What’s the score, are the big companies getting granted these in comparable numbers to LMOs?
foresttrucker:
What’s the score, are the big companies getting granted these in comparable numbers to LMOs?
The applications for LMIA’s from all companies are down 78% compared to the same time last year with LMO’s.
There are a few offering them to drivers abroad but very few compared to before.
H&R & TransX have/had a limited number available but only to existing drivers already in Canada that need them.
A driver on another forum has just got one a couple of weeks ago from Westcan Calgary, but he’s been waiting over a year for it.
Looks like a lot of companies have just given up on them for a minute or two.
I don’t get how these firms are only offering them to people already in Canada. The whole point of the scheme is to fill positions using temporary foreign workers.
newmercman:
I don’t get how these firms are only offering them to people already in Canada. The whole point of the scheme is to fill positions using temporary foreign workers.
The companies still need drivers and this will cut out the time & hassle of all the driver training and cost of importing them etc.
The drivers, for whatever reason cannot get another LMIA at the company they’re with already, this gives them the chance to stay and maybe get PR.
They’ve already got the licence and experience, just need to do the orientation, then they’re good to go, win win for both parties.
I know that, the bit I don’t get is how the companies are getting away with it. That is not how the scheme is supposed to work.
It isn’t just the TFW that has conditions attached to working under an LMIA, the companies have to do things properly too and from my knowledge of the scheme, this way is not the right way.
newmercman:
I know that, the bit I don’t get is how the companies are getting away with it. That is not how the scheme is supposed to work.It isn’t just the TFW that has conditions attached to working under an LMIA, the companies have to do things properly too and from my knowledge of the scheme, this way is not the right way.[/quote
What are the companies getting away with though ?
How is the scheme suppose to work ?
They’ve applied for and been given LMIA’s for TFW’s.
The TFW’s just so happen to be here already, they’re still TFW’s, the only difference is their address.
Drivers have been changing companies here, using a new LMO/LMIA for a new WP for years.
The companies are offering a second chance to drivers that are stuck here with no LMIA and want to stay and gain PR versus recruiting from abroad and having to go through the whole rigmarole of it.
Personally, I don’t see a problem here at all.
The LMIA situation is the way it is because of abuse of the system, not by the TFW, but by the companies that use it.
AFAIK recruiting from within Canada is not allowed, so in that case they shouldn’t be doing it.
No surprise to see that it’s H&R and TransX that are doing it. A knee jeep reaction to the situation they’re in now, having lost driver after driver and now they have seats without meat in them.
I’m pretty sure if recruiting inside Canada wasn’t allowed it would have been nipped in the bud by now, like I said before, drivers have been changing companies as TFW’s for years. I know many personally that once they got a new LMO/LMIA, went straight down to the border at Sweetgrass and got a new WP issued, the CBSA would have known that they’d flagpoled so therefore got it within Canada.
I had 3 WP’s before PR but always got them from within.
I switched LMOs from Big Fright to Paul Brandt, that’s not what I’m getting at though. Here we have two companies that are trying to poach TFW from other companies, that’s unethical.
And with the current situation regarding nomination for PR and the time limits it is highly unlikely that anybody taking one of these LMIA will be able to gain PR, so from that point of view it’s only delaying the inevitable return to Britain or wherever. The companies know this and have worked out that if they have to train and pay flights etc then they are not benefitting as much now that TFW are much more temporary than they were before.
It sounds like a desperate measure to me, from abuse of the system the rules have been changed, so that companies can no longer use TFW to overcome their inadequacy, I know trucking is the tip of the iceberg and the biggest offenders were fast food restaurants and hotels, but the likes of H&R and TransX are commonly known as not very good jobs (in general, even though some may be happy) and instead of looking at the root of the problem and trying to fix it, they carry on as normal and try to mask the symptoms by employing TFW.
I don’t/can’t disagree with what you’re saying but there’s a difference in being unethical and being illegal and what they’re doing is not illegal.
In defence of these companies, neither are trying to poach drivers from other companies, both have stated in their adverts “If you are here with an expired WP and no new LMIA, we have LMIA’s available.”
I heard a story probably 6 or 7 years ago proving your unethical theory if it was true and that was, the TransX recruiter at the time in Calgary came down to the Sandman Lethbridge regularly and one time I know of, poached a few drivers from H&R that had only just flown in and not even started their training, like I say I wasn’t their when it happened but heard it from drivers that I knew, that were there.
Simple really. It’s not against the rule to recruit TFW from within Canada and as said cuts down time for said driver to get on the road. Driver see it as a way to stay and get PR company seems it as saves a drivers bacon and he may stay loyal for a while.
Also let’s say going for pnp in AB and you have your case number but your WP is running out current company can’t get LMIA go find another company that can take ya sponsorship straight on get a new 2 year WP inform pnp office of new employer and contact details job done and you don’t lose ya place in the line.
Oh right, I thought that any changes meant you had to start from scratch again, not a bad deal for someone in that position then. Maybe there’s hope in Alberta after all…
I still think it’s a bit shady of H&R and TransX to shortcut the system in this way.
They could always have made sure that the TFW they’ve had through their system (you included Rich) had stuck around and received your nomination and then they wouldn’t need to keep looking for new jockeys.
Just a thought…
newmercman:
Oh right, I thought that any changes meant you had to start from scratch again, not a bad deal for someone in that position then. Maybe there’s hope in Alberta after all…I still think it’s a bit shady of H&R and TransX to shortcut the system in this way.
They could always have made sure that the TFW they’ve had through their system (you included Rich) had stuck around and received your nomination and then they wouldn’t need to keep looking for new jockeys.
Just a thought…
LMIA that H&R have from what I can gather are for MB only not any other province the guys they had in SK they had to move to MB due to problems with sponsorship don’t know the full score only what I’ve heard.
Yea I didn’t know could change companies until I spoke to the ANIP office learn something everyday. If the government had straight guidelines and stuck to them and companies looked after people properly then 100 ’ of drivers nationwide would have had PR by now but niot many places actually care enough to square it away to the point they don’t need TFW
unless its changed when u have started your pr if u move to another province u have to start again
So, across Canada, applications from companies for LMIA’s are down 78% on same time last year, now I’ve just read, out of the remaining 22% that have applied, only 21% of those applications have resulted in successful LMIA’s.
That is one hell of a drop, basically down to 4% - 5% of the amount available before.
Presumably, if there really is a driver shortage, over time it will become easier to obtain LMIAs because it will be easier to prove that vacancies cannot be filled by Canadians. It may take a while longer for things to shake out, though.
But if there isn’t a shortage then the new system is more likely to reveal the truth, and those companies that were abusing the old LMO system will be proven to have been doing it simply to source cheap foreign labour.
I don’t think there is a driver shortage as far as licence holders go, there is a shortage of drivers willing to do the job for the money being paid or the life it offers.
There maybe a genuine shortage in the future, when you look around you in any truckstop, RDC etc, and see the age of truckers, a massive majority are 45/50 +, very few young drivers seen in the industry.
In my small company, out of 18 of us, 2 under 40, 2 under 50 and 14 of us between 50 & 70.
And you know who’s to blame for that? We are! By we, I mean lorry drivers as a whole.
How many of us encouraged our kids to drive lorries? It used to be a run in the family thing, it certainly was in my case and the vast majority of my friends are 2nd or 3rd generation, but apart from two of my cousins, none of the drivers I know have had their sons follow in their footsteps.
This isn’t going to change either, in 20yrs most lorry drivers will be sourced from 3rd World countries.
Well, I’m willing to take the lifestyle and the money, but I need to find a route in and probably continue building experience for a while yet…