Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Union Questions Why Mandarin An 'Asset' At B.C. Mine

More questions are being raised about the temporary hiring of Chinese miners to work in underground coal mines in northeastern B.C.

The United Steelworkers Union says job ads posted on the Government of Canada’s job bank last year list speaking Mandarin as an asset.

Director Stephen Hunt says this raises questions about the requirements for working at the mines, especially after one company found no qualified Canadians to work at an underground mine near Tumbler Ridge.

"It doesn't smell right to us. It doesn't look right to a lot of people in British Columbia and Canada," he said.

"We just think it's a cheap way to bring people in to extract a resource that's been there for a million years."

HD Mining, the company developing the Tumbler Ridge mine, says speaking Mandarin is not a job requirement.

Vice-president Jody Shimkus calls the ad "an isolated case" and says it doesn't reflect the company's hiring policy.

She says inexperience — not language — is the reason no Canadian miners were hired to work underground.

Fourteen Chinese miners are set to arrive in Tumbler Ridge later this month, the first wave of 200 workers hired to work underground.

Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: cbc

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