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Toronto – The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC), Canada’s largest coalition of migrant worker groups and allies, is calling for immediate changes to the moratorium imposed on temporary foreign workers (TFW) in the food industry. A moratorium is not the solution. Migrant workers need a just transition to a permanent immigration system in ‘low-skilled’ industries rather than being blamed for government mistakes. MWAC calls on the Federal government to:

• Process pending and in-country Labour Market Opinions and Work Permit applications for migrant workers; and
• Develop a just transition mechanism into permanent residency for migrants already in Canada, along with future immigrants in the low-wage, ‘low-skilled’ sectors

“The media is full of stories of migrant worker exploitation, but this moratorium won’t end the abuse it will just make workers more precarious,” insists Senthil Thevar, who came to Canada as a Temporary Foreign Worker in the food sector and was forced to switch jobs because of workers rights violations.

“A moratorium on TFWs is the wrong way to go. Migrant workers in Canada awaiting a decision on their LMOs and work permits will suffer immensely. Those trying to leave abusive employers will be locked in,” says migrant worker advocate Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant Workers. “Those who have paid thousands of dollars to recruiters abroad to apply for jobs here risk losing their life savings.  They should not have to pay the price of long-standing flaws in the immigration system. That’s basic fairness.”

Vinay Sharma, Human Rights Director for UNIFOR, Canada’s largest private sector labour union adds, “We can’t just get rid of workers that are already here. Migrant workers in Canada need full immigration status. That’s the critical step. Right now the moratorium should exclude in-country and pending applications.”

“Recent reports expose how provincial and federal laws exclude migrants from basic workplace protections. The solution is to change those two-tiered laws that create conditions of lowered wages and working conditions and that pit migrant workers against unemployed or under-employed citizens,” adds Syed Hussan of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “In the long-run, we need to return to an immigration system that gives access to permanent status to migrants in low-skilled industries.”

“Workers across Canada are facing precarious, low-wage jobs and tough economic times,” added Deena Ladd from the Workers Action Centre. “Let’s not repeat history’s mistakes of blaming immigrants for unemployment in times of economic downturn. We need a decent job agenda that raises standards for all workers, not an arbitrary exclusion of migrant workers.”

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

Key facts

• 44,000 migrant workers entered Canada in the food and accommodation sector in 2012.
• The actual number of migrant workers in Canada in the food sector is not currently known – but all of those workers are now unable to switch jobs within the sector leaving them vulnerable to employer abuse.
• Canada has no pathway for low-skilled immigrants to come here permanently. A moratorium on the TFWP should only happen after such a pathway has been developed – otherwise it will result in mass deportation.
• There is no inter-provincial or Canada wide ban on charging migrant workers recruitment fees. Thus recruiters charge migrant workers upwards of two-years’ of salaries in home countries to find jobs in Canada. See http://metcalffoundation.com/publications-resources/view/profiting-from-the-precarious-how-recruitment-practices-exploit-migrant-workers/ for more.

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change includes Asian Community AIDS Services, Caregivers Action Centre, Justicia for Migrant Workers, Legal Assistance of Windsor, Migrante-Ontario, No One Is Illegal-Toronto, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Social Planning Toronto, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, UNIFOR, United Food and Commercial Workers, and Workers Action Centre. www.migrantworkersalliance.org

We have a real opportunity to effect change

This spring, we have a real opportunity to pass laws that will improve our wages and working conditions. There are now several important bills being considered by Members of Provincial Parliament. But we need to work together to make sure that these bills are strengthened and passed before the Legislative Assembly breaks for the summer. Even if an election is called, this is a recipe for change that we can all get behind.

Here’s what’s at stake:

Prohibiting recruitment fees for migrant workers

In order to work in Ontario, migrant workers pay unscrupulous recruiters tens of thousands of dollars in fees; many have little choice but to borrow the money. This debt makes migrant workers – and their families – vulnerable to loan sharks and unprincipled employers and makes it even more dangerous for migrant workers to speak out.

