About five years ago, the availability of skilled workers in the pork industry (and indeed in agriculture as a whole) began to dwindle as people started leaving for other jobs, notably in the oil industry. Larger production companies were first to respond by recruiting workers from overseas. Many now have almost 50 per cent foreign workers.
Independent producers have also recruited from overseas, and many say they wouldn’t be in business without them.
As the recession hit in 2008, Service Canada made some changes to the process of applying for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO), an assessment of how a foreign worker would affect Canadian jobs. These changes are still in place. As there is currently increased recruitment by the industry, it is worth reviewing the requirements and some recent experience.
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Advertise first
Advertising is one of the most important aspects to get right. Applicants must show that they have made adequate efforts to employ a Canadian or permanent resident. Ads must run for a minimum of 14 days. I normally suggest ads be placed on the Canada Job Bank website, in local papers and on either the Alberta Pork or Manitoba Pork website. Ads must include the employer’s name or business name, the address/location of the job (not of the company office, if different), the job title, a description of the job and the wage/salary plus any benefits such as housing or health benefits.
I have always advised clients to recruit for skilled positions and this is even more relevant today as it is very difficult to justify an LMO for an unskilled worker. The relevant position title is usually Swine Technician, which is categorized under National Occupation Classification (NOC) Code 8253 – Farm Supervisors and Specialized Livestock Workers.
Proof of advertising must be submitted with the LMO application to show when and where it appeared. Sending copies of invoices is also recommended.
Wages are also a sensitive issue. Foreign workers must be paid the average for the job category and this is determined by Service Canada wage surveys –www.labourmarketinformation.ca. Surveys are split into provinces and regions. Alberta has eight, Saskatchewan three and Manitoba only one. Care must be taken to use the correct average wage for the farm’s location.
Details advised
I recommend including a detailed account of the recruitment effort and describing the number of applicants, whether they were Canadians, permanent residents or resident overseas. If Canadians or permanent residents did not meet the job criteria, which is usually lack of experience, make this clear. Service Canada case officers want to be clear that the process was carried out correctly. If so and there are genuinely no suitable candidates, they will issue an LMO.
LMOs are now only valid for six months, rather than one year as previously. Also, when a work visa is issued, it will be for 12 months, not two years as before. This means that even if the producer and employee wish to make an application for permanent residency under the one of provincial nominee programs, the whole process of getting another LMO needs to be repeated after about nine months in order to apply for a new work visa at Citizenship and Immigration’s Vegreville, Alta. office.
Many producers don’t realize they need to get an LMO in order to allow the worker to renew a visa and end up in a last-minute scramble to keep their employee in the country.
Next steps
In most cases, the intention of employing a temporary foreign worker is to provide a permanent job and for the worker to become a Canadian resident. The Immigrant Nominee Program in Alberta and Saskatchewan and the Provincial Nominee Program in Manitoba provide a “fast track” to obtaining residency.
However, at the moment, in Alberta at least, the process is rather slow. It appears to be taking up to nine months for approval from the province and then about another six months for the application to be processed at an embassy outside the country, usually Buffalo, NY. That makes it all the more important to ensure that a new work visa is obtained before the end of the first year’s employment.
If a worker has approval from the province under the nominee program, the approval letter should be sent with a visa application and an LMO is not required because the worker has “implied status.”
The recent improvement in the pork industry’s fortunes has meant that producers who have deliberately cut back on staff now wish to recruit again. The lack of suitably skilled and experienced candidates means that foreign workers will continue to help filling the skills gap.
Bernie Peet is president of Pork Chain Consulting of Lacombe, Alberta, and editor of Western Hog Journal
