Marco Vigliotti

Editor-in-Chief

ocal politicians and union members in Windsor are raising concerns that an under-construction battery plant in the city slated to receive billions in financial support from Ottawa and Ontario will use temporary foreign workers to fill positions.

Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse said a local union wrote a letter to his office outlining their worries that temporary foreign workers would be used at the multibillion-dollar NextStar Energy plant, and he forwarded that letter to the federal Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault and asked him to review the case.

Masse said he also raised the issue with the provincial employment minister.

“It really concerns me because while most politicians were doing photo-ops and victory laps on this announcement, the hard work of following it through hasn’t been done,” he said in an interview, adding that he has called on Ottawa to ensure local work opportunities arise from these sorts of deals.

“[It’s the] federal government’s responsibility to make sure that it’s actually local workers [benefitting]. That takes hard work, and it’s something that’s missing.”

Masse added that there needs to be a national auto policy and tools to measure if funding deals reached by the feds are actually creating local jobs.

NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky, who represents Windsor West in the Ontario legislature, said she’s also heard concerns about the NextStar plant, and called on the provincial and federal governments to “step up and protect local workers.”

“They need to step up and advocate for these workers. They need to put policies in place, legislation in place that ensures that when we have the workers that have the skill set to do the work, or are able to be trained quickly to do the work… that we are benefiting the people within our communities and across the province,” she said.

NextStar Energy, a collaboration between corporate giants Stellantis and LG, is building a plant in Windsor that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. NextStar says the $5-billion facility — set to open in 2025 — will employ more than 2,500 employees across the battery manufacturing process.

The federal and Ontario governments announced this past summer they would offer up to $15-billion in tax breaks to keep the plant in Windsor. The announcement came after construction was paused earlier in the year due to the plant operators’ demands to negotiate a deal for funding in order to match what the United States would offer through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Of that money, Ontario would provide $5 billion, with the other $10 billion coming from Ottawa.

, the federal and provincial governments said the plant would “create and secure thousands of good-paying auto jobs and tens of thousands of indirect jobs across Canada.”

But as construction progresses, questions are being raised about who will take advantage of these promised job opportunities.

In recent weeks, postings for jobs are showing up for positions at an unspecified battery plant in Windsor. The poster, Jeil Special Canada, doesn’t have much in the way of an online presence.

Its website is a blog with only one post. A phone call to the listed address wasn’t answered on Wednesday, and the number’s voicemail wasn’t set up. The listed location is an office building in an industrial part of Windsor, and the jeilspecialcanada.com domain was only created in April, according to a search on GoDaddy.com.

At least one of the jobs advertised by Jeil Special — which can be seen on the federal government’s JobBank.ca website — has received a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), meaning it can be filled by a temporary foreign worker. Companies must apply for and receive an LMIA before they can legally hire a temporary foreign worker, 

with applicants having to show that they can’t find Canadian workers to fill the role

The specific duties of this job — dubbed an “operations manager – administrative services” — are fairly broad. They include directing and advising “staff engaged in providing records management, security, finance, purchasing, human resources or other administrative services,” hiring and training staff, planning budgets, overseeing daily operations and directing and controlling “corporate governance and regulatory compliance procedures.”

Unifor, the country’s largest private sector union, said in a statement that it’s investigating reports on the use of temporary foreign workers at the NextStar plant, and has been in communication with Stellantis and the federal government.

“Unifor has significant concerns about the TFW [temporary foreign workers] program design, its potential for exploitation and employer misuse,” said Lana Payne, the national president of the union, which represents some 20,000 auto workers.

“Our position is clear that jobs in the EV [electric vehicle] battery related supply chain must be good, union jobs and made available to qualified Canadian workers first and foremost.”

Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini said in a statement that his office has expressed its concerns to NextStar about the use of temporary foreign workers, warning that it must meet its obligations under the provincial workplace law.

"My Ministry is aware of reports of international workers linked to the NextStar project under federal work permits. As these individuals may not have the necessary skilled trades credentials to do the work, we have relayed our concerns to the company and stressed their obligations under the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act," he said.

"Ontario has one of the most skilled workforces in the world and thousands of talented men and women who are more than capable of performing these jobs."

