UPDATE: Canadian ironworkers to be re-hired after being replaced by temporary foreign workers

EDMONTON – A Calgary-based company says it will give 65 Canadian ironworkers their jobs back, days after they were laid off.

Labour groups claimed Pacer Promec Joint Venture (PPJV) laid off the Alberta oilpatch workers in order to bring in temporary foreign workers at half the cost.

Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) president Gil McGowan said the employees were immediately dismissed Tuesday and replaced with workers from Croatia.

“They called the guys into an office, told them that they were gone, and they literally walked past the replacements on the way out,” McGowan said.

“Twelve o’clock came around, the lawyers and management came into the lunchroom said ‘okay guys, you’re done. Bye. See ya,'” one of the laid-off employees, who has asked to remain anonymous, told Global News Friday.

Late Friday afternoon, though, Calgary-based PPJV issued a media release stating the employees would be re-hired and the temporary foreign workers would be used to fill positions where there is a shortage.

“On behalf of PPJV, I regret that our actions, which we believe are consistent with the legislation, led to the current controversy,” said Paolo Cattelan, managing partner for the PPJV. “These temporary workers should have been assigned to other projects where there is an existing labour shortage.”

Ottawa brought in new regulations in December to calm fears that foreigners were snatching jobs from Canadians, allowing officials to conduct workplace inspections without warrants and blacklist employers who break the rules.

READ MORE: Ottawa cracks down on temporary foreign workers

The AFL says, despite the changes, the program is being exploited and the government isn’t doing enough to stop it.

“The real problem is with the rules themselves, which are written by the Harper government,” McGowan said. “This is a classic case of the fox saying that he’s going to guard the hen house. This is the guy who put the system in place that employees are now using to give preference to temporary foreign workers over Canadians.”

A spokesperson with Employment Minister Jason Kenney’s office said the federal government will continue to investigate the incident.

“Departmental officials will continue to review this matter. Our Government will not tolerate any abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Those who are found to have violated the rules of Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be added to a blacklist and denied the ability to hire temporary foreign workers in the future. Canadians must be first in line for available jobs,” Kenney’s director of communications, Nick Koolsbergen said in an emailed statement Friday.

PPJV says it will fully cooperate with the federal government.

With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News and The Canadian Press.

This story was originally published on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014. It was updated Friday at 4:20 p.m. to include the information about the workers getting their jobs back.