Are migrants paid less than Canadians?

Comment on the blog:

Is it true that guest workers can be paid 15% less than domestic workers? on Canada Intends to Punish Seasonal Workers

Answer:  Yes! ..... Why? Because they can usually get away with it.

Wage rates are usually negotiated in the temporary migrants home country and although Canada and its Provinces may have minimum wage standards it is very difficult to monitor when it comes to temporary workers.

The process of filing a complaint is very difficult and companies hiring migrants know this.

Below are two sites that provide information on the subject.

http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/380

The British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council is supporting 60 temporary foreign workers employed for the Canada Line (RAV) construction who were paid less than $5 per hour and were required to work 54-66 hours per week with no overtime pay. Golden Ears Bridge Project contractor, Bilfinger Berger, is seeking to bring 345 foreign workers, but their application is being opposed by Ironworkers and the B.C. Federation of Labour on the basis that there are “Canadian workers for the job.” Finally the B.C. Government and Services Employees Union (BCGEU) is fighting the firing of 70 employees at Windsor Manor in Kelowna, where management is replacing them with foreign workers.

http://www.iwh.on.ca/system/files/documents/iw-forum-2009/thompson_migrant_workers_in_canada_2009.pdf

While migrant workers have the same rights to seek union representation as Canadian workers, the barriers to exercising these rights are almost insurmountable. Migrant workers arrive for pre-determined periods of time, so their interest in seeking collective representation over the presumed opposition of employers is unlikely to be strong. The benefits of unionism in Canada are often the greatest over longer periods of time, when negotiated wage rates, protections against layoffs and the right to challenge dismissals become more valuable.