Fort McMurray’s 24-7 economy,
Thousands of temporary employees staff the city’s restaurants, hotels and stores. Others clean, drive trucks or look after children
FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA.— Work in the oilsands never stops: 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Christmas, New Year’s and long weekends.
Little surprise that the residents of Fort McMurray work the longest hours in Canada and earn the highest average annual household income: $191,507.
Because it’s a 24-7 economy, it’s not unusual to see pickup trucks lined up at the Tim Hortons drive-thru at 5 in the morning and continuing for the rest of the day. Earlier this year, the long lines were creating traffic hazards so the RCMP handed out $172 tickets to vehicles blocking adjacent roads.
Those Tim Hortons, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and A&W outlets are an essential part of life in hectic “Fort Mac” and, for the most part, they depend on temporary foreign workers, who earn between $15 and $18 an hour.
May, 36, who has been in Canada for three years, says she was recruited from the Philippines to work at a fast food counter.
“But I didn’t like it, so I switched and became a nanny.”
With the long work hours, and the number of households where both parents work in the oilpatch, there is a high demand for domestic help.
Earlier this year, Sara Dorow, a sociologist at the University of Alberta, completed a study of nannies working in Fort McMurray.
She estimates there are 600 to 1,000 nannies. Parents with two preschool-aged children save an average of $6,970 a year by hiring one. And the savings are greater with more children. Licensed daycare, if you can find it, costs between $1,300 and $2,000 a month for each space, she told the Edmonton Journal.
Wages for a nanny can run anywhere between $12 and $20 an hour.
Eighty per cent of families with nannies have at least one spouse working at an oilsands plant. “In other words, the oilsands industry is dependent on the sort of flexibility and consistency provided to its workers by live-in caregivers,” says Dorow.
Temporary foreign workers can also be found at Canadian Tire and Sobeys. Some, such as Luis, 49, drive trucks loaded with water to surrounding work camps. Others help to build the work camps or are employed as cleaners and housekeeping staff in the camps.
Most of the temporary foreign workers in Fort McMurray are from the Philippines, often sending money to their children and families back home.
Jonathan, 34, came to Canada five years ago and became a Canadian citizen in July. The truck driver says he sends 40 per cent of his earnings to the Philippines because his brother needs kidney dialysis.
He and 10 guest workers live in a small bungalow near the city centre. They pay rent totalling $5,800 a month.
Alma was a cleaner in Fort Mac. Even though she had worked in Canada for four years, she was sent back to the Philippines earlier this year after the federal government revised guest worker rules.
Before she left, she and some co-workers filed a complaint with their employer about overtime that was owed. The coworkers were subsequently fired.
Last year, the federal government announced changes to make it more difficult for temporary foreign workers to stay here on a long-term basis. Fort McMurray employers were outraged.
Wayne Bigelow, vice-president of operations for the three Tim Hortons franchises, told Fort McMurray Today that franchises might have to reduce hours and even close on certain days of the week.
“I think it will be mayhem in Fort McMurray if the temporary foreign workers have to leave,” says Jennifer Best, executive director of YMCA community programs. Best estimates there are 3,500 guest workers in Fort McMurray alone staffing fast food chains, hotels and work camps.
Not everyone is happy about the presence of so many temporary workers. Earlier this year, the Fort McMurray Airport Authority announced it was planning to lay off permanent, unionized cleaning and security staff in favour of hiring guest workers at lower pay.
Atelephone poll conducted by Environics on behalf of the Alberta Federation of Labour found 89 per cent of respondents were opposed to the plan. Fifty-four per cent thought the airport CEO should be fired. In the end, the workers were laid off and offered their jobs back at a lower rate. And the new contractor was encouraged to hire Canadians first.