An interview with Marco Luciano
By Andrew Stevens
Marco Luciano spoke with RankandFile.ca about the Alberta chapter of Migrante, an international migrant worker justice organization that he helped to establish in 2008. Marco also discussed the implications of the recently announced changes to the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), and what the reforms will mean for migrant workers in Canada. In April, the federal government placed a moratorium on the TFWP for the food service and accommodation industry following a wave of allegations that businesses were replacing Canadians with foreign workers. Accordingly, the moniker for the package of subsequent changes has become “Putting Canadians First.” Both the business lobby, led by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), and organized labour have dominated the public discourse regarding the need to overhaul current practices that govern the Program. Left out of the discussion are the foreign workers themselves.
In our interview, Marco identifies the importance of recognizing the role that migrant workers play in the Canadian economy and the direction that policy and solidarity needs to be going across the country.
[audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Marco_interview_TFW.mp3|titles= An interview with Marco Luciano]A transcription of the interview can be found here.