Workshare is the exporting our high skilled jobs in the oil and gas sector to “High Value Cost Centers” overseas.

In the midst of a vexing downturn, the highly capable and trained workforce is being walloped further by large Engineering firms’ decision to workshare to reduce cost and be more competitive.

I understand a corporation's executive team only feel responsibility to themselves and will always act on that basis. But we have regulations governing everything from childcare, to smoking, to bike riding. If regulation is what is required to ensure executives keep Canadian jobs in Canada, then so be it. If there is another solution, I am all for it.

 I think of Ralph Klein and the way he would explain the Alberta Advantage. He argued for competitive royalties that would attract investment and projects and in turn would create jobs here in Alberta. This made a lot of sense to many at the time. However these ideals are no longer applicable in our current environment.

 Companies operating in Alberta and specifically the big 5 Engineering Firms who employ thousands of high skilled and educated Albertans are increasingly moving work to be completed overseas. These companies are driven by competition, demanding clients, and a sacred view of capitalism. The bottom line seems to be the one and only consideration. The more of that bottom line they get the better, regardless of what that means for anyone else. They are great advocates for themselves, but who advocates for us.

 Increasingly we are hearing of “workshare” as the new norm, and guaranteed 75% engineering overseas. Entire multibillion dollar Alberta projects that would have normally been designed procured and constructed in Alberta now being awarded to a South Korean firm (Suncor Fort Hills). This is great news for South Korea but what does it mean for us. We are the middle class, we pay the lion’s share of taxes and create countless spin off jobs that stimulate the economy. We are educated here, we have taken student loans and have paid them back, we have mortgages and are raising families here, we are fully invested in the Canadian dream. What happens when the vast majority of us are gone?

 Are we more expensive, and less competitive than some developing nations? Yes we are. But then again, what about the Alberta Advantage? Was the Alberta Advantage considered when we were determining how competitive we are? Oil companies get a deal here to create jobs here. If this is simply an out of date understanding, then perhaps it should be mandated. Culturally we will never be as competitive as the third world because we don’t live in the same dire circumstances. We live in one of the greatest countries on Earth, Canada, where we can enjoy our lives and still engage in meaningful work. We can have better a work/life balance because we are Canadian. Culturally and not just on paper, we believe in equality, equity, and have the highest regards for human rights. These are our values regardless of what the holy grail of capitalism says our values should be.

 If companies can get a deal on royalties because we want to be competitive and then those same companies turn around and get the cheapest engineering overseas because they can, then that seems like having your cake and eating it too. Ultimately, it’s not fair to Alberta or its people.

 In the beginning it was the foreign worker program. We somehow decided that we should import skilled foreign workers rather than train our own university graduates. In 2004 so many engineering students could not find meaningful engineering work. Yet in 2006 most of the engineering offices were filled with foreign engineering “specialists”. Because of Canada’s strong immigration traditions of inclusivity we accepted this and it seemed to work. I see those foreign workers as Albertans now they are part of our community, but every now and again I think of Alberta engineering graduates and where they end up. I also wonder what the future will hold for our community’s children. By sending our work overseas we are losing valuable skills and training that is pivotal to our workforce and future.

 I do believe in market forces, adaptability and reinvention. However we do need checks and balances to help us adapt to globalization and the new world realities. There are those who believe the world is not fair and emphatically state this at every opportunity. I assert we have a moral duty to make life as fair as we can. On this issue of exporting our jobs, I believe we can and must do better.

Please consider my words in moving forward with your plans. I wish you and us the best of luck in our uncertain future.

Respectfully,

Anonymous Engineer