• Français
FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagram
Find Your Local Union
Subscribe to E-news
 
Login
Contact

UFCW Canada - Union Logo

Canada's Private Sector Union

  • About Our Union
  • Media & News
  • Resources
  • Issues
  • Action Centre
  • Join the Union

Directions Newsletter

UFCW Canada, international allies call on Mexican and Canadian governments to protect migrant farm workers’ rights

  • Print
  • Email
fShare
Tweet

UFCW Canada, international allies call on Mexican and Canadian governments to protect migrant farm workers’ rights Mexico City, Mexico – November 20, 2015 – UFCW Canada and international community allies INILAB, INEDIM, and the Global Workers Justice Alliance recently held a joint press conference in Mexico City announcing the release of the UFCW Canada / AWA report on The Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada 2015.

The report highlights cases of discrimination, exploitation, and abuse of migrant farm workers while in Canada and points out the failure of Mexican and Canadian authorities to better protect migrant workers who come to Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). The new report also reveals that despite the vital contribution that migrant workers make to the Canadian and Mexican economies, the workers’ access to health care, labour protections, and social benefits continue to be denied by both countries.

"Despite Canada and Mexico pointing to SAWP as a model program that protects the rights of migrant workers, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program fails in that role. Instead, SAWP perpetuates a culture of fear and extreme precariousness with workers bound to single employers who can repatriate them at any time without cause," says UFCW Canada National President Paul Meinema.

In most jurisdictions across the country, migrant agriculture workers are also restricted from the fullest protection of provincial employment standards and health and safety regulations. As the new report details, the result is that Canada's migrant agriculture workers are faced with conditions where exploitation and abuse are all too common. Migrant and temporary agriculture programs in Canada are regulated by the federal government, do not provide a pathway to permanent resident status, and typically tie a worker to one employer with no option to seek another if there is a workplace problem.

"There is a global tendency to use these strategies as 'good practices' when they are actually are a mechanism to block access to citizenship, and limit the portability of human and labour rights," says Fabienne Venet, head director of Instituto de Estudios Y Divulgación Sobre Migración (INEDIM), one of the many international migrant worker organizations who were on hand for the press conference.

A digital copy of The Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada 2015 report can be accessed here.

  • Media & News
    • News
      • All News
      • Agriculture
      • By the Numbers
      • Campaigns
      • Directions Newsletter
      • Infographics
      • Politics
      • Social Justice
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Young Workers
      • Health & Safety
    • Media
    • Action Calendar
    • Subscribe to E-news
  • Join the Union
  • Application for Membership
  • About Our Union
    • About Our Union
      • Find Your Local Union
      • National President
      • National Council
      • Constitution
      • Union History
      • Mission Statement
      • Annual Reports
      • Join UFCW Canada
  • Media & News
    • Media & News
      • News
      • Media
      • Action Calendar
      • Subscribe to E-news
  • Resources
    • Resources
      • Union Training & Scholarships
      • Health & Safety
      • The National Defence Fund
      • Member Discounts
      • Great Canadian Food Products
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Leukemia Fundraising
      • Political Action
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Social Justice
      • The Union for Agriculture Workers
      • UFCW Pride – Union Pride!
      • Young Workers
      • Food Justice
      • Global Solidarity
      • Uber Drivers United
      • Conscious Cannabis
  • Action Centre
    • Action Centre
      • Tell leading grocery giants across Canada to protect workers and ditch toxic receipts
      • Affordable Child Care for All
      • Support good union jobs at The Beer Store
      • Tell Mama Earth Organics to respect workers’ rights!
      • National Food Policy needs Food Workers!
      • End Discrimination Against First Nations Children NOW!
      • Paid Leave for Survivors of Domestic Violence NOW!
      • Help close the Gender Wage Gap today
      • Stop Cargill’s union-busting in Turkey
  • Join the Union
    • Join the Union
      • Why UFCW Canada
      • Union Advantage
      • Union Facts
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Workplaces We Represent
      • How to Join a Union
      • Join Now

Login

FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagram

Copyright © 2019 UFCW Canada. All Rights Reserved
United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada's private sector union