July 10, 2008

Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board

Board aims to educate Alberta’s temporary foreign workers

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Temporary foreign workers (TFW) in Alberta are being encouraged to learn their workplace rights.

The provincial Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) is in the early stages of launching a campaign to educate temporary foreign workers about their rights, wages and benefits.

The issue of temporary foreign workers is a concern for the board, so it will soon be launching the multi-language campaign.

“This year, we (the WCB) decided to expand our target audience to include temporary foreign workers,” said WCB spokeswoman Jennifer Dagsvik.

“Being in a new country with new laws, temporary foreign workers may experience the same fears as young workers feel — a fear of speaking up for their safety.”

Dagsvik explained that TFWs may be scared of losing their jobs, hitting a language barrier, looking weak or not knowing how to ask if a job is safe.

“We were planning our campaign for young workers and thought it was an opportunity to see why people don’t speak up,” she said.

“This is the first proactive campaign aimed at temporary foreign workers in Alberta.”

Give Safety a Voice is the theme of the campaign, and one of the posters will feature a close up of a south Asian man wearing a hard hat and safety glasses on a construction site.

In the background, the same man fell over some lumber and sustained an injury.

“You may not speak the boss’s language but you still have the right to work in a safe place,” it states.

“Don’t let fear silence you into expecting anything less. Give safety a voice.”

Over his mouth is a piece of duct tape with the words, Fear of not being understood.

According to Dagsvik, the campaign will also feature other posters and a brochure specifically aimed at TFWs.

The WCB is in the process of figuring out what languages should be offered for the brochure and the posters.

It will send out letters to various associations to ask if they have specific preferences.

Once this is done, 10,000 brochures will be printed and sent out to all associations affiliated with TFWs.

For the past several years, the WCB in Alberta ran a campaign aimed at young workers between the ages of 16 and 24 called Heads Up.

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