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Thread! for those who are curious to know about migrant workers inhumane & unsafe living & working conditions that have been exacerbated during #COVID19, resulting in farms outbreaks, more than 500 migrant workers tested positive & 3 deaths, read this thread! (1/13)
Migrant workers come to Canada through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). This program was first introduced by the Pearson government in 1966 in an attempt to respond to the labour shortage in the agriculture sector. (2/13)
Since then, the program mostly attracted workers from Jamaica & Mexico. Some have described this program as a revolving door, only accepting these workers when farms need them, then sending them back to their countries. (3/13)
These workers can stay for up to 8 months in Canada under this program & can return to work every year. There have been migrant workers who worked in Canada for decades, contributed to the economy, and yet denied access to permeant residency status and other rights. (4/13)
Migrant workers experience racism, exploitation & are forced to work under unsafe conditions. They fear reporting abusive employer behaviours, other health & safety issues in the workplace & live with the fear of deportation or being barred from the program. (5/13)
This program gives employers an absolute power & control over workers lives, this wouldn't happen in any other workplaces. No body should endure & face these injustices. Here r some of the challenges faced by these workers according to Justice for migrant workers website (6/13)
Working 12-15 hours without overtime or holiday pay, denied necessary breaks, use of dangerous chemicals/pesticides with no safety equipment/protection or training, being crammed into substandard housing with leaking sewage and inadequate washrooms. (7/13)
Acute pay discrimination between migrant & non-migrant workforce, unfair paycheck deductions such as EI and other services which they have little or no access to, inadequate health attention and services, barriers to essential services due to language and location. (8/13)
exclusion from basic human rights legislation like Health & Safety Legislation & most aspects of the Employment Standards Act, prohibited from collective bargaining & joining unions, inadequate representation in policy making & contract disputes, lack of basic ESL training (9/13)
Lack of appeal process when employers repatriate workers to home country. See full list here http://www.justicia4migrantworkers.org/bc/pdf/sawp.pdf This has blown my mind. Racism is alive & well in Canada. To make things worse, these workers were pushed further into precarity during the pandemic (10/13)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/migrant-workers-farm-deaths-report-1.5602596
Hundreds of migrant workers tested positive to #COVID19 thousands others are at risk & 3 have died already. What should we wait for? more deaths? instead of saying thank you to these workers, we send them back to their families in body bags!! (11/13)
Hundreds of migrant workers tested positive to #COVID19 thousands others are at risk & 3 have died already. What should we wait for? more deaths? instead of saying thank you to these workers, we send them back to their families in body bags!! (11/13)
RIP Bonifacio Eugenio Romero, 31 years old married & from Mexico. His wife described him as "a man of values, humble, responsible, empathetic, generous, and a person full of patience & trust in others". RIP Rogelio Munoz Santos, 24 years old from Mexico. (12/13)
RIP Juan Lopez Chaparro, 55 years old from Mexico & a father to 4 children. After all this, isn't it time for Canada to grant these workers permanent residency status upon arrival and protect them and their rights? #statusforall
