Tag Archives: migrant workers

March 18 Migrante BC Gala Fundraiser for Migrant Workers with Fay Faraday

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Migrante BC Gala Fundraiser

BC Employment Standards Coalition member-organization Migrante BC is hosting a Gala Fundraiser for migrant workers with respected social justice lawyer Fay Faraday as a keynote speaker.

MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER: BUILDING MIGRANT WORKER SECURITY

  