RBC replaces Canadian staff with foreign workers, CBC, April 6, 2013
“Dozens of employees at Canada’s largest bank are losing their jobs to temporary foreign workers, who are in Canada to take over the work of their department.
” ‘They are being brought in from India, and I am wondering how they got work visas,’ said Dave Moreau, one of the employees affected by the move. ‘The new people are in our offices and we are training them to do our jobs. That adds insult to injury.’ …”
If this style of business offends you and you are a customer of RBC, visit Vancity or a nearby credit union. They’ll help you transfer your banking business and a year from now, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it long ago. You’ll get better banking services and the community will benefit economically.
Categories: Ethics
IN-SIGHTS 
Thanks for sharing this and I too am disgusted by this practice. All the banks do this and I have friends that are VP's of a bank – they have no employees and their sole job is outsourcing. RBC should be ashamed for playing the game, it's not me, it's iGate that is outsourcing. They know fully well what is going on. I wish there was a list of better options (like Credit Unions) to help find a new place to do business.
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Tell Anonoymous 11:56 I'm in for the choir….I'm all practiced up singing by recently changing from CIBC due to their less than ethical role in the BC Rail giveaway and their role in supporting AltaGas as corporate owners of IPP's in BC. I personally chose Coast Capital, they seemed to be the one of the least offensive with regard to unbalanced political involvement and have been very accommodating….I am sure many other credit unions are as well…..besides…. I've been told I have an uncanny resemblance to the monster in their TV ads.
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RBC=Blood sucker!
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I have not banked with RBC in a long time as i use a credit union, but lets be real this has been going on for so long its not just the banks like what about all the corner stores and all the fast food places. Im a proud canadian born and raised here and im sorry but this country looks less and less like canada all the time we are basically pimping out our homeland to other countries to make the rich people more rich. We all need to stand together for a cause or else nothing changes i hate to say it but the USA actually fights for there beliefs while people in canada complain and sit on there ass about it. So if we REALLY wanna make a difference then lets get the ball rolling and make something happen. Cause if you want something done you have to actually make an effort. We need a common person to get into government and fight for the working guy.
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You 100% right.Let they maintain my $10.
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I will send you an email sometime this week with some details. Much more to this story than what has hit the news.
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Have had an account at Coast Capital for a few years and now we're opening another at Van City next week to which we'll move our RBC accounts. Was going to do it anyway so this is just gives us a good reason to get it done sooner.
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The whole country is going too sh*t since Harper got power ! If we had money in RBC it would be coming out.If they are doing this my guess is other banks are too. Just haven't got caught yet. Anyway we will be moving all are money to a credit union. Getting sick of hearing about all the big banks profits in these hard times. GREED
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Well Said. Wake Up Canada.
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People need to speak up and react. There are so many things that people don't pay attention to. Some people are too busy wasting time on twitter etc over”stupid issues” like what star is drinking what beverage at the coffee shop, when real things are going on like this. I first heard this story on the Roy Green Show on CKNW yesterday, and started hunting for more info.
$10.25 in today's market in BC is minimum wage, and this isn't 20 years ago where $10.25 was a good wage (when min wage was about $4.50 an hour) and all the prices were lowere too. Alot of the people who think these low wages are fine, are the ones making 6 or 7 figures. Anyone who can relate to working or living on low wages gets it – they get you can`t survive.
There are educated people who can do these jobs in Canada, Canadian Born or immigrant thru proper channels. This is BS that RBC can do this. They will say they can`t find canadian workers who will do the work. Yah, probably trying to pay min wage – same wage you get for something much less demanding at a diff job like a fast food restaurant (no offense to fast food workers); you have to pay a reasonable wage for the marketplace. PEople should move their money out of RBC; they should run to a vancity which keeps canadians employed (BC). This is what free entrerprise is, so RBC should get a taste of their own tactics! I don`t bank at RBC and I`m telling anyone I can that does or doesnt bank there to think hard!
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I wanted to add something to an earlier comment: I live close to the border, and could go across and buy in the USA, but I dont because I understand the spinoff effect. If someone is going to protest this – the rbc thing – they should also put their money where their mouth is. There are people who work in canada themselves, but weekly run to the states to buy gas, groceries etc (instead of their local stores); assuming it makes sense (e.g not a 1 hour lineup eachway at border) they should be looking at what impact they are doing by not contributing tax dollars and dollars to the local economy. I know people who are “sitting pretty”, they are in good jobs and have all the toys and don't care about the local economy. They travel to the states more often than their local store, because they want to save a few dollars. They don't get that the job they might be eliminating is their own kids, their neighbours kids' job, or maybe their own. They are too “Dumb” to see the big picture and only care about themselves. Kind of like what RBC is doing – only care about themselves (the higher ups).
People need to look around and if you see the economy going to sH*t, then try and buy canadian, shop local (travel occassionally to states – thats fine), and realize that your roads, hospitals etc are paid for by buying here. if you dont want all the homeless on the street, buy here. there will always be some people who are homeless for various reasons, but if you want less troubled youth, support your economy so they need to hire people.
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It's not so simple. As consumers we vote whenever we spend our money. I won't buy from a distributor of imported products who believes that just because their operation is Canadian, they can charge 20% to 400% more. I bought a $60 diamond hole saw in the USA because the same piece was priced over $200 in Vancouver tool shops. I bought a garbage disposal unit in USA for $110 because the appliance store in Vancouver asked over $400. I buy Canadian when I can but it must make sense too. To do otherwise is foolish and allows those distributors and manufacturers to keep charging more simply because Canadian are willing to pay higher prices.
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Soooooooooo very glad to see that at least u don't let political partisanship cloud ur thinking like some people here.
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It will take a long time before the Liberal Party of Canada lives down Ad-Scam and other scandals and patronage embarrassments. There are too many of the same players still involved in the party or waiting on the sidelines to get re-involved. I don't believe that Liberals are dedicated to improving ethical behaviour in political life. Certainly the people in British Columbia who call themselves Liberals see ethics as bothersome details.
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Feds admit it approved request for foreign workers to replace RBC employees (Torstar News Service):
Critics said the exponential growth of migrant workers in Canada has become a trend than an exception.
“If their hand is caught dirty, they’d say it wasn’t me who signed the contract that ended up displacing Canadian workers who’re costing me too much,” said Karl Flecker of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Ottawa’s new policy last April to allow employers to pay foreign temp workers 15 per cent less than the prevailing wage simply offers an incentive for employers to replace Canadian workers with migrants, he added.
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Arleigh, check this out and see if it helps give you some ideas about what to do about how RBC handled your grandmother's estate:
http://www.seniorsatrisk.org/2013/03/institutions-named-and-shamed-for-elder-abuse-a-last-resort-of-ombudsman-media/
It's not just RBC, and not just banks. Our governments are up to their ears in the trough when it comes to getting their mitts on people's estate.
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Now I see the sleazy side of the 'to big to fail' banks in Canada. Well we can make those assholes fail allright.
I'm moving my money out of B of M to Coast Capital this next weekend.
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Everyone pulling out of RBC sounds good in theory, but if we all did that how many hundreds of tellers would be out of work as the result?
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What tools do consumers have when they disapprove of corporate behaviour? If 100 people leave, RBC would feel no effect and make no changes. If 100,000 customers departed, they would pay attention. If 1,000,000 customers withdrew, RBC would change their policies and begin to recall responsibilities to their own home communities. Jobs lost at RBC would result in jobs gained at other institutions. If those were banks or credit unions dedicated to the Living Wage program, local economies would be better off.
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