By Doug Nesbitt Three notable labour policy changes were made in the first week of April, 2022: April 4: The federal government announced a significant loosening of Temporary Foreign Worker restrictionsApril 6: British Columbia’s government announced Bill 10 to deliver “card check” or single-step union certificationApril 7: Ontario’s government Bill 88 became law, imposing sub-minimum Continue readingLabour laws in Canada do the Backwards Shuffle
Temporary Foreign Workers
Broadcast date: April 7, 2019. Hosted by Emily Leedham. Today on the show, Marco Luciano, director of Migrante Alberta. Migrante is fundraising for a workers centre, where migrants can connect to resources, each other,and organize. We’ll talk about Migrante’s new Fort MacMurray chapter, the U.N migration compact and Jason Kenney’s changes to the temporary foreign Continue readingMigrante Alberta is fundraising for a workers’ centre
By Haseena Manek The Human Rights Council of Ontario has ruled that the applications made by two of 54 current and former participants of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program regarding racial profiling in Elgin County were in ‘good faith’. The legal representatives for the respondent in the case, the Ontario Provincial Police, called for the Continue readingMigrant workers score victory against racial profiling and coercion of DNA by police
By Bob Barnetson A new study of media representations of migrant workers was recently published in the journal International Migration. “Putting “Canadians First”: Problematizing the Crisis of “Foreign” Workers in Canadian Media and Policy Responses” examines how Canadian newspapers covered migrant workers during a so-called crisis in 2014 (that resulted in a moratorium on migrant Continue readingThe media and migrant workers
By Bob Barnetson Over time, Canada has seen a large increase in the number of temporary migrant workers. In 1996, there were ~53,000 temporary workers in Canada. This number increased to ~310,000 in 2015 (green line). There are several program streams under which temporary workers can come to Canada. Broadly speaking, these fall into two Continue readingHow temporary are temporary workers?
By Gerard Di Trolio On February 10 at the IBEW Local 353 offices, the Tamil Workers Network held a community forum on workers’ rights. The forum’s goal was to reach out to the Tamil community in Toronto and let them know how their rights at work are changing because of Bill 148 and involved speakers Continue readingTamil Workers Network raising its community profile
By Samantha Ponting The Trudeau government has recently cancelled a path to permanent residency for many caregivers, without any consultation with workers participating in Canada’s caregiver program. A new announcement posted on the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada website states: These 5-year pilot programs [Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs] Continue readingTrudeau government creates roadblocks for caregivers
By Daniel Tseghay On April 7th, Rising Up Against Unjust Recruitment, a coalition of organizations and individuals in British Columbia who are concerned about the mistreatment of temporary foreign workers (TFWs), delivered an open letter to the office of Shirley Bond, BC’s Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training in Victoria. The coalition has yet Continue readingRising Up Against Unjust Recruitment delivers a petition to BC minister
By Daniel Tseghay On January 20th, migrant agricultural workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) working at Floralia Plant Growers Ltd. in Abbotsford, BC achieved an important victory. The B.C. Labour Relations Board ruled that Floralia broke labour laws by impeding the ability of migrant workers who are known to be union supporters to Continue readingMigrant farm workers achieve an important victory at Floralia
By Daniel Tseghay On December 16th, the Rising Up Against Unjust Recruitment coalition launched their campaign to highlight the mistreatment of migrant workers at the hands of third-party recruiters and a BC government that fails to enact policies to protect them. Members of the coalition point out that charging people money to find a job Continue readingRising up against unjust recruitment in B.C.
By CJ Chanco “Expel the barbarians!” a lone man shouts as a group of picketers turn a corner around Laurier Avenue. “Hey, hey, hey white supremacists out now,” they yell back. Slowly the ranks of the protesters grow, as passers-by look on in curiosity and representatives from a number of national union offices join them. Continue readingSolidarity, uncertainty and hope as Harvesting Freedom reaches Ottawa
By CJ Chanco Sunday mornings at the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto usually start off quiet, but transform by mid-morning into a hive of activity, where middlemen, food exporters, and supermarket chains reap huge profits off the under-priced produce handpicked by over forty thousand workers across the province. This past Sunday, was a little different, Continue readingPicking apart the produce of injustice