Hi All,
The phone number you are all talking about (1-514-787-1710) belongs to a company named F.M.A. Congresses (aka FMA Congresses and FMA International). “FMA” stands for “Future Management Alliance” for whatever reason. I am a former employee (and I got a lot of problems with them!) and the boss was always insisting for us not to specify the meaning of these 3 letters as obviously, they meant nothing logical! Actually, I have even been told to mention that “FMA” rather means “Facility Management Alliance” once again for whatever reason. On their Website at http://www.fmaintl.com/, “FMA” apparently stands for “Facility Management Conference”. Bottom line is nobody even in the company seems to agree on what FMA stands for!
FMA Congresses is a small company based in Montreal, Quebec, doing aggressive telemarketing (i.e. “cold calls”). Their address is the following: 1751 rue Richardson – Suite 8100, Montreal (Quebec), Canada, H3K 1G6.
FMA Congresses President and owner is named Joseph John Piazza (work phone extension #2307). His work cellphone number is 514-396-9471 (http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release ... gress-86504.php).
His personal cellphone number is 514-808-5408 (http://www.facebook.com/events/227451737265811/). His personal fix phone number is 450-505-1006 (http://www.canada411.ca/search/?stype=re&what=%28450%29+505-1006&x=27&y=11). His other fix work phone number (still valid) is (450) 687-6545 (http://canada411.yellowpages.ca/search/re/1/4506876545/-).
His email addresses are
[email protected] and
[email protected] (http://www.jobs-montreal.ca/job/1682/phone-sa ... uman-resources/ and http://www.fmaintl.com/em/FMA_newsletter_Q4_2010.html). His linkedin account is available at http://www.linkedin.com/in/fmacongresses
You can see some photos of him online before and after he registered to a special training program at http://issuu.com/josephjpiazza/docs/detox_joe_poster_12x18__2_ He studied at Concordia University in Montreal; he graduated from High school in 1996.
The address he gave for the registration of FMA Congresses is the following : 104-1445 boul. Le Corbusier Laval (Québec), Canada, H7N 6L1. However, his personal address is rather 4345 ch. du Souvenir Laval (Quebec), Canada, H7W1B8, to which he also registered another company: Ultra Micro Inc. (http://www.ultra-micro.com/who_we_are.html and http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/srch/nvgt.d ... d=1461&app=sold).
This information is public and can be found on the Web on the site of the Registraire des Entreprises du Québec (REQ) : http://www.registreentreprises.gouv.qc.ca/en/ Once on the REQ Website, simply click on “find an enterprise” on the right side and a window will open; then type “FMA Congresses” and bingo!
The Numéro d’Entreprise du Québec (Company Registration Number) of F.M.A. Congresses is 1164288012 although they seemed to have tried to create a second company named FMA Congresses (without the dots between the letter) with NEQ # 1165933657. I let you all guess their purpose…
The Numéro d’Entreprise du Québec (Company Registration Number) of Ultra Micro inc is 1145759727.
In a nutshell, FMA Congresses tries to sell at high prices (5000$ – 25 000$) to vendors (part/machinery suppliers) the possibility to participate in a so-called congress to which a lot of big companies would participate and eventually [perhaps] sign big supply contracts (1 single P.O. could apparently cover these high participation fees).
The working conditions are quite bad to stay polite; most of the employees work no more than a month and then leave because they have not been fully paid what they are owed or simply because they are fed-up of their job duties. For the most part, the company is not even paying the minimum salary required by law. Some of the employees have even been fired because their “results” were insufficient. Indeed, the President of FMA Congresses pays commissions based on the number of president and vice-president cellphone numbers employees can collect, which explains why some of them insist beyond what is considered acceptable. Employees are not to be blamed; the company policies are.
If you are a former employee of FMA Congresses who has been deceived or if you are a potential client who has been harassed over the last 2-3 years, you are not helpless. As a matter of fact, the Quebec law are quite efficient to fight bad employers; all you have to do is to write down the facts and submit official complaints to the appropriate legal bodies.
I have heard from the Commission des Normes du Travail (CNT – Labour Standards Commission) that complaints had already been submitted against FMA Congresses in the last months/years, so please do so if you feel you have been mistreated in any way such as :
- Hourly salary below minimum required by law (see http://www.cnt.gouv.qc.ca/en/wages-pay-and-work/wages/index.html As of May 1st 2012, the minimum salary per hour should be 9,90$ even if you receive commissions)
- Fired without cause (for instance, because you stood for your rights. See : http://www.educaloi.qc.ca/loi/travailleurs/326/)
- Laid off or fired without any notice (their work contract stipulates that after the 1 month probation period, both the employer and the employee must give to each other a 1 week notice. If it wasn’t the case, the employer must pay you those 5 working days)
- Non-payment of your vacation pay (4% of all your earnings must be paid by the employer in Quebec regardless of the cause for your layoff)
- Non-payment of any Holiday (Easter, Christmas, etc.)
- Non-payment of coffee-breaks (in Quebec, coffee breaks “imposed” by the employer must be paid. See http://www.aubasdelechelle.ca/vos-droits-au-t ... vail.html#repas)
- Worked hours not paid
- Over-penalised for being late at work (in Quebec, if you are 15 minutes late, the employee can only subtract 15 minutes from your pay, not 30 minutes nor 1 hour)
- Spam and employment of any unfair trade practices
In case the employer did breach the law (minimum salary, etc.), the best is to make an official complaint to the Commission des norms du travail. There is a form online and submitting a complaint is entirely free. However, it must be done pretty quick (45 days usually) upon commission of the infraction. More details at http://www.cnt.gouv.qc.ca/en/on-line-services ... html?no_cache=1
The Law itself is available online. It is not that long/complicated to read. See at http://www.canlii.org/fr/qc/legis/lois/lrq-c-n-1.1/derniere/
For a better understanding of the law, see http://www.cnt.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/pdf/publications/c_0149.pdf
In case the employer did not respect your work contract, the best is to sue him at the Small Claims Court. There is a form online and you can sue the employer for up to 7000$. More details at http://www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/english/publications/generale/creance-a.htm
The cost of a claim at the Small Claims varies from 71$ to 163$. See http://www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/francais/public ... Anchor-Creances
To learn more about the process, read here : http://www.educaloi.qc.ca/cotecour/cour_quebe ... ces/procedures/
You should fight for your rights regardless of your status in Canada: citizen, permanent resident or temporary worker/student.
Good luck and do not forget: IF YOU DO NOT STAND FOR YOUR RIGHTS, NOBODY WILL!