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Proposed Ontario labour law extends to foreign workers

Ontario will bar employers from charging all temporary foreign workers recruitment fees, according to new legislation introduced Wednesday.

Yasir Naqvi, Ontario's labour minister, announced new legisation to protect vulnerable workers at the downtown Toronto YMCA Wednesday.

By:  Immigration reporter, Published on Wed Dec 04 2013

Ontario will bar employers from charging recruitment fees and seizing personal documents from all temporary foreign workers, says Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi.

However, advocates for migrant workers say the proposed labour legislation falls short by failing to establish a registry of employers and recruiters similar to Manitoba’s, and holding them accountable by contributing to a bond that would compensate abused workers.

The number of temporary foreign workers in Ontario has skyrocketed from 91,000 in 2008 to 120,000 in 2012, as in other provinces across Canada.

“This is a good first step, but more needs to be done to reach out to migrant workers,” said Tzazna Miranda of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

The extension of the protection to the growing rank of migrant workers is part of sweeping changes announced by Naqvi Wednesday morning to better protect vulnerable workers in Ontario, among them workers hired by temporary help agencies, unpaid co-op students and other unpaid learners.

“Our government is standing up for workers and increasing fairness for business with this bill. It’s about taking action to protect the most vulnerable workers and level the playing field for employers, who play by the rules,” Naqvi told a news conference.

The Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act will eliminate the $10,000 cap on the recovery of owed wages and increase the period of recovery from six and 12 months to two years for employees.

It will also make temporary help agencies and employers jointly liable for employment standard violations, which will help decrease the number of companies that hire individuals solely to work in unsafe conditions.

Deena Ladd of Toronto’s Workers’ Action Centre said these changes can strengthen the protection of workers’ rights.

She said the effectiveness of these new measures lies in the enforcement, and raising the province’s minimum wage from the current $10.25 to $14 will be the next step.

In 2009, Ontario introduced a law to ban recruitment agencies from charging fees on live-in caregivers. Yet, critics said foreign caregivers are still being charged recruitment fees to secure jobs in the province.

Migrant Workers respond to proposed Ontario law

Banning recruitment fees for all migrant workers; removing the arbitrary monetary cap on reclaiming unpaid wages and tougher penalties for employment standards violations announced today means that migrant workers gain a few more protections today, but comprehensive changes are still needed says the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), Canada’s largest migrant worker advocacy coalition.

Changes were also announced today for other workers in precarious jobs, see our member organization Workers Action Centre’s update on that here.

“After migrant workers exposed abuses by recruiters in 2009, we won protections for live-in caregivers but other migrant workers were unnecessarily excluded. Today after four years of migrant workers speaking out about their experiences, recruitment fees have finally been banned for all migrant workers.

Unfortunately over two-thirds of the caregivers we surveyed after the law came into effect in 2009 still paid fees. That’s because these protections rely on complaints and not proactive enforcement. For there to be meaningful protections, Ontario must follow provinces like Manitoba and implement employer and recruiter registration, licensing and regulation including joint and several financial liability.

Migrant workers are not inherently vulnerable, its provincial laws that exclude us from basic protections that make us so. Many migrant workers are women and racialized people who are being denied immigration status by the Federal Government. Ontario must step up. We are urging Ontario’s government to sit down with migrant workers and update labour laws and other legislation. It is high time that migrant worker achieve the same protections and benefits as other Ontarians.

Liza Draman, Caregivers Action Centre

Continue reading “Migrant Workers respond to proposed Ontario law”

Recruitment Fees Banned for All Migrant Workers; Comprehensive Changes Still Needed

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Dec. 4, 2013) – Banning recruitment fees for all migrant workers; removing the arbitrary monetary cap on reclaiming unpaid wages and tougher penalties for employment standards violations means that migrant workers gain a few more protections today, but comprehensive changes are still needed says the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), Canada’s largest migrant worker advocacy coalition.

“After migrant workers exposed abuses by recruiters in 2009, we won protections for live-in caregivers but other migrant workers were unnecessarily excluded,” explains Liza Draman, spokesperson for the Caregivers Action Centre, member organization of MWAC. “Today after four years of migrant workers speaking out about their experiences, recruitment fees have finally been banned for all migrant workers.”

“Unfortunately over two-thirds of the caregivers we surveyed after the law came into effect in 2009 still paid fees,” adds Draman. “That’s because these protections rely on complaints and not proactive enforcement. For there to be meaningful protections, Ontario must follow provinces like Manitoba and implement employer and recruiter registration, licensing and regulation including joint and several financial liability.”

“I paid $1500 in Honduras to come work here in Canada. Here I worked in an unsafe job at a mushroom farm for a year to be able to pay back that debt,” stated Juan Miguel, a temporary foreign worker leader with Justicia for Migrant Workers, member organization of the MWAC. “On top of that, my employer regularly stole my wages and I couldn’t file a claim with the Ministry or I would have been fired and sent back home. I had to wait until I finished my contract, went home and came back with another employer but by then I had exceeded the current 6 month limit on claims. Today’s changes are an important step, but migrant workers need much stronger protections to ensure we have equal rights on the job.”

