Kitchen consternation

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This article was published 11/09/2024 (418 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a reason burger patties cook in the oven, not on a griddle, at the Chicken Chef location in Flin Flon: the oven beeps when the meat is ready.

It doesn’t replace labour, but it eases the workload for kitchen staff — many of whom restaurant owner Dan Hlady sourced internationally.

Amid a sector-wide shortage, he’s questioning the future of his staffing pool as changes to the federal Temporary Foreign Worker program loom.

“I might not be able to offer all the same services that I have in the past,” Hlady said in an interview.

Roughly one-fifth of the Flin Flon restaurant’s staff come from overseas on Temporary Foreign Worker permits. However, starting Sept. 26, businesses will be capped at employing 10 per cent of their workforce through the program.

People hired through the program’s low-wage stream will be allowed a maximum employment duration of one year, instead of the current two. Construction, health-care, agriculture and food-processing companies are exempt from the new legislation.

“I definitely wish they would’ve consulted with the restaurant industry before making such drastic changes,” Hlady said, adding it’s “very difficult to find qualified, willing staff” locally.

“I definitely wish they would’ve consulted with the restaurant industry before making such drastic changes.”–Dan Hlady

Eateries will take a hit because of the new rules, said Shaun Jeffrey, executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association. “In those outlying communities, where you have a limited work pool, it’s a pretty detrimental change.”

Jeffrey expects many restaurants will, as a result, alter their operations.

The sector wasn’t consulted at all, despite being a major user of the federal program, he added.

In the first quarter of 2024, 432 applications for low-wage temporary foreign workers in Manitoba were approved. Cooks and food counter staff populated the requests.

Rural Subway sandwich shops and Dairy Queen locations were among the chains scouting employees. Fast-food restaurants tend to be among the industry’s most frequent temporary foreign worker adopters, Jeffrey noted.

“It’s kind of tough for us … to grow our industry when some of the staffing channels that we use are affected with no consultation.”

‘Knee-jerk reaction’

The industry is still struggling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. City eateries have focused on hiring full-time staff — and fewer inexperienced workers — amid a higher minimum wage and reduced operating hours.

Upcoming changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program seem to be a “knee-jerk reaction” by Ottawa, said Aaron Dolyniuk, Manitoba Trucking Association executive director.

This summer, a United Nations report called the program a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

In May, migrants said a Thompson hotel manager was “making us a slave in the hotel.” And Manitoba trucking companies have faced upwards of $426,000 in fines over the past two years for breaking program policies.

Federal Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said, in an August news release, the changes are meant to weed out program misuse and fraud.

“It is too bad that there are some bad actors,” Dolyniuk said. “(But) there are good actors that have really robust processes.”

He’s calling for better vetting of employers trying to access the immigration program.

The trucking industry has faced a labour shortage for years. The industry needs to work harder to recruit Canadian youth, women and minority groups, Dolyniuk noted.

‘Convenient scapegoats’

In August, the feds blamed the Temporary Foreign Worker program for circumventing the hiring of “talented workers” in Canada. Ottawa won’t process temporary foreign worker requests in areas with an unemployment rate of six per cent or higher.

More than half of Manitoba respondents to a recent Angus Reid survey said they thought Canada accepted too many temporary foreign workers. Three-quarters reported believing the workers were bad for Canada’s housing situation.

“Immigrants and temporary workers … have become convenient scapegoats for the failure of our provinces,” said Lori Wilkinson, a University of Manitoba sociology professor and a Canada Research Chair in migration futures. “Our housing crisis has gone on for … years.”

The scaling back of Canada’s international student intake could also negatively affect businesses that rely on immigration, Wilkinson added.

Manitoba’s unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent in August. The province clocked 22,400 job vacancies in 2024’s first quarter.

“You’re hard-pressed to say there’s Manitobans out there that are unemployed because temporary foreign workers are taking those positions that Manitobans wanted,” said Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

Still, there’s a need to address issues around under-represented populations in the workforce, he said.

Temporary foreign workers have become “vital” to some rural communities’ industrial bases, Remillard added.

More than 1,000 rural businesses received positive labour market impact assessments between 2023’s last quarter and 2024’s first quarter to hire temporary foreign workers.

Reliance may mask underlying problems

Though they help fill immediate gaps, such reliance may mask underlying problems like low wages, poor working conditions and insufficient training, noted Margot Cathcart, chief executive of the Rural Manitoba Economic Development Corp.

John Gunter, CEO of Churchill tour company Frontiers North Adventures, said he stopped hiring temporary foreign workers after changes to the program under prime minister Stephen Harper’s leadership. Hiring such workers was expensive, Gunter noted, adding he’s since been able to fill positions outside the program.

Manitoba is working on “specific strategic initiatives” with communities to combat labour shortages, said provincial Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino.

“All that I can do … is to keep very close connections to our communities and our business communities as well, and to keep advocating for Manitobans,” Marcelino said when asked about the Temporary Foreign Worker program changes.

The NDP government announced earlier this year up to 6,700 temporary workers will be granted extensions to stay in the province while waiting for nomination through Manitoba’s nominee program. The extension affected many fast-food workers, Marcelino said.

As of Aug. 31, the province had processed nearly 6,400 of 9,500 provincial nominations available this year.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com