Job bank could put an end to excessive fees
By Misbah Karim | Fri, 04/10/2009 - 23:21
An immigrant consultant said that most of the Toronto based agencies that charge excessive recruitment fees from migrant workers and nannies would have no option but to close their businesses with the introduction of just a simple adjustment in the online job bank of the government.
An immigrant consultant said that most of the Toronto based agencies that charge excessive recruitment fees from migrant workers and nannies would have no option but to close their businesses with the introduction of just a simple adjustment in the online job bank of the government.
Richard Kurland said that majority of such recruitment agencies in Toronto would stop operating with immediate affect if a list of supply of employers and employees is maintained by Service Canada on their current job bank. Kurland, who released government emails on the issue yesterday, said the federal government can easily put this into place without incurring any cost on the province.
The job bank is a searchable database where thousands of jobs can be advertised by various companies and individuals. If the proposal of Kurland is accepted then workers could be hired only through the job bank listings and won’t have to deal with recruiters.
He showered praises on the efforts put in the visa workers operating overseas who are consistently fighting to protect temporary workers, some of whom are charged as many as $8,000 as recruitment fee for a job that would earn them around $20,000.
With the help of Freedom of Information requests, Kurland gets access to emails of many top officials in the CIC and the HRSDC.
He said that he can make out from the email exchanges that officials recognize the existence of exploitation and are trying their best to help migrant workers.
Labor Minister of Ontario, Peter Fonseca has promised that he would introduce legislation by this year’s end to license nanny recruitment industry in Ontario, put an end to placement fees, and also create a hotline through which abuses can be brought to knowledge for further action to be taken.
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