Union warns of possible foreign worker exploitation on St. Paul's Hospital build
A B.C. trade union is raising concerns about the potential improper use of foreign workers at the St. Paul's Hospital construction site in Vancouver.
Now in the latter stages of construction, the massive site has seen thousands of tradespeople of all types on the job.
According to Robert Sheck, business manager of the BC Insulators Local 118, the union began looking into the matter after a handful of people doing insulation work at the site started talking last year.
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'I'm thinking there's some water cooler talk might have happened, and they said wait a second here, we're not making very much, let's go and see if we can talk to these people about finding a better opportunity.'
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Sheck said there were between 10 and 15 workers from the Philippines, who were in the country on tourist and student visas, which he says are not the right documents for this kind of work.
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He also said they were getting about half the pay that's typical for the job.
'I got some pay stubs from them, and it was showing well below market value, we're talking $18 an hour, $19 an hour,' he said.
The company that allegedly employed them is Ontario-based Legends Insulation. The company's website includes a page covering the work it has done at St. Paul's.
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A lawyer for the company told Global News Thursday that all their employees on that job had the correct permits and that they'll be taking legal action against the insulators' union, including a possible defamation lawsuit.
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But there may now be other parties involved.
In a joint statement Thursday, the provincial ministries of labour and infrastructure called the allegations deeply concerning, and said they were connecting with the hospital's owner, Providence Health Care, to investigate.
That is one of the outcomes Scheck said the union was hoping for.
'We're hoping that the authorities and the ministries will come to investigate this matter,' he said.
Scheck said some of the affected workers have been taken into the union and are now working towards Red Seal certification.
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