The Ministry of Labour will begin a focused engagement with stakeholders about contract tendering in B.C.’s forestry sector to identify improvements that will support the long-term stability of jobs and economic recovery in the sector.

Temporary foreign workers who come to B.C. to work will be better protected now that the employers who want to hire these workers will be required to register with the Province as of Dec. 15, 2020.

Premier John Horgan has issued the following statement to recognize Labour Day:

The Province has protected jobs and workers impacted by COVID-19 with an online variance application that simplified the process to extend temporary layoffs, resulting in the approval of more than 500 variances that protect more than 9,100 jobs across a variety of economic sectors.

Harry Bains, Minister of Labour, has issued the following statement regarding the release of a report reviewing B.C.’s unionized hotel sector as a result of COVID-19:

Harry Bains, Minister of Labour, has issued the following statement on the release of Janet Patterson’s report, New Directions: Report of the Workers’ Compensation Board Review, 2019:

This summer, our government has taken action to provide the most significant improvements to the Workers Compensation Act (WCA) in more than two decades. The current pandemic has highlighted the need for modernization, for stronger occupational health and safety protections and a more balanced workers’ compensation system. The bill we passed this summer drew on several expert reports that had feedback from employers, workers, as well as experts in workers’ compensation systems.

A new chair has been appointed to the board of directors of WorkSafeBC.

Harry Bains, Minister of Labour, has appointed Sandra Banister, QC, to conduct a review of layoff and recall rights of unionized workers in British Columbia’s hotel sector as a result of COVID-19.