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Canada Waives Own Rules, Helps Microsoft Avoid US Visa Problems
Freshly Exhumed writes Citizenship and Immigration Canada has granted an unprecedented exemption to Microsoft that will allow the company to bring in an unspecified number of temporary foreign workers as trainees without first looking for Canadians to fill the jobs. No other company in any other field has been granted such an exemption, and it does not fall within any of the other categories where exemptions are normally given, according to a source familiar with process, effectively creating a new category: the Microsoft Exemption. Microsoft Canada did not immediately respond to questions about the deal, but in an interview earlier this year with Bloomberg Businessweek, Karen Jones, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, said the deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers. The entire issue of temporary foreign workers has been as blisteringly hot a topic across Canada as it has been in the USA.
We do not have a shortage of CS workers in this country, we have a surplus, and with some provinces having over 10% unemployment rates Harper is seemingly doing everything he can to keep Canadians out of Canadian jobs.
Fucking neocons.
It's not just a surplus in CS - in some areas it's a HUGE surplus. This is just a continuation of the exemptions granted to the banks to bring in foreign workers and have the current workers train them to do their jobs and then get laid off, ditto fast-food chains who don't want to hire Canadians who know their rights and as such are "too uppity", etc.
FTFA:
Karen Jones, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, said the deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers.
"The U.S. laws clearly did not meet our needs. We have to look to other places," she told the wire service. She went on to say Microsoft didn’t choose to expand in Vancouver "purely for immigration purposes, but immigration is a factor."
The source said that means the company will take advantage of rules governing intra-company transfers, which require employees to work for at least one year at a company subsidiary before being transferred to the U.S. He says the result will be a net disadvantage for Canada.
Bad enough the Burger King - Tim Hortons deal was a blatant tax dodge at a time when governments everywhere are trying to get corporations to behave more responsibly ... I guess the Harper government decided to "double-double down."
Blame Canada.
Shame, Canada.
Oh, Canada.
Oh-oh Canada.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
In my opinion, it is very positive for us to have high educated and motivated individuals working here.
They won't be working long-term in Canada. FTFA:
The government notice says the new training and development centre will focus on "software and engineering." The notice also says foreign workers will be given 24-month work permits to allow them to stay in Canada "until they are transitioned by Microsoft into a new position elsewhere.
That "elsewhere" is the US.
Karen Jones, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, said the deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers.
And that stripper program?
Earlier this year, Mr. Kenney announced that employers with good reputations would be allowed to fast track the hiring of temporary foreign workers and be allowed to pay them 15 per cent less than the average wage for a particular job. Labour groups and the NDP opposition slammed the move, accusing the Conservatives of driving down wages on behalf of employers.
Same crap, different day.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Until recently, McDonalds and Tim Horton's in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) have been doing this sort of thing for years. Usually in the form of 'minority hiring' that shuns the citizenry. They got their hands smacked soundly over it, and now are being watched like a hawk.
URL Reference here:
http://www.vancouversun.com/li...
Now Microsoft is going to do it en masse, taking away the positions from Canadian citizens that have been training here...
There will be a reckoning over this one.
Western Europeans are coming from an economy just as good as our own, so they aren't willing to work for peanuts and thus don't drive down wages like people from third-world countries do.
Asians from developed countries (e.g. Japan) would be welcomed just as warmly, for the same reason.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
It sounds more like a way to get more overseas workers into the US.
"The source said that means the company will take advantage of rules governing intra-company transfers, which require employees to work for at least one year at a company subsidiary before being transferred to the U.S."
Sounds like they'll import cheap labor to Canada. Have them work there for a year and then import them into the US.