RBC iGate scandal: Ottawa urged to publicize Canadian employers using foreign temps

Ottawa must make Canada’s temporary foreign workers program more transparent and accountable by publicizing the names of employers who bring in migrant workers and the jobs they fill, critics say.

Canadian taxpayers have a right to know which employers are benefiting from the $35.5 million a year taxpayers pay to process their applications for a “labour market opinion,” say major labour groups. Potential employers aren’t charged a fee for this service, which is required to justify their claim that they need to bring in foreign workers to fill a need.

iGate: the $1-billion-a-year company at the heart of the RBC temporary foreign worker controversy

The outsourcing firm at the heart of the temporary foreign worker controversy at Canada’s largest bank is a $1-billion-a-year business with a blue-chip board of directors.

The Fremont, Calif.-based iGate Corp. among a half-dozen fast-growing firms that have built their business providing Fortune 1000 companies around the world with a lower-cost source of high-tech labour in places like India. Since 2008, the company’s revenues have quintupled, from $218 million to $1 billion last year. Profit more than tripled last year, to $95 million from $30 million in 2008.

iGate, Company At Heart Of RBC Foreign Workers Controversy, Defends Business Practices

TORONTO - The multinational company at the centre of the Royal Bank of Canada's controversial decision to outsource dozens of Toronto jobs is defending its business practices.

iGate says it will "fully co-operate" with a government investigation into its efforts to bring workers into Canada under the temporary foreign worker program so those employees could train at RBC for services they will be providing to the bank.

Outsourcing bank jobs is common practice, say employees

Current and former Canadian bank employees have inundated CBC News with emails, saying outsourcing practices are common among the big banks after a CBC exclusive revealed RBC is using foreign workers to replace dozens of Canadians.

A CBC Go Public investigation revealed RBC is replacing 45 employees with temporary foreign workers at the end of the month. iGATE Corporation, a multinational outsourcing firm from India, employs the foreign workers.