Burger King wants a manager for $48K. Experts say foreign workers aren’t the answer

A Toronto-area Burger King can't fill a manager position, raising questions about the pay it's offering — and whether the temporary foreign workers program is suppressing wages.

A job listing at a Toronto-area Burger King has prompted observers and experts to wonder whether the temporary foreign workers program is being used to avoid paying higher salaries to Canadians.

On Sept. 25, a Burger King in Mississauga, Ont., posted an opening for a restaurant manager position on the federal government’s online job bank.

The post drew criticism from some social media users, who noted that underneath the posting, a banner reads, “This employer has applied for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to hire a foreign worker to fill labour or skills shortages on a temporary basis.”

This means that the employer, unable to hire a domestic worker for the post, has requested permission from the federal government to open the position up to foreign workers.

A spokesperson for Burger King told Global News that the posting “is directly related to one or more open management positions in the Mississauga area that have not been filled for several months after advertising across employment platforms and not receiving any qualified candidates.”

The job comes with an annual salary offer of $48,000, which works out to be just under $25 an hour, with hours listed as “Day, Evening, Night, Weekend, Early Morning, Morning.”

Global News asked Burger King whether they considered raising the advertised salary to attract more people for the role before applying for a LMIA.

“The wage at which the job was posted is a competitive range amongst quick service restaurants in the Mississauga area, which is based on competitive data and the Franchisee’s experience in hiring in this market,” the spokesperson said in response.