Piccini's ministry, Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, investigates any complaints about workers performing tasks they are not licensed to do.

Minister Boissonnault’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment prior to deadline.

 on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss what they know about the developments says the federal government is looking into this but so far, the feds have confirmed there had only been one LMIA application from Jeil.

The source said while it’s not uncommon for foreign workers to be brought in on projects like this, it’s mostly in a “supervisory capacity” to oversee the company’s proprietary equipment. But the concern is that for the NextStar plant, the foreign workers will be used to install that equipment, the source explained.

The source added that Jeil and LG need to be more forthcoming about how many temporary foreign workers they plan to bring in to work at the site.

A government source on Friday stressed that LMIAs are only issued when Canadians or permanent residents aren't able to fill the job and confirmed that only one LMIA had been approved for the Nextstar project.

When asked about Jeil's LMIA approval, Employment and Social Development Canada, the department responsible for temporary foreign workers, said the government "continually reviews program policies to ensure they reflect the latest economic conditions," in addition to actively working with "stakeholders, provinces and territories to understand and help meet their labour needs, while also ensuring worker rights and protections are upheld."

"An LMIA confirms that there is a need for a temporary foreign worker and that no Canadians or permanent residents are available to do the job. The LMIA process is the key labour market test that provides the Government of Canada with assurances that hiring temporary foreign workers is required to support current labour market needs in Canada," the department said in a statement on Friday.

"The LMIA also ensures the employment of a foreign national is not likely to affect the settlement of any labour dispute that may be in progress. Moreover, the LMIA is a tool to protect workers by assessing the employer’s genuineness, and by articulating and reinforcing to employers key expectations on program conditions, standards, and requirements."

While there isn’t much info about Jeil Special, Jeil M&S is a South Korean manufacturing company that among other things, supplies equipment for battery producers. On its website, it lists LG as one of the companies it works with.

Jeil M&S does have a Canadian operation, known as 

. Its address is listed as 181 Finch Ave West in North York, which is a detached house with a Korean language sign for tax services on one of its brick walls, 

according to images from Google Street View

A person who answered the phone number listed for the tax service on Thursday said only that Jeil M&S Canada doesn’t yet have a Canada office and were using the office for the tax service as a placeholder until they could find one. But they didn’t have any further information about when Jeil M&S started business in Canada.

LG didn’t respond to a request for comment and Stellantis directed inquiries to NextStar, which didn’t respond before deadline.

Concerns around temporary foreign workers at the NextStar plant were raised during Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan’s visit to Windsor earlier in the week, where he had meetings with union members.

Speaking to reporters in the city, O’Regan said he’s in communication with Piccini and he intends on keeping him informed of “everything that’s happening.”

“We’re going to figure this out, but we’re both on the same side on this. We’ve got eyes on it right now, and I’m going to be talking to the federal employment minister about this as well. We want Canadian jobs here,” he said.

The issuing of the LMIA comes after the Windsor economic development body said it had been asked by LG to put together a group of local developers to find housing options for incoming workers from South Korea, 

“LG asked us to put together a group of local developers and investors to present their needs for the next one to three years,” said Invest WindsorEssex vice-president of investment attraction and strategic initiatives Joe Goncalves, according to the 

“They’re expecting from 600 to 1,000 workers will be coming to set up the equipment. Another 300 to 500 people will be coming from LG to run the facility here.”

Goncalves also said that a specialized workforce will be needed to set up the buildings on the NextStar battery plant site, with that workforce to come from South Korea.

“There’ll be a lot of need for housing,” Goncalves said. “They wanted to let the community know early what the numbers are and the types of housing the workers will require.

“They’re really going to begin to ramp up over the next three years. With the number of people expected at the facility there’s a need for short-term rentals on an ongoing basis.

*This story has been updated with comment from the provincial labour minister, a government source and Employment and Social Development Canada.

At least one of the jobs advertised by Jeil Special — on the federal government’s JobBank.ca website — has received a Labour Market Impact Assessment, meaning it can be filled by a temporary foreign worker.

Union, politicians raising concerns that government-supported Stellantis-LG battery plant will use temporary foreign workers

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