Erika Del Carmen Fuchs | September 30, 2005

40 Mexican Migrant Farm Workers Stage Work Stoppage and Decide to Return to Mexico While President Fox Chats Business with Martin

(VANCOUVER) - A group of 40 Mexican migrant farm workers staged a work stoppage today at Purewal Blueberry Farms in Pitt Meadows when their demands for improved pay and housing conditions to bosses were not met. It is has been 3 months since workers have been living under completely inadequate living conditions, and they have seen virtually no improvement. Many have to cook in the open air, exposed to the cold and rain, as well as take cold showers and air dry their clothes, even though they are charged rent.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Fox is in town speaking about the virtues of NAFTA to Canadian and Mexican business and government officials, like Paul Martin and Gordon Campbell. President Fox is here in Canada to expand the very program that has conditions which led to the work stoppage. One of the negative impacts of NAFTA has been its devastating effects on communities of farmers and workers, who must migrate North to the US and Canada to seek jobs. The Mexican government is relieving itself of its responsibility to offer support for rural and urban development by exporting its population through such programs as the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).

Mexican migrant farm workers are employed under the auspices of SAWP, an agreement between the Mexican and Canadian governments. Each worker has a contract with their employer, and is here on a temporary work visa.

Workers face a number of violations to their contract, including being paid 15 cents per box of mandarins, earning about $20-24 a day, when their contract stipulates that they must earn $8.30 an hour for a minimum of 40 hours a week.

Workers at Purewal say that what pushed them to make the decision to return to Mexico was that they "no longer believed the boss nor the representative of the Mexican Consulate" who kept making promises that were not fulfilled.

Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) and other organizations across Canada will be staging support actions for Mexican and Caribbean migrant farm workers. J4MW is a human rights organization that advocates for migrant agricultural workers in Canada for improved labour and living standards.

WHY EXPAND A PROGRAM THAT FORCES MEXICAN MIGRANT FARM WORKERS TO LIVE AND WORK UNDER EXPLOITATIVE CONDITIONS?

Friday, September 30, 2005

(TORONTO)- Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is demanding that current bilateral talks between Mexico and Canada address the poor living and working conditions faced by Mexican agricultural workers while they are employed in Canada.

Mexican President Vicente Fox is in British Colombia today in an effort to increase business ties between Mexico and Canada. J4MW stresses that both governments must urgently address the exploitative conditions faced by many Mexican migrant farm workers employed under the auspices of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), a guest worker program that provides offshore labour to meet the needs of Canada’s agricultural industry.

J4MW questions the motives of both the Mexican and Canadian government for expanding the SAWP when the deplorable conditions to which many migrant farm workers are subjected throughout Canada have not been addressed. Across the country, workers in this program have expressed a litany of concerns that include the following:

• Working 12-15 hours without overtime or holiday pay
• Being denied necessary breaks
• Using dangerous chemicals without proper equipment or training
• Cramped, substandard housing (for example, leaking sewage, inadequate washroom facilities, lack of heating or hot water, weather-exposed open air cooking facilities)
• Overt racism from townspeople sometimes resulting in physical threats
• Acute pay discrimination between migrant and non-migrant workforces
• Unfair paycheck deductions such as for EI, CPP and other services, to which they have little or no access
• Inadequate health attention and services
• Limitations on collective bargaining and joining unions
• Exclusion from many laws pertaining to the protection and rights of workers
• Inadequate representation in policy making and contract disputes
• Inability to claim residency or obtain educational opportunities for themselves or their children despite extensive years of work in Canada
• Lack of appeals process when employers repatriate workers to home country
• Gender discrimination: few opportunities for female workers and women are heavily are controlled and disciplined in various ways by employers

Erika Del Carmen Fuchs, an organizer with J4MW who works with agricultural workers in BC’s Fraser Valley asks, “When will both governments shoulder their responsibilities and address the structural issues that drive migration, such as the impact of NAFTA on Mexico’s farming communities? The exploitation of farm labour is simply a near-sighted response that fails to address the root causes of unemployment and poverty.” According to Fuchs, “There are workers who do not have cooking facilities, proper heating in their living quarters and are subjected to verbal abuse from employers. Both governments must take steps to ensure that migrant agricultural workers are treated with respect and dignity. Currently the Mexican consulate is not meeting the concerns of workers in the program, so how it is possible that they could meet the needs of even more workers if the program is expanded?”

A group of Mexican migrant farm workers accompanied by organizers went to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver this morning in an attempt to speak with President Fox as he was about to address the Vancouver Board of Trade. Workers wanted to give Fox a letter to denounce their current living and pay conditions. The letter was handed to Consul Hector Romero who assured the workers that he would pass the letter onto Fox. Currently, workers at Purewal Farms in Pitt Meadows are on work stoppage, as their contract is being violated and they are subjected to substandard living conditions, which they say they can no longer tolerate.

Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is a human rights organization that advocates with migrant agricultural workers in Canada for improved labour and living standards.