Foreign workers drove forklifts, did trade tasks at Windsor EV battery plant, say union, construction leaders

Canadian construction and union leaders say they're frustrated over the continued use of foreign workers for non-specialized tasks at the massive NextStar electric vehicle battery plant project in Windsor, Ont., that's receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer support.

They also say they've been disappointed in the response they've received from all levels of government when they've raised concerns.

"I personally have sat with many ministers federally, provincially, right to the top. And it's not a secret," says Jason Roe, the business manager for Local 700 of the Ironworkers union. "People know that it's been going on."

According to Roe and others, foreign workers, largely from South Korea, repeatedly have been spotted doing everything from driving forklifts to standard electrical installation — despite assurances from government officials and NextStar that the international staff would be doing "highly specialized" work.

"It's been unbelievably frustrating," said Roe, also head of the Essex and Kent Building Trades Council. "It's been very frustrating knowing that these are taxpayer dollars funding the project and it's not going to Canadian workers and Canadian contractors."

CBC News can't verify the exact number of instances where foreign workers were seen performing non-specialized tasks, but Roe said he had continually received reports.

NextStar is a joint venture between global automaker Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, a South Korean battery giant. The project is receiving up to $15 billion in incentives over several years from the provincial and federal governments, in addition to $1 billion in investments.

NextStar says it has hired nearly 1,000 full-time local staff so far and more than 9,000 Canadian tradespeople have worked on the project, which is nearly complete.

"Unfortunately, there is an inaccurate and negative portrayal of non-Canadian resident workers who are needed to temporarily support the industrialization of the battery plant prior to its launch," the company said in a statement.

"These workers are hired temporarily by the suppliers to install proprietary equipment and are a requirement of warranty obligations," the statement said, noting those workers aren't included in the roughly 2,500 Canadian jobs the plant will create once ready.

"To ensure NextStar Energy's success as Canada's first large-scale EV battery manufacturing plant, the company must temporarily rely on specialized skill and experience to educate, install, test, validate and deploy the latest state-of-the-art and most advanced technologies available," the statement said. "This knowledge is being imported and transferred to the local workforce to allow the plant to flourish and compete in a globally fierce environment."

NextStar did not say how many foreign workers it or its subcontractors have used since the project broke ground in 2022. The company also said they "all have valid work visas," but didn't specify which type. South Koreans are eligible to work in Canada under a 2015 free trade agreement between the two countries, however.

The province says it's the federal government's responsibility to screen and admit workers to the country.

In a statement, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said its role "is to ensure that all workers are protected by the same workplace rights and standards."

"Our government takes all allegations of workplace violations seriously, and we will continue to work towards protecting workers in the province," it said.

The federal government did not respond to CBC's questions before publication.

A firestorm erupted over foreign workers at the plant in 2023, when NextStar said it would bring up to 900 people from overseas to help build it.

Facing criticism, NextStar's CEO said the "temporary specialized global supplier staff" had "proprietary knowledge and specialized expertise."

Vic Fedeli, Ontario's minister of economic development, said the temporary workers would come to Windsor to perform "highly specialized work."

The next year, then Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk, whose riding includes the plant, told a parliamentary committee that a few dozen Korean workers were there to "transfer knowledge." He said the federal government had also "made it very clear" to NextStar that it needed to use local skilled workers "wherever possible."

But Roe and Jack Mesley, president of the Ontario Erectors Association, said in an interview this week that they've repeatedly received photos and messages from their members on-site, notifying them that foreign workers were doing much more generalized work.

"There's no knowledge transfer to busting a wooden crate apart that came on a ship or came out of a container to get the piece of equipment out of it," Mesley said. "There's no knowledge transfer in running the forklift unless it was our Canadians telling the Koreans how to do it."

They said they've also been told foreign workers were seen doing certified trade work — something people in Windsor-Essex, a manufacturing and automotive hub, are qualified to do. "Cutting and welding pipe, electrical vaults," Mesley said.

Roe said he represents 1,100 ironworkers in southwestern Ontario and more than 4,000 workers as head of the Essex and Kent Building Trades Council.

Mesley said he represents about 250 unionized contractors in the steel and construction industry.

One of those contractors is Sylvan Canada, which is engaged in a $45-million legal fight over its removal from the project earlier this summer and alleged non-payment.

Eric Farron, the company's vice-president of operations, said they received "several complaints and feedback" from their staff on-site about foreign workers performing non-specialized tasks, "such as moving items around."

"I understand specialized equipment and there's certainly a need for specialized technicians to work on these things," he said. "I think that definition has likely been overstated and I think there's plenty of opportunity that more Canadians could have contributed to the construction and to the factory automation at that site."

Court records from other cases show NextStar has retained several South Korea-based firms to handle different parts of the project.

Farron, who has previously reached out to local elected officials to try to relay his concerns about the contractual disputes, has now contacted both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

In a Sept. 5 email, Farron wrote that foreign workers were "performing tasks outside of their agreed scope, displacing Ontario workers." He also said Canadian companies were "being financially injured," referencing Sylvan and other companies' payment disputes.

Farron said he has not received a reply, other than an automatic response from Ford's office. But he said he's hopeful, based on Poilievre's recent comments on foreign workers, that he'll hear from the Conservative leader.

"At the end of the day, what we want to do is get all the interested stakeholders together and solve this problem," Farron said. "Our issue has been getting an audience to do so and also getting our Canadian support to help facilitate that."

Neither Ford's nor Poilievre's office responded to a request for comment.

Farron said he believes the recent raid by U.S. immigration authorities that swept up hundreds of South Korean nationals at a similar LG battery plant project in Georgia will "be a catalyst to create some interest" in the local project, though."

"It shows a pattern of behaviour," he said. "I think it's important, from an accountability perspective, that we look at these things and if we verify there's no problem here, that's great, but let's look at it."

Roe said he's met with government officials "several times" in the last year and a half and has also met with NextStar directly to urge it to use more Canadian workers.

"It's frustrating on my end when I've got members of any affiliate at home on unemployment insurance and there's a foreign worker in there doing the same tasks, the same job, the same trade as that member sitting at home on EI," Roe said.

"In his town!" Mesley added.

Roe said he expects that officials will say the number of foreign workers was low.

"If it's one, it's too many for me," he said.