open for a new application that addressed concerns raised about the reasoning and process.
Linamar's appeal for a judicial review was based on its belief that the original decison had a “breach of procedural fairness” and that the decision was “unreasonable.”
Justice Martineau’s ruling said that according to the Electrical Workers Construction Council of Canada, which represents unionized electrical workers, there is a high unemployment rate in that job category in the Guelph area.
“From this discussion, the officer was under the belief that there was no labour shortage for the position advertised by the applicant,” Martineau's decision read.
Linamar disagreed with the interpretation of the data.
Court documents show that the auto parts manufacturer argued that while there might be Canadian workers with that skill set available, the company was having difficulty attracting and retaining those workers because it’s plants operates on a continental shift schedule that many workers don't like.
“Retention in this situation is indicative of a working condition that is unappealing to the Canadian labour market resulting in the qualified Canadians hired by Linamar leaving for other employment with more favourable conditions,” said Kim Ly, a representative of the private firm Linamar was using.
A foreign national is not authorized to work in Canada unless they are granted a special work permit issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and a labour market impact assessment has obtained by the potential employer that shows the need for such workers.
In 2015 Linamar originally applied through a private consulting firm to bring in the 15 industrial electricians who would be paid $29 an hour.
“The applicant stated that the employment of foreign nationals would allow it to maintain production and meet contractual obligations to customers including General Motors, Ford and Chrysler,” states the written ruling.
Linamar planned on hiring two Canadians and submitted a plan “as to how it would reduce its reliance on foreign workers over the years.”
During the process Linamar reported that it was having trouble retaining employees because Linamar plants work continental shifts and employees seeking to work straight days often leave for other competitors.
A Linamar executive told the court that the company was “struggling to met its existing contracts.”
The company preferred to hire foreign nationals rather than subcontractors because subcontractors were “administratively expensive” and the quality of their work was “unpredictable.”
Provincial limits on how many employees can be apprentices was another reason Linamar was looking to hire foreign workers.
