Canada: Workers & advocates describe abusive, unsafe working conditions on BC farms
Краткое изложение
Date Reported: 31 Авг 2023
Местонахождение: Канада
Другое
Not Reported ( Сельское хозяйство/продукты питания/напитки/табачные изделия/рыболовство: Общее ) - EmployerЗатронуто
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Мигранты и рабочие-иммигранты: ( 1 - Гватемала , Сельское хозяйство/продукты питания/напитки/табачные изделия/рыболовство: Общее , Men , Documented migrants )Темы
Избиения и насилие , Minimum Wage , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Dismissal , Restricted mobility , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Excessive production targets , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Ограничение свободы выражения , Запугивание и угрозыОтвет
Response sought: Yes, by The Tyee
External link to response: (Find out more)
Принятые меры: The Tyee contacted Hernández’s employer, who confirmed he had worked at that farm but denied Hernández’s allegations of abuse, which have not been tested in a court of law. Hernández is one of few temporary foreign workers who succeeded in applying for the open work permit the federal government offers to workers who have been abused.
Вид источника: News outlet
Краткое изложение
Date Reported: 31 Авг 2023
Местонахождение: Канада
Компании
Krazy Cherry Fruit - EmployerЗатронуто
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Мигранты и рабочие-иммигранты: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Сельское хозяйство/продукты питания/напитки/табачные изделия/рыболовство: Общее , Men )Темы
Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Occupational Health & SafetyОтвет
Response sought: Нет
Вид источника: News outlet
Краткое изложение
Date Reported: 31 Авг 2023
Местонахождение: Канада
Другое
Not Reported ( Сельское хозяйство/продукты питания/напитки/табачные изделия/рыболовство: Общее ) - EmployerЗатронуто
Total individuals affected: 170
Мигранты и рабочие-иммигранты: ( Number unknown - Гватемала , Сельское хозяйство/продукты питания/напитки/табачные изделия/рыболовство: Общее , Women , Documented migrants )Темы
Wage Theft , Доступ к воде , Запугивание и угрозыОтвет
Response sought: Нет
Вид источника: News outlet
"A case of bad apples, or a rotten orchard?"
...
Each year, thousands of migrant farm workers travel to British Columbia to harvest the province’s offerings: cherries, corn, cucumbers, plums, peaches, grapes for wine. Farming makes up one per cent of B.C.’s GDP; fruit sales alone are worth about $460 million a year...
Despite farmers’ reliance on temporary foreign workers, consular officials, advocates and workers themselves say they are too often mistreated by their bosses.
The Tyee spoke to more than a dozen farm labourers for this story, as well as nine outreach workers who routinely visit these farms, where employers almost always double as landlords. Many described cases of employers physically or verbally abusing their employees, and they also described abhorrent housing conditions well below the standard set by senior governments, a subject The Tyee will explore in detail in the next instalment in this series...
Representatives of the farming industry say that characterization of the program is unfair. Glen Lucas, the manager of the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association, says problems on these farms are a case of isolated and unfortunate incidents: bad apples, not a rotten orchard. “There’s this idea that we’re painted with one colour. But it’s a complicated picture,” Lucas said.
But even employers agree governments are not doing enough to catch and punish employers who break the rules. Outreach workers say when federal agents do visit farms, their visits are often perfunctory, and that they sometimes do not even speak to workers...