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Farm-Scape, Episode 2296

A Toronto based labor consultant says the foreign labor market has proved to be a good source of dependable workers for Canada's swine industry. A shortage of Canadians willing to work in the pork industry has prompted many operations to look outside of Canada for workers.

"Bringing in Workers From Around the World" will among the topics discussed next week during Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2006. Ronald A. Chisholm Limited started helping employers do just that almost four years ago.

Placement Services Partner Gregg Badger says most foreign workers arrive from the poorer countries and thrilled with the pay rates and happy to come.

The positives are that you have people on work permits and their work permit is employer specific. They are here to work for the employer who brought them. They're here to work. They're here to make money. Generally they're here to send money home and so they come to work every day.

They're delighted to have overtime so they're hard working, dedicated, come to work every day part of the work force. That allows for a lot of things. It allows for increased production, it reduces costs of turn over in labor, it allows local employees who are not part of the turn over to move up into higher paying and higher skilled jobs.

It sort of forces people up the ladder if you will. It's also a means of getting people into the country and those that are good and they the employer and the employee can convince provinces that they're suitable citizens then it's a source of immigration which is also needed in this country.

Badger notes there are several programs under which foreign workers may to come to Canada but the most effective approach is to bring people in on temporary 12 month permits.

He says it generally takes eight to 12 weeks to get an approval then, depending on the embassy abroad, another 30 to 90 days for the worker to receive a visa.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.