“Getting rid of the unfair $10,000 limit for employment standards claims and giving workers 2 years to file claims is a significant victory for Ontario workers, especially migrant workers” says Senthil Thevar, a former migrant worker and a spokesperson of MWAC member organization Workers Action Centre who is owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. “If these laws had existed a few years ago, I could have claimed the thousands of dollars of my unpaid wages immediately rather than being forced to go to court.”

“Migrant workers are not inherently vulnerable, its provincial laws that exclude us from basic protections that make us so,” insists Draman. “Many migrant workers are women and racialized people who are being denied immigration status by the Federal Government. Ontario must step up. We are urging Ontario’s government to sit down with migrant workers and update labour laws and other legislation. It is high time that migrant worker achieve the same protections and benefits as other Ontarians.”

Kyla Hernandez, a Filipino migrant worker who paid $5,000 to work in a vegetable packaging company in Windsor, ON, and spoke out against recruitment fees in 2008 adds, “Today’s labour reforms are a result of the advocacy efforts of migrant workers who took to the streets and held politicians accountable for the 19th century working and living conditions that we face in 21st century Ontario. However this victory is bittersweet. Many of our friends who fought for this have been terminated or deported for standing up for their rights. They will not enjoy the fruits of their labour. We owe it to them to continue the struggle and ensure that we are no longer treated as second class citizens.”

Source: www.migrantworkersalliance.org

The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change includes Alliance of South Asian Aid Prevention, Asian Community Aids Services, Caregivers Action Centre, Industrial Accident Victims’ Group of Ontario, Justicia for Migrant Workers, KAIROS, Legal Aid Windsor, Migrante Ontario, No One Is Illegal – Toronto, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Social Planning Toronto, Unifor, United Food and Commercial Workers and the Workers’ Action Centre.

Media Liaison
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
Syed Hussan, Coordinator
416 453 3632
coordinator@migrantworkersalliance.org

12 recommendations to end migrant and undocumented worker poverty in Ontario.

The Government of Ontario is organizing a consultation on its poverty reduction strategy.Community groups have long demanded good jobs, a liveable income, minimum wage increases, and a raise in social welfare rates to pull Ontarians out of poverty. Communities need and demand decent transit, strong public programs and a commitment to social justice and equity. Many insist that Ontario must invest resources and set targets that reduce poverty for everyone, prioritizing children, families, and communities, not austerity. We at the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change Agree.
But we know that most of the 350,000 Ontarians who are migrant workers and undocumented people don’t get minimum wage, overtime pay, OW, ODSP, social housing, full healthcare or social service programs. Few migrant and undocumented workers can reunite with their families, and those that do are denied the most basic rights and protections. Ontario must do more to end migrant and undocumented workers poverty.

12 easy steps!

For too long non-status and migrant worker Ontarians have been pushed aside. This time, let’s make it right. Here are 12 easy short-terms steps Ontario could take to address migrant and undocumented worker poverty: Continue reading “12 recommendations to end migrant and undocumented worker poverty in Ontario.”

Federal Immigration policy changes lack enough protection for migrants

MEDIA ADVISORY

29 April, 2013 

Media Liaison: Syed Hussan, coordinator@migrantworkersalliance.org, 416 453 3632

Federal Immigration policy changes lack enough protection for migrants
Consultations with migrant workers necessary for meaningful change

The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), a coalition of migrant worker groups and community, faith, and labour allies who have worked directly with migrant workers for decades believes that the minor changes introduced today do not respond to the key concerns migrant workers have identified in the program and are mostly cosmetic.

“We are not stealing jobs, but filling the ones that Canadians do not want due to the long hours, low pay, and live-in requirement,” insists Kay Manuel, a live-in caregiver and member of the Caregivers Action Centre. “The biggest problem with the migrant worker program is that we don’t have the same rights as citizens, the only solution is full immigration status for all workers.”

“We are tired of hearing about laws about how we migrant workers live and work without our voices and concerns ever being heard,” Manuel added.

“Either the Tories want to launch the largest deportation campaign in the history of Canada by shutting out 300,000 migrant workers or they are just posturing in response to public outcry over the failings of the program they created,” adds Chris Ramsaroop, who has worked with agricultural workers in Ontario for the last ten years. “While incremental steps have been taken to eliminate the 15% and 5% rule, and the elimination of the Accelerated LMO process, the core structures of the TFW programs that deny migrant workers the ability to exert their rights have remained intact. Migrant workers will now face greater hardships because of the downloading of LMO costs on to employers which really just means downloading it on to the workers. This adds to the huge sums of money migrant workers already have to pay to get work in Canada.”

