CED

August 2014

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Industry Beat 14 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | August 2014 Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, State Senator Dale Schultz, and four members of the Wisconsin State Assembly attended the 40th anniversary celebration for LOWE Manufacturing Company on Monday, July 7. Also in attendance were representatives from Richland County, the Town of Sylvan, Kickapoo Schools, UW-Richland Founda- tion, and local workforce development officials. LOWE was presented with a special Citation by the Assembly as well as a Certificate of Commendation and a Special Proclamation by the Governor, which declared: "NOW, THEREFORE, I, Scott Walker, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, do hereby proclaim Monday, July 7, 2014, as LOWE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC. DAY throughout the State of Wisconsin and I commend this observance to all of our citizens." The award noted LOWE's achievements of continuing to be a family-owned and highly regarded manufacturer of equipment attachments that competes successfully against major worldwide competition. LOWE was also commended for how well it recovered from a major fire in April 2001, building a new fully operational facility in Western Richland County in less than six months. "We greatly appreciate the time and attention given to us by Lt. Governor Kleefisch, Senator Schultz, Representatives Travis Tranel, Lee Nerison, Ed Brooks, and Howard Marklein in attending our special event" said company President Richard Lowe. "The last few years we have seen a great improvement in the attitude and behavior of the state government. This has given us a far better comfort level in our decisions to increase our facility size and expand the workforce in our local area." Richard Lowe also noted how important the employees of LOWE Manufacturing and its Spiral Metals subsidiary have been in the overall success of the company. "I remember quite a number of them doing things on their personal time to help the company recover from the chal- lenge resulting from our fire. You just don't forget that." Lowe also noted the long-term employment experience the company enjoys. "Until we started to hire more people in the last few months, our average time of employment was somewhere around 18 years." For more information about LOWE, visit www.loweman. com or e-mail: lowe@loweman.com. Lt. Governor, State Lawmakers Attend LOWE 40-Year Celebration Canada Overhauls Temporary Foreign Worker Program The Honorable Jason Kenney, minister of Employment and Social Development, and Chris Alexander, minister of Citizenship and Immigration, recently announced a comprehensive overhaul of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). These reforms are designed to ensure the TFWP is only used as a last and limited resort to fill acute labor shortages on a temporary basis when qualified Canadians are not available. By limiting access to the program, tightening the labor market assessment and implementing stronger enforcement with tougher penalties for employers who break the rules, busi- nesses will have to make greater efforts to recruit and train Canadians for available jobs, including increasing wages. The current TFWP is being reorganized and new International Mobility Programs (IMPs) are being created. The TFWP will now refer to those streams under which foreign workers enter Canada at the request of employers following approval through a new Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). The new IMPs will incorporate those streams in which foreign nationals are not subject to an LMIA, and whose primary objective is to advance Canada's broad economic and cultural national interest, rather than filling particular jobs. These reorganized programs will improve accountability, with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) being the lead department for the TFWP, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) the lead department for the IMPs. In addition, ESDC will publicly post data on the number of positions for temporary foreign workers approved through the TFWP on a quarterly basis, and will post the names of corporations that receive permission to hire temporary foreign workers through LMIAs. Line Porfon, vice president of Government Relations for Merit Contractors Association expressed concern about the new policy. "In order to continue to build our province and sustain our future, employers must have the tools to address the demand for skilled workers. The massive changes to the TFWP will make it that much harder to bring in qualified workers to a province with very low unemployment in the construction industry," said Porfon. Richard and Mary Lowe (center) enjoy a moment surrounded by Wisconsin state elected officials, including Lt. Governor Kleefisch, left of Richard.

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