• Bill 146 extends the ban on recruitment fees from live-in caregivers to all migrant workers.
• Bill 161 gives Minister of Citizenship and Immigration the power to create registries for employers and recruiters but does not specify any details,
• Bill 161 unfairly excludes low-waged migrant workers from access to immigration status

We can strengthen Bills 146 and modify Bill 161 by ensuring that:

• There is a proactive and public system to license recruiters and register employers who hire migrant workers;
• Recruiters are required to put forward a mandatory financial security in form of a bond, irrevocable letter of credit or deposit before being licensed;
• Recruiters and employers are jointly and severally liable for any and all exploitative recruitment practices in Canada and abroad;
• Employers are prohibited from charging any fees to migrant workers and that the onus of fee non-payment be on the recruiter, not the migrant worker;
• The time limit on complaints be at least five years so that workers can seek justice after their contracts finish;
• All migrant workers coming in to Ontario have access to full immigration status, access to social benefits, protections from reprisals and meaningful labour protections.

Maintaining the value of the minimum wage

For the past four years, the minimum wage has been frozen at $10.25. Meanwhile, the real value of minimum wage has been eroded by rising costs.

• Bill 165 increases the minimum wage by the rate of inflation each year and sets up a process for reviewing the minimum wage every five years.

We can strengthen Bill 165 by ensuring that:

• The minimum wage brings full-time workers 10% above the poverty line and be assessed regularly against this criterion; and
• Reviews of the minimum wage be every two years, instead of every five years;
• All minimum wage provisions apply to all workers, regardless of their age or occupation, or their student or citizenship status.

Regulating temporary agencies (temp agencies)

Temp agency workers typically earn 40% less than their co-workers hired directly by the company. Agency workers receive less pay, fewer or no benefits, little protection against employment rights violations and no protection against termination. Despite their temporary status, agency workers often work for months and years beside workers doing exactly the same work.

• Bill 146 makes temp agencies and the client company jointly responsible for paying workers’ unpaid wages and overtime pay;
• Bill 146 ensures the client company is responsible for workplace injury and accident costs involving agency workers;
• Bill 159 stipulates that agency workers must receive 80% of the total wages [SS2] paid by the client company to the temp agency.
• Bill 159 limits the proportion of agency workers in a company’s workforce to no more than 25%; small businesses are exempted from this provision;
• Bill 159 obligates all temp agencies to have a license to operate in Ontario;

We can strengthen Bills 146 and 159 by ensuring that:

• Temp agencies workers receive the same wages and working conditions afforded to workers hired directly by the client company.
• Client companies are jointly responsible for all monetary and non-monetary entitlements under the ESA, not just wages and overtime.
• Section 74.8(1)* is repealed to eliminate provisions by which client companies are prevented from hiring temp agency workers directly.
• Temp agency workers are hired directly by the client company after a certain period of time and are protected from unfair dismissals by either the temp agency or the client company.

Curbing wage theft

All too often, Ontario workers work hard but don’t get paid. This is wage theft. A recent Workers’ Action Centre survey found that 1 in 3 workers in low wage, precarious jobs experienced wage theft in the last 5 years. Wage theft takes the form of unpaid wages, unpaid vacation pay or overtime pay as well as employers’ misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Interns – even those who are paid – are also vulnerable to wage theft. Within the hospitality sector, employers who withhold tips and gratuities from their employees or who require their employees to forfeit their tips and gratuities are engaging in wage theft.

• Bill 146 extends the time limits for workers claim unpaid wages from 6 months to 2 years
• Bill 146 eliminates the inadequate $10,000 limit on the amount of unpaid wages that can be claimed;
• Bill 146 requires employers to provide each employee with a poster on their rights under the Employment Standards Act and, if requested, requires the employer to provide translated versions of the poster;
• Bill 146 sets out new rules for employer self-audits;
• Bill 49 prohibits employers from forcing employees to forfeit their tips and gratuities; and
• Bill 170 asserts that individuals receiving training be protected by certain provisions of the Employment Standards Act.

