Posted: Tuesday, 13 April 2010

In March 2010, nine migrant workers were arrested and detained for suspected violations of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) affiliate, the United Food and Commercial Workers, who operate agricultural centres across the country and support migrant workers reported that nine Thai nationals brought to Canada under the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program were arrested near the Sarnia agriculture operation where they were employed and taken to a Toronto detention centre.

Temporary Foreign Workers are typically granted a two-year work permit but an underground system of job brokers tied into the farm industry directs these workers to continue to work "under the table" after their visas expire.

Labour leader, Wayne Hanley said, “This is the latest example that both the Harper government and the farm industry are both complicit in a system designed to exploit foreign workers and dispose of them.”

The CLC has long pointed out that the deeply flawed federal program encourages farmers to import migrant workers specifically because these workers are granted next to no status and are under the radar when it comes to workplace protections.

Karl Flecker, National Director, CLC Anti-Racism and Human Rights department pointed out: "This government is unabashedly proud this program is employer driven." Meanwhile, the Auditor General just last year pointedly stated, "there has been no systematic follow-up by the government departments responsible for this program to verify that employers are complying with the terms and conditions under which their applications were approved, such as wages to be paid, and accommodations to be provided."

The round up of these workers and their pending deportation illustrates how the TFW program allows unscrupulous employers to dispose of workers no longer needed. "What's really being violated here is the human rights of these workers," says Hanley.

The Canadian labour movement maintains the TFW program deliberately shortchanges these workers of permanent status and enables nothing less than human trafficking.

Hanley notes that, "While dozens of workers have been arrested over the past year, not one agriculture operation or job broker has yet to be convicted of breaking the rules when it comes to hiring these workers and paying them under the table."

The CLC calls on the federal government to stop the terror tactics of rounding up and deporting vulnerable migrant workers and instead put in place long overdue and much needed comprehensive compliance, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms that target unscrupulous labour brokers and employers.