EDMONTON (Sun Media) - A Quebec ironworker is accusing Suncor of discrimination after he was fired for poor English, but a spokesman for the oil giant says poor communication can be dangerous.
The dismissal prompted a second Quebecer to quit Suncor in protest and has incensed the local ironworkers union, which is demanding Suncor do more to accommodate French-speaking tradesmen.
"They aggressively recruit labourers from China, Mexico and Germany, but won't hire us because our English isn't great," journeyman steelworker Marco Pelletier of Cowansville, Que., told the Sun in a French-language interview.
Pelletier, 35, quit his Suncor job north of Fort McMurray Monday after his friend Carol Rioux was fired for failing English-language orientation tests. Pelletier passed them.
Rioux, 43, of Gaspesie, Que., has been a steelworker for 25 years. He and Pelletier were recently recommended to Suncor by the Ironworkers union.
"These guys came highly recommended and are extremely well-qualified," said Pete Anderson of Edmonton Ironworkers Local 720.
"If they'd have just given him the tests in French he'd have passed with flying colours," he said.
As shop steward at the Suncor plant, Anderson liaises between unionized steelworkers, the subcontractors who hire them, and Suncor, which runs the entire project.
"Suncor has turned away expert Canadian workers at a time when there's a terrible shortage of tradesmen. It's shameful. The foreman is bilingual, Rioux would have been fine.
"I've been up here four years and I've seen people with more (language) difficulty get along."
Last fall, he said, Suncor hired 30 non-unionized Filipino tradesmen to work at their Firebag site farther north.
"They hired translators for them," Anderson said, although Suncor spokesman Patti Lewis said the Filipinos all passed English-language testing.
Translators "were only hired for an interim period to welcome the Filipinos to the community," she said.
Pelletier and Rioux said they feel duped.
"Come work in Alberta, they say. Just not if you speak French - that's what they mean," Pelletier said.
"In Quebec we work together with non-French- speaking tradesmen. I don't understand why Suncor can't."
Lewis countered that it was Rioux's lack of English skills that led to his dismissal, not discrimination.
"We operate in an English environment. Apart from job testing, there's a variety of things like signs, work permits and safety briefings that would be problematic (for non-English-speaking) tradesmen, and could pose unacceptable risks," she said.
"In the end, everyone has to pass the training and must be able to communicate in the event of a crisis," Lewis said.
"Safety is our number 1 priority."
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