We can strengthen Bill 146 by ensuring that:

• Time limits for filing claims are extended to five years for migrant workers;
• The onus is on the employer – not the worker – for providing translations of the employee rights poster;
• The provision to provide an employee rights poster should come into effect immediately;
• The elimination of the monetary cap and the extension of time limits on unpaid wage claims come into effect immediately upon passage of Bill 146.

Having a voice at work

More people are finding themselves in part-time, contract work, often juggling two or three jobs. By making it easier for us to join unions and work together to improve wages and working conditions, we are better able to turn bad jobs into better ones.

• Bill 129 brings forward a number of important changes that would make it easier for us to form unions and have a voice at work.

Take action!

Although some of these bills need important changes to ensure we all have the strongest protection possible, these bills provide us with an opportunity we have not seen in a long time. By working together to get these bills strengthened and passed, we can lay the groundwork for decent work and decent lives for all of us.

That’s why we are calling on you to help get these bills strengthened and passed before the legislature adjourns for the summer – or for an election.

Can you join us and help us get these bills strengthened and passed?

1. Click here now to send a message to your MPP.
2. Organize an action in your community on April 14th – a provincial day of action for decent pay and decent work.
3. Call us or email us to find out how you can make a deputation to a legislative committee – coordinator@migrantworkersalliance.org
4. Find out more about the issues:

New bill pushes government for better protections of temp agency workers
What’s in Bill 146?
New bill to index minimum wage to cost of living 
Migrant workers respond to proposed Ontario law
Towards a Fair Ontario Immigration Act

On February 19, 2013, the Ontario Liberals introduced the Ontario Immigration Act (Bill 161). Through Bill 161, the government is seeking control over immigration to Ontario. An important goal of the bill is to enable “immigrants to settle in Ontario and integrate quickly into and to participate fully in Ontario society.” As currently written, however, Bill 161 will not achieve this goal for the majority of migrant workers that come to this province.  It is essential that key revisions be made to this Bill, otherwise new legislation will be necessary.

A genuine Ontario Immigration Act must include just access for migrant workers. This means:

• Inclusion: Full immigration status and access to benefits
• Accountability: regulating recruiters and employers
• Breaking down silos: Cooperation between governments
• Proactive enforcement

Bill 161 fails to do so.

In bringing forward much-needed policy and legislation on immigration and migrant workers in this province, the government has the opportunity to create a legislative framework of fairness; a framework grounded on the principle that workers that come to work and build this province should be allowed to stay if they chose and access the benefits of their labour. In short, Ontario’s immigration policy must support access to residency status to all workers and protection for temporary workers from recruiter and employer exploitation. The Bill fails to do this.

Unfortunately, Bill 161 appears to be focused on bringing Ontario in line with the federal government’s “Expression –of-Interest” model of immigration slated to come into effect next year. This new federal system will set up a system to allow governments and employers to select immigrants based on employment and labour market needs. Bill 161 would enable the Ontario government to create selection programs for permanent residents (for example, under the Provincial Nominee Program) or temporary workers (for example, under the temporary foreign worker program).  The Bill would also allow the government to set up a registry of employers and recruiters to participate in selection programs.

The government is seeking to be more competitive with other jurisdictions in order to boost Ontario’s economic class immigrants from the current 52% to 70% of all immigrants to the province. It would do this through an increase in the number of immigrants that Ontario can select under the Provincial Nominee Program from the current 2,500 to 5,000 per year with a focus on economic class immigrants rather than workers that continue to build the province through temporary foreign workers programs (construction, caregiving, farming, hospitality services etc).

We are concerned that Bill 161 will give recruiters and employers more control over the immigration selection process and not civil society. There is nothing in the Bill to address the exorbitant fees that recruiters charge workers for employment under these programs. Nor is there anything in the bill to address substandard employment conditions that all too many migrant workers face that come through such selection programs. The Ontario Government is going in the opposite direction of the best practices established by Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia that have legislated proactive protection from exploitation by recruiters and employers.

