Posted: Jul. 3, 2024 5:03PMThe City of Port Alberni says the provincial and federal governments are looking into a complaint about the mistreatment of temporary foreign workers who were recruited to work at a company in the community.
“Unfortunately, I think what started this is just a labour dispute, and it’s grown legs from there,” he said. “Where they lived was so poor, like worse than animals to me,” she told CHEK News on Wednesday. “They lived in a rotten trailer, and they had no water.”“In the winter people are told to keep the water running so it doesn’t freeze,” said Bortolin. “The workers came home from work one day, the fellow that was supposed to make sure the water was turned on had fallen asleep, the line had frozen. Yep that did happen.
The company says it received no complaints about living conditions in the accommodations from workers, but an issue did arise when a landlord went to check on the building. In a statement, Johns told CHEK News that, due to privacy reasons, “I cannot comment further on this matter except to say that my office is doing everything we can to help.”