 VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s tourism industry is in need of Filipino foodservers and housekeeping workers. A report by the Globe and Mail said Canada's $9.8 billion tourism and hospitality sector has a shortage of food service and housekeeping workers, and most Canadian employers prefer Filipinos to boost its tourism sector..
Canadia employers are getting Filipino workers from Chemistry Consulting and Success Immigration that has put up an office in Cebu City. The agency is said to be recruiting 300 Filipino workers for the 2007-08 season.
Operators have launched an aggressive international recruitment campaign that is delivering Filipino workers to Vancouver Island's west coast, reported Lyle Jenish.
"Worker shortage is a crisis, not just a challenge," Jenish said, quoting Charles McDiarmid, managing director of Tofino's up-market Wickaninnish Inn.
"The entire 2006 season we spent thousands of dollars advertising for workers in Canada.
There was not a day [in 2006] that we were not actively recruiting. But we were still chronically short between 10 and 20 workers."
Six workers from the Philippines will be joining the Wickaninnish Inn staff in the next few weeks and the report said this would be the beginning of a long-term plan for foreign worker recruitment. They will stay in the resort's worker living units.
"We hope to bring a number of Filipinos over [to Tofino] so they can establish camaraderie and a system of support," McDiarmid said, adding efforts will be made to nurture a "community atmosphere" by encouraging Tofino grocers to stock Filipino food items and through creation of a network with other operators employing Filipinos.
Canada introduced last February 23 revisions in its Temporary Foreign Worker Program which requires, among others, that employers should first try to hire from the domestic pool of workers including advertising job vacancies for seven days before recruiting outside Canada.
The same program extended work permits from one to two years. Beginning April 1, employers were allowed to apply online for federal permission to recruit foreign workers. It has also streamlined worket-permit processing to facilitate the recruitment process and meet the growing demand for foreign workers.
The report quoted Ashley Haslett, spokesperson for British Columbia and Yukon Hotel
Association as saying that Filipino workers will also come to Whistler and the Okanagan this year.
The BCYHA has retained Victoria firms Chemistry Consulting and Success Immigration Services Canada Ltd. to recruit Filipinos on behalf of its members.
Haslett cited a recent survey of the association's 580 members representing 48,000 rooms which indicated 79 per cent are planning to hire additional workers this year. Of these, 70 per cent were finding it hardest to get room attendants and housekeeping and cleaning staff.
"Forty-two per cent of these members report losing business because they have been unable to hire staff," Haslett said.
The report said Wickaninnish Inn is paying Chemistry Consulting and Success Immigration $2,500 per worker: $500 per worker payable at the beginning of recruitment agreement; $1,000 per worker payable on the date of issuance of the work visa; $1,000 per worker payable on the date the worker arrives in Canada.
Expenses include return airfare of up to $2,000; local health-care expenses of $54 per month per worker; and a visa fee of $150.
Some of the expenses Filipinos pay include a $55 administration fee to the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency; medical check-up fees; costs for a criminal check through the National Bureau of Investigation and, if they want to drive while in Canada, the costs for an international driver's licence. They will be responsible for their living costs while in Canada.
Victoria lawyer Rory Lambert, an independent consultant and adviser to Success Immigration, travels to the Philippines where he offers seminars on working in Canada. |