Download our analysis of Bill 161 and what a genuine Ontario immigration act would be:  Creating a Genuine and Fair Ontario Immigration Act.

Get in touch with coordinator@migrantworkersalliance.org if you would like to depute on this Bill.

Bill 146 introduces many changes that Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and Workers Action Centre members and supporters across the province have been calling for.  If passed the new legislation would:

1. Ban recruitment fees for all migrant workers
2. Give workers 2 years to claim unpaid wages
3. Get rid of the unfair $10,000 limit on the unpaid wages that can be claimed
4. Make temp agencies and client companies jointly liable for ESA violations
5. End WSIB rating system loopholes that provided an incentive for companies to use temp agencies

The Ministry of Labour also announced that they will fulfill their 2008 commitment to $10 million for proactive employment standards enforcement. The government pledged to bring in more penalties for employers who violate the law and indicated the need to continue to make further changes to address precarious employment.

Read MWAC Migrant worker members responses here.

Click here to download our analysis of Bill 146 and recommendations to strengthen it.

Key Issues

Migrant workers are paying up to an equivalent of two years’ salaries in fees in their home countries to unscrupulous recruiters and agencies to work in Canada. To pay these fees, entire families go into debt.

Often when workers arrive here, work conditions and wages are not as they were promised or agreed to.

With families back home in debt, workers are afraid to complain about ill treatment by bad bosses here. In some cases when workers complained about recruitment fees, they faced abuse and deportation. Recruiters have been known to punish entire communities by blacklisting their ability to come to Canada.

Employers pass the buck to recruiters in Canada, who in turn claim that its recruiters in sending countries that are the real culprits. Ontario does not have effective enforcement tools to hold recruiters and employers accountable.

In 2009, migrant worker members of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change succeeded in passing the Employment Protections for Foreign Nationals Act (EPFNA) which banned charging recruitment fees from caregivers.

The way forward.

We expect Ontario to ban recruitment fees and bar the seizure of documents from all migrant workers rather than just live-in caregivers as is currently mandated in the EPFNA filling in part of the legislative gap. However, two-thirds of the caregivers the Caregivers Action Centre surveyed after EPFNA came into force paid fees averaging $3,275.  EPFNA relies heavily on worker complaints rather than proactive enforcement making it a weak legislative tool.

Register and license employers and recruiters: The Ontario and Federal government do not keep track of recruiters. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and other provinces are moving towards registering employers and licensing recruiters so that provinces have direct jurisdiction over them. By licensing recruiters, provinces have the ability to carry out targeted enforcement, release a list of accredited recruiters that employers and workers can access and be able to track recruiters that break the law without having to rely solely on workers’ speaking out. For Ontario to ensure recruitment fees are not collected, it must register employers and license recruiters.

Joint and several liability: Manitoba, Saskatchewan and other provinces are moving towards asking for lines of credit or bonds put up by recruiters and employers and holding employers and recruiters jointly responsible for fees charged all the way down the recruitment pipeline. By holding all parties equally financially responsible, provinces are able to enforce a ban on recruitment fees and ensure that workers charged fees are able to recover them. This works hand in hand with recruiter licensing as employers are able to work with approved recruiters and avoid worker abuse.

Anti-reprisals mechanisms: Migrant workers must be able to make complaints about lost fees after their contracts are complete (up to four years) so that they don’t have to choose between keeping their jobs and recovering fees paid abroad. Community members must be able to make complaints about unfair recruiters and employers and provisions must be in place to give access to temporary resident permits to migrant workers while they have Ministry of Labour complaints pending so they do not get deported while waiting for a decision.

Further down the line, inter-provincial and bi-lateral agreements with other states must be established to ensure that recruiters do not skip provinces after charging monies and stop offering fake jobs in Canada that don’t exist.  Recruitment fees are one part of the puzzle. Migrant workers deserve equal wages, healthy jobs, decent housing, and a strong voice. Most of all migrant workers deserve the opportunity to have full immigration status on landing.

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

By: Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter, Published on Wed Dec 04 2013

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”

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