Maple Leaf recruits
Ukrainian workers |
Last Updated Sep 22 2004 09:26 AM
CDT
CBC
News |
| It's hard to find people who
want to work on the killing floors at Maple Leaf
Foods – so the company has turned to Ukraine for
workers.
In the past, Maple Leaf has recruited
workers from Mexico and El Salvador to work at
its processing plants in Winnipeg and Brandon.
The company is now hiring workers from Ukraine.
Maple Leaf interviewed more than 100
applicants last fall, then a professional
butcher tested their knowledge of knives and
cuts of meat. Ten people were chosen to work in
Brandon as meat cutters.
Ken Zaifman, an immigration lawyer who
helps Maple Leaf recruit, says the company is
hiring Ukrainians because it might be easier for
them to adjust to their new life in Canada.
"There wasn't a large Mexican community
in Brandon, there weren't a lot of
Spanish-speakers in Brandon, whereas in Brandon,
there are a couple of churches where the
Ukrainian community goes to, the parishioners
speak Ukrainian, there's more of a community,"
he says.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress in
Manitoba will assist the newcomers. Hugh McColl,
chair of immigration for the Congress, says the
organization will help the workers set up bank
accounts and find places to live.
"We've been assisting in finding
accommodation for them because the housing
situation in Brandon is terrible," he says.
"We've gone to the Ukrainian churches, appealed
to the people there to rent rooms in their
homes."
The new
workers arrive in Manitoba on October. If they
work out, Maple Leaf will continue to recruit
from Ukraine.
|
| |
MORE
MANITOBA NEWS
| | | |
|
| |
|
|
 CBC does not endorse and is not
responsible for the content of external sites.
External links will open in a new window.
| | | |
|
| |
E-mail this
story
Print this
story