8月8日，新民主党强烈否认其招聘广告上给旁遮普语竞选员工比英语员工低$4薪酬，是他们自己的责任。“那不是我们的广告。”新民主党发言人Glen Sanford指出，“我们没有外包招聘服务。我们直接自己招聘员工。”(2015年8月8日，《省报》)
8月10日，唐民凯被问及此丑闻时也反覆否认。可今天，在同一份声明中，他却指责一个承包商。
“我们党没有张贴过那则广告。新民主党给所有打电话的员工同样的薪酬，每小时$17。对于英语、法语、旁遮普语以及其他任何语言的员工都一样！这显然是被外包商雇用的一个公司。他们给所有员工$13的时薪，英语、法语、旁遮普语以及其他任何语言。那是他们给的工资。我们的工资是每小时$17。这个公司没有任何权力使用新民主党的名义。”(2015年8月10日，唐民凯)
这回应记者之后不久，新民主党国会议员Jinny Sims将责任推卸给Stratcom，新民主党外包帮助他们招聘的公司。“让我来澄清一下媒体关于安省电话竞选招聘启事的报道。新民主党外包给一个叫Stratcom的公司，而它又再外包给一个就业中介，招聘了两名拉票人员。”(2015年8月10日，Jinny Sims)
尽管唐民凯在24小时前断言所有新民主党的员工至少有每小时$17的工资，但是在8月11日新民主党招聘法语员工启事出台，时薪为$15。
“然而根据新民主党网页的缓存页面，该党的广告仍然提供时薪$15招聘法语竞选员工–比提供给英语拉票人员的薪资低$2。”(2015年8月11日，《Huffington邮报》)
唐民凯仍然没有回答的3个问题：
1. 为何新民主党支付不同的工资？这不仅是道德问题，还违反了《加拿大劳工法》。
2. 当被质问工资差别时，为何新民主党不说实话？
3. 在这丑闻中，新民主党是否已开除了涉案的Stratcom公司？如果没有，为什么还不开除？
NDP misleads on its own employment practices
On August 8, the NDP strongly denied responsibility for an ad offering to pay Punjabi-speaking campaign workers four dollars less per hour than their Englishspeaking co-workers.
“This is not our ad,” said NDP spokesperson Glen Sanford. “We don’t sub-contract employment services. We recruit our own staff directly.” (The Province, August 8, 2015)
On August 10, Mulcair was asked about the controversy and reiterated the denial. But now, in the same statement, he blames a subcontractor.
“Our party did not post that ad. The NDP pays all callers the same amount, which is $17 an hour. English, French, Punjabi or any other language! This apparently was a company hired by a subcontractor, which in turn pays all of its callers $13 an hour, French, English, Punjabi or any other language. That was their rate. We pay $17 an hour. That’s our rate. This company had no permission whatsoever to use the NDP’s name.” (Thomas Mulcair, August 10, 2015)
Shortly after that scrum, NDP MP Jinny Sims blamed the controversy on Stratcom, the company contracted by the NDP to do the hiring.
“As for media coverage about a job posting that appeared for a phone project in Ontario, let me clear the air. The NDP contracted with a company called Stratcom, who in turn subcontracted with a job agency to recruit two [canvassers].” (Jinny Sims, August 10, 2015)
On August 11, a NDP job posting for French speaking workers emerged, advertising a position that paid $15 an hour, despite Mulcair’s assertion just 24 hours earlier that all NDP employees are paid at least $17 an hour.
“But according to a cached page on the NDP website, the party was still advertising a job offering $15 per hour last week for French-speaking campaign workers — two dollars less than the rate being offered to English-speaking canvassers.” (Huffington Post, August 11, 2015)
Three questions Mr. Mulcair still has not answered:
1.Why was the NDP paying people different wages? Not only is this ethically problematic, it contravenes Canadian labour laws.
2.Why did the NDP not tell the truth when confronted with these disparities?
3.Has the NDP fired Stratcom for their involvement in this scandal? If not, why?