“The entire argument about migrant workers taking jobs that unemployed Canadians would otherwise take is about exceptions not the rule,” says Syed Hussan, Coordinator of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “In the past these low-paying jobs were held by new immigrants not young unemployed Canadians, except they had full status and could bring their families. Now it’s the same demographic working the same jobs, except they have lesser rights. It’s not workers stealing jobs from Canadians, it’s the Conservative government stealing status from immigrants, and separating families.”

Short-term reforms to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program

Here are some immediate steps the Conservative government can take to correct the mistaken policies of past years:

  • Eliminate the 4 and 4 rule under which workers can work in Canada for four years and are banned for the next four
  • End the downloading of costs through LMO user fees on to employers and/or migrant workers.
  • Restore the EI special benefits for TFWP, and ensure full access to employment insurance to all workers that have been employed in Canada.
  • Work with provinces to develop a pan-Canadian framework to register and regulate recruiters and employers to ensure that workers rights are protected, and that recruiter fees are eliminated.

Any further reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program must prioritize consultation and decision making by migrant workers themselves.

Sources:
www.migrantworkersalliance.org

 

Law Commission Urges Action

Today’s launch of the LCO commission report highlights the necessity for the government of Ontario to implement proactive steps to protect the over 60,000 temporary foreign workers in Ontario.The report echoes calls from the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change to ban recruitment and placement fees for all temporary foreign workers. The banning of fees is the first step in regulating the run-away recruiter industry that is exploiting thousands of workers in the province. More recommendations from Metcalf Foundation here.

The commission heard first hand from migrant worked who demand an end to recruitment fees and protection from reprisals. It is imperative that the province takes the necessary steps to protect the provinces most vulnerable workers. We owe it to all the migrant workers who build our communities, put food on our tables and take care of our loved ones.

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change responds to new immigration levels and mix numbers announcement

TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2012 /CNW/ – Syed Hussan, Coordinator, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change:

“Minister Kenney is giving 10,000 immigrants the chance for permanency residency through the Canadian Experience Class, the problem is there are 300,000 temporary migrant workers coming to Canada each year.  What happens to the other 290,000 immigrants?”

“These new levels of immigration and mix came out of closed door consultations and an unethical online survey process that most organizations were not invited to and most people in Canada did not participate in. We have a government in Ottawa that speaks of family values but is setting up immigrants to be scammed by recruiters, exploited by bad bosses, separated from their loved ones and then sent back just as they’ve begun to lay roots.”

“Most people in Canada believe that the point of immigration is to build a safe, secure community, not bring in temp workers who will be charged high fees, work in dangerous conditions, and be forced to leave when their arbitrary term in Canada is up.”

The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change comprises Alliance for South Asian Aids Prevention, Asian Community Aids Services, Canadian Auto Workers, Caregivers Action Centre, IAVGO, Justicia for Migrant Workers, KAIROS, Migrante Ontario, No One Is Illegal – Toronto, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Social  Planning Toronto, United Food and Commercial Workers and the Workers’ Action Centre.

SOURCE: The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change

For further information:

Syed Hussan
coordinator@migrantworkersalliance.org
(416) 453-3632

720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 223, Toronto, ON  M5S 2T9
www.migrantworkersalliance.org | www.facebook.com/MigrantWorkersAlliance

New report exposes systemic exploitation of migrant workers

MEDIA RELEASE
September 17, 2012

New report exposes systemic exploitation of migrant workers through temporary worker programs

A groundbreaking report released today by the Metcalf Foundation highlights how Canadian immigration and labour policies are generating systemic exploitation of migrant workers.  The report echoes the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change’s (MWAC) call for urgent reform of temporary worker programs to address widespread violations.

Authored by lawyer and professor Fay Faraday, the report “Made in Canada: How the Law Constructs Migrant Workers’ Insecurity” argues that the most critical factor driving workers’ precariousness and exploitation is migrant workers’ temporary immigration status.

“This report reaffirms what migrant workers have been speaking out about for years. Temporary work programs force workers, particularly immigrants of color, into extremely vulnerable positions” said Chris Ramsaroop of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.  “Faraday hits the nail squarely on the head by arguing that migrant workers need immigration status on arrival and access to basic rights and protections.”

Among the recommendations outlined in the report are:

  • All workers of all skill levels should have access to apply to immigrate and arrive with status
  • Legislation must be extended to ensure all migrant workers have effective protection against recruitment fees
  • Ontario should adopt a proactive system of employer registration and recruiter licensing
  • Workers should be provided with open or sector-specific work permits while a legal dispute about their employment is ongoing

The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) is a coalition of grassroots migrant worker organizations, community groups, unions, workers and community members that formed in 2009 with the aim of improving working conditions and protections for live-in caregivers, seasonal agricultural workers and other temporary foreign workers.

For more information:

Chris Ramsaroop –  Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
Tel: 647-834-4932