United Food and Commercial Workers sees promise in the proposed
reforms to Canada’s temporary and migrant labour force, outlined in
a new Senate report, including the creation of a new Migrant Work
Commission and the phasing out of employer-specific work permits.
On May 21, 2024, the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science
and Technology released its report on Canada’s temporary and
migrant labour force, Act Now: Solutions for temporary and migrant
labour in Canada. The report outlines how Canada’s migrant labour
infrastructure is failing workers and the employers who depend on
them.
“It is clear that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is
neither temporary nor a last and limited resort,” the report
states. “The program is not working for migrant workers and could
work better for employers.”
For more than three decades, UFCW has served as a leading
advocate for migrant food workers. As such, the union welcomes the
Senate’s acknowledgement of the glaring systemic issues with this
program and views the report’s recommendations as having promise.
UFCW has been lobbying the government for over twenty years on
behalf of migrant workers: many of the recommendations in the
Senate report have been made annually for decades in UFCW’s Status
of Migrant Workers reports.
The right to representation and collective
bargaining
"These recommended reforms have the potential to improve the
lives of migrant workers in Canada, and we are pleased that the
Senate Committee has listened to what UFCW has been saying for
decades," says Shawn Haggerty, UFCW Canada National President.
"However, we are disappointed that there is not a recommendation
for provincial guarantees to allow equal access to the labour
rights. Any reform must include the fundamental labour right for
migrant workers: the right to representation and bargaining
collectively. Real representation is the best and most important
tool for ensuring workers are defended against exploitation."
As the food workers’ union, UFCW Canada represents thousands of
migrant workers in unionized workplaces across the country, such as
meatpacking plants. As union members, these migrant workers do not
have to worry about their labour and health and safety rights being
disregarded. UFCW fiercely advocates for its migrant members,
including working with them to navigate the immigration pathways
and become permanent residents if desired.
“Migrant workers with real representation do not become headline
news. Migrant workers with real representation do not become the
victims of human trafficking,” UFCW’s Derek Johnstone told the
Senate Committee in 2022. “Migrant workers with real representation
do not go home with disfigured bodies and the emotional baggage of
being tormented by a horrible employer.”
A Migrant Worker Commission must include
UFCW
UFCW Canada sees promise in the top recommendation of a
tripartite Migrant Work Commission, in line with the International
Labour Organization’s (ILO) recommendations for social dialogue. At
the same time, the union urges that it is vital that this
commission be created to align with the ILO’s recently released
Decent Work Guidelines for Agri-Food Sector.
Decent work cannot be advanced without social dialogue. It is
crucial that the tripartite commission is fully in keeping with the
ILO guidelines, with the representatives being from labour,
industry and government. Social dialogue is defined by the ILO as
an ongoing exchange of information and consultation between or
among representatives of governments, employers and workers, on
issues of common interest. Representatives of the workers are
defined as independent trade unions that are democratic
organizations who are wholly accountable to their respective
memberships.
If the Migrant Worker Commission is based on the proper ILO
model, UFCW as the voice for agri-food workers should serve a
central role in this tripartite approach.
Phasing out Employer-Specific Work Permits
vital
A key report recommendation is the phasing out of
employer-specific work permits; the report states that “the
employer-specific work permit inherently makes migrant workers more
vulnerable to abuse at the hands of bad actors as well as imposing
structural barriers to accessing rights and protections.”
This is a welcome recommendation, as UFCW has long urged the
government to remove employer-specific work permits. In addition,
the union is pleased to see that the report adopts the UFCW
recommendation of investing in regional sector councils; however,
these councils must be structured under the framework of the ILO
guidelines of social dialogue.
More pathways to permanent residence
crucial
UFCW has long advocated for more pathways to permanent residence
and welcomes the Senate committee’s acknowledgement that “neither
migrant work programs nor workers are truly temporary”. The union
sees promise in the recommendations to expand potential pathways to
permanent residency for migrant workers.
However, the union is concerned about increased funding to the
Migrant Workers Support Program without measures to ensure
practices are in keeping with the ILO’s Decent Work Guidelines for
the Agri-Food Sector. While the current support program is supposed
to help educate workers about their labour rights, the first and
most fundamental labour right – freedom of association – is missing
in said education. Migrant workers must know that they have a right
to organize and form unions, and any support that does not
explicitly educate them about this fact is inadequate. Any
reference to labour rights must begin with freedom of association,
as per the ILO.
Union representation ensures workplace
safety
The report offers recommendations for strengthening enforcement
of existing regulations, such as increasing unannounced
inspections. While this is important, unionized workplaces are the
best guarantee of workplace safety. The best way to prevent unsafe
and exploitative work environments is to provide migrant workers
access to the same collective bargaining rights as other Canadian
workers.
In brief, while UFCW believes that many of the Senate
recommendations are potentially promising changes, reform must be
implemented in a way that incorporates the guidelines set forth by
the International Labour Organization. The Canadian government must
ensure that migrant workers have true labour rights: freedom of
association is fundamental to every Canadian worker, and migrant
workers must be included in this.
About
UFCW Canada (the United Food and Commercial Workers Union)
represents more than 250,000 members across Canada working in every
sector of the food industry from field to table. For over three
decades, UFCW Canada has been the leading voice and advocate for
domestic and migrant agricultural workers.
Contact:
Derek JohnstoneSpecial Assistant to the National President, UFCW
Canada416-649-3417derek.johnstone@ufcw.ca