New column day

Here, on how the U.S.' movement for fair fast food wages might be explained in part by greater recognition that many workers will be in the service sector for the long haul - while any Canadian equivalent may be suppressed by the use of temporary foreign workers.

For further reading...
- The best reporting on the U.S. movement is again that of Josh Eidelson - including this piece about the start of the movement, and this one about its current status.
- CBC reported on the use of temporary foreign workers in Saskatchewan - while the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce has helpfully responded by chewing out anybody who would even consider questioning the widespread use of TFWs in the name of corporate profits.
- Finally, the TFW-per-workplace numbers in my column are drawn from the second of the CBC's HRSDC documents. And for those interested in seeing which employers seem to be using the most temporary foreign workers in Saskatchewan, here's a quick chart of the employers with 10 or more TFWs:

TFWs    Employer
150   University of Saskatchewan*
85    Brandt Industries Ltd.
53    El-Rancho Food & Hospitality Partnership o/a KFC
40    Taylor Food Services Ltd. dba McDonald's Restaurant*
39    BHP Billiton Canada Inc.
36    Champion Canada International ULC o/a SRI Homes*
30    Spring Valley Farms Ltd. o/a McDonalds Restaurant
27    Kramer Ltd.
26    R & D Drywall Inc.
25    AMEC Americas Ltd. (Mining & Metals)
25    Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region
25    Supreme Steel LP
25    Wilco Contractors Southest Inc.
24    Cypress Health Region
21    Mac's Up Enterprises Inc. o/a McDonald's Restaurant
19    Cameco Corporation
19    JTK Food Services o/a McDonalds
16    Saskatoon Regional Health Authority
15    5904660 Alberta Ltd. o/a Skylark Stucco
14    Clean Harbors Energy & Industrial Services Corp
13    P&C Canada Ltd.
10    100065909 Saskatchewan Ltd. o/a Houston Pizza
10    7714571 Canada Inc. o/a Husky Travel Centre
10    Advance Engineered Products Ltd.
10    Associated Mining Construction Inc.

The chart is put together based on the "Number of TFW Employed" column of the HRSDC chart, taking the highest number for each employer listed - as several employers made multiple applications with different numbers of current TFWs. An asterisk (*) in the above chart means that I've omitted a second employer which appears to be the same as the one listed.

I'll note that the above chart will only include employers who made applications for additional TFWs after April 25, 2012. There may thus be others who would make the list based on TFW counts before that date.