Canadian construction and union leaders say they are frustrated by the Continuous use of foreign workers For non -specialized tasks in the massive project of the Nextar electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ontario, that receives billions of dollars in support of taxpayers.
They also say they have been disappointed with the response they have received from all levels of government when they have expressed concerns.
“Personally, I have sat with many federally, provincially, directly at the top. And it is not a secret,” says Jason Roe, commercial manager of Local 700 of the Terramía Union. “People know what has been happening.”
According to Roe and others, foreign workers, in large part of South Korea, have been repeatedly seen doing everything, from driving elevators to the standard electrical installation, despite the guarantees of government officials and Nextstar that international staff would do a “highly specialized” job.
“It has been incredibly frustrating,” said Roe, also head of the Essex and Kent Building Commerce Council. “It has been very frustrating to know that these are dollars of taxpayers who finance the project and will not go to Canadian workers and Canadian contractors.”
CBC News cannot verify the exact number of instances in which foreign workers were seen performing non -specialized tasks, but Roe said he had continuously received reports.
Nextar is a joint business between the Global Stellantis and LG Energy solution car manufacturer, a southern Korean battery giant. The project receives up to $ 15 billion in incentives for several years from the provincial and federal governments, in addition to $ 1 billion in investments.
There is a ‘inaccurate’ representation of non -Canadian workers: Nextar
Nextar says that he has hired almost 1,000 full -time local employees so far and that more than 9,000 Canadian merchants have worked on the project, which is almost complete.
“Unfortunately, there is an inaccurate and negative representation of non -Canadian resident workers who are necessary to temporarily support the industrialization of the battery plant before its launch,” said the company in a statement.
“The suppliers temporarily hire these workers to install owner equipment and are a requirement of guarantee obligations,” said the statement, noting that these workers are not included in the approximately 2,500 Canadian works that the plant will create once ready.
“To guarantee the success of Nextstar Energy as the first EV battery manufacturing plant on a large scale in Canada, the company must temporarily depend on specialized skills and experiences to educate, install, test, validate and implement the latest latest generation and more advanced technologies available,” said the statement. “This knowledge is importing and transferred to the local workforce to allow the plant to flourish and compete in a globally fierce environment.”
Nextar did not say how many foreign workers he or his subcontractors have used since the project began in 2022. The company also said that “all have valid work visas,” but did not specify what kind. However, South Koreans are eligible to work in Canada under a 2015 free trade agreement between the two countries.
The province says it is the responsibility of the federal government to detect and admit workers to the country.
In a statement, the Ministry of Labor, Immigration, Training and Development of Ontario skills said their role “is to ensure that all workers are protected by the same rights and standards in the workplace.”
“Our government takes all accusations of violations in the workplace seriously, and we will continue working to protect workers in the province,” he said.
The federal government did not answer CBC questions before the publication.
Prior controversy about the use of foreign workers
A fire storm broke out on foreign workers in the plant in 2023, when Nextar said it would bring up to 900 people abroad to help build it.
Facing criticism, Said the CEO of Nextar The “temporary specialized global providers” had “patented knowledge and specialized experience.”
Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development of Ontario, said that temporary workers would arrive in Windsor to perform a “highly specialized work.”
The following year, then liberal deputy Irek Kusmierczyk, whose driving includes the plant, told a parliamentary committee that a few dozen Korean workers were there to “transfer knowledge.” He said the federal government He had also “made it very clear” to Nextar that he needed to use local qualified workers “whenever possible.”
But Roe and Jack Mesley, president of the Ontario Erector Association, said in an interview this week that they have repeatedly received photos and messages from their members on the site, notifying them that foreign workers were doing a much more widespread job.
“There is no transfer of knowledge to break a wooden box that came on a ship or left a container to get the equipment from it,” said Mesley. “There is no transfer of knowledge when executing the elevator truck unless our Canadians told the Koreans how to do it.”
They said that they have also been told that foreign workers were seen doing certified commercial work, something that people in Windsor-Essex, a manufacturing and automotive center are qualified to do. “Cut and welding Tipa, electric vaults,” said Mesley.
Roe said it represents 1,100 iron workers in southwest Ontario and more than 4,000 workers as head of the Essex Commerce Council and Kent Building.
Mesley said it represents about 250 unionized contractors in the steel and construction industry.
Emails to Ford, Poilievre without response: construction executive
One of those contractors is Sylvan Canada, which is dedicated to a legal struggle of $ 45 million for its elimination of the project earlier this summer and alleged lack of payment.
Eric Farron, vice president of operations of the company, said he received “several complaints and comments” from his staff on the site about foreign workers who perform non -specialized tasks, “how to move elements.”
“I understand specialized teams and there is certainly the need for specialized technicians to work on these things,” he said. “I think that definition has probably been exaggerated and I think there are many opportunities that more Canadians could have contributed to construction and factory automation at that site.”
The judicial records of other cases show that Nextar has retained several companies based in South Korea to handle different parts of the project.
Farron, who has contacted local elected officials To try to transmit his concerns about contractual disputes, he has now contacted both the Prime Minister of Ontario, and the federal conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
In an email of September 5, Farron wrote that foreign workers were “performing out of their agreed reach, displacing the Ontario workers.” He also said that Canadian companies were “financially injured”, referring to Sylvan and the payment disputes of other companies.
Farron said he has not received an answer, apart from an automatic response from the Ford office. But he said he has hopes, based on Poilievre Recent comments on foreign workersthat will listen to the conservative leader.
“At the end of the day, what we want to do is gather all interested parties and solve this problem,” said Farron. “Our problem has been to get an audience to do it and also that our Canadian support helps to facilitate that.”
Neither the Ford nor Pailievre office responded to a request for comments.
Raid at the American plant indicates ‘Behavior pattern’: Farron
Farron said he believes the Recent Raid In the United States, the immigration authorities that swept hundreds of South Korean citizens in a similar project of LG batteries in Georgia “will be a catalyst to create some interest” in the local project, however. “
“Shows a behavior pattern,” he said. “I think it is important, from a perspective of responsibility, that we look at these things and if we verify that there is no problem here, that is great, but let’s see it.”
Roe said he has met with government officials “several times” in the last and a half and also met with Nextstar directly to urge him more Canadian workers.
“It is frustrating my part when I have members of any affiliate at home in unemployment insurance and there is a foreign worker there doing the same tasks, the same job, the same trade as this member sitting at home in EI,” Roe said.
“In your city!” Mesley added.
Roe said that officials say the number of foreign workers was low.
“If it’s one, it’s too much for me,” he said.
