Should companies be able to hire foreign workers, if they can't find locals to fill the position?

Here in B.C the restaurant , and mining industry were guilty of this,should industry be able to do this?
I have always been to told by die hard conservatives that wages will go up when there is a demand for more workers, well it has in some industries but these companies are hiring foreign workers to keep the wages from increasing,guess they found a way to circumvent it, should industry be allowed or should they be called to task on it?

Would you really be OK with employers paying foreign workers more than locals? That doesn’t sound like anything I could be OK with. Here in the States, liberals simply say those workers are doing jobs Americans don’t want to do and justify it that way. I know there is a process to grant ‘Green Cards’ sponsored by an employer, to foreign workers. I’m not real familiar with it but you must show that you tried to hire locally first. Over all I would rather see them bring workers here than send jobs over there. It’s a tricky problem.

In the USA there is visa H-1B for 1 to 3 years with an extension for up 3 more years. It must be shown by the company hiring that the person asking for the visa has a specialty occupation. The pay has to AT LEAST the current rate for the position. They must also show that attempted to place a USA citizen that position.

@Jaxk I want it to cost the company to hire foreign workers, and it be in incentive to them to try and find or train locals for the position, not be a cost saving to them.
Some jobs you just can’t send over seas,such as mining, restaurants ,or the trucking industry, as for your Americans don’t want to do,maybe up the wage and some will want to do.

@SQUEEKY2 Do you know of cases where people are working in mining, restaurants and trucking industry? Or are you just asking about the companies that were caught?

I know I can’t get a job in Canada as a person from the USA.

More speaking for the companies that got caught, but I do see foreign workers in those positions everyday, I just don’t know any personally .

I think some of this is industry-based. I know several people who have had a hard time getting visas to work in Canada for academic positions, which require a high degree of specificity in choosing the right candidate – it’s not like they can just put out an ad, and take someone out of a lineup.

However, @SQUEEKY2 is right in that some types of businesses seem to be able to magically grant visas to large numbers of foreign workers – and their work does not seem to be particularly specialized. I have no idea what criteria they need to meet to be able to do that. One would hope it’s not some form of kickback scheme, but I kind of assume it’s that.

@SQUEEKY2 I share your opinion on this. The extra $2/hour would be incentive for the company to hire Canadian workers as soon as they become available. Gee, they might even actively seek them out. Sadly, the US has set a poor precedent (for workers) by accommodating corporations by allowing this including giving huge tax holidays to them, and thus are the envy of conservative governments worldwide who would love to emulate them, if only they could bamboozle their constituents into it.

It has kept wages low across whole industries. I cite American hospital staffing for the past 20 years as an example. In my opinion, the quality of nursing and other disciplines has fallen off commensurate with the real wages and has accomplished nothing to improve the American healthcare system—but it has made healthcare a very profitable business for the stockholder who is just a middle man that needs to get paid and thus drives the cost of the service sky-high.

@SQUEEKY2 How many foreigners got a work Visa in the USA last for work? Do you know?

It is under 100,000 for people with advanced degrees and just a bachelor’s degree for 2016

Here is the H-1B page from the immigration services.

I think some of the people you see as foreigners with jobs; might citizens of Canada, just a different colour or accent/language.

They can hire whomever they like

@josie Yes, but NO. They can’t hire carpenters or plumbers, trades people. Some people running family restaurants hire their family (may not be holders of H-1B).
They have to follow the cap for the entire country. 85,000 for next year,
I’ve worked with engineers in aerospace that had H-1B visas, they were experts in their field. They worked on a product that they developed in their home country.
Can the employer do it illegally sure but don’t get caught the Federal Government, and you need a SSN for tax and identification.

@Tropical_Willie
I guess what I should have said was that they should be allowed to hire whomever they like.
Having said that, my position implies that all employers are morally objective and would never hire terrorists, illegals, etc.
Sadly, in our time, we can not rely on moral clarity among, say, employers (or anybody else for that matter).
And why should we.
Their political “leaders” are also morally confused, if not ruined.
Who can expect them to set a higher standard for themselves than exists for their “leaders”.

@josie I agree to a point, but employers should always strive to hire their own countries citizens, before looking at hiring foreign nationals,and should never hire foreign workers at a cost saving over their own citizens.
That just makes us more of a wage slave than we are now.

If there is a shortage of workers with the right skills I’m fine with hiring from outside the country, but not for a wage difference. The job has a just compensation, and that what should be paid.

If there isn’t an Australian who can fill a position companies can advertise overseas and hire a foreign worker. I’m fine with that. However, if they do that, that worker should be paid at the going rate for that job here. I don’t think foreign workers should be exploited by paying them lower wages. That’s not fair to the foreign worker but it also undermines Australian fair work regulations and standards. That’s not good for Australian workers. A mining tycoon proposed employing foreign workers at cheap rates but received a negative response to this idea.

^ However, if they do that, that worker should be paid at the going rate for that job here. I don’t think foreign workers should be exploited by paying them lower wages. That’s not fair to the foreign worker but it also undermines Australian fair work regulations and standards.
Why not? If the foreign worker in his/her own nation would work for the equivalent of $6 dollars (or whatever the currency is) a day, and they can go to a western nation and earn $3 bucks an hour, if he worked even 3 hours he made more than he would at home. I am sure he is happy, the company chiefs are happy, cost is down, it is cheaper to make the widget, so John Q citizen can keep more in his pocket buying it. Win, win, win all around.

No, it’s exploitation. If a job is worth $20 per hour for me, it should be worth $20 per hour for the Indonesian woman who comes here to fill that position. Why should foreign workers be paid less wages than other people doing the same work? Not to mention that if those foreign workers are allowed to come to your or my country and work for lower wages, we may find we are suddenly less appealing as employees.

@Earthbound_Misfit Agreed. That has been a minor scandal here lately – also with regard to healthcare.

This is the free market at its best. Fuck the local workers. Fuck the economy. Fuck your community. Maximize profits for those who do nothing but hold stock. That is the single thing that matters.

I’m a proponent of open borders. I wish I could work in Sweden just as easily as I could in California. Fuck yeah free markets. Open the borders, let the countries fight for talent.

Open borders is for capital only @johnpowell. People are a commodity that do not get that right.

They’ve done pretty much exactly this in Europe. @johnpowell you can go work a job in Sweden that a Swede has left to come work here in Norway for more than 30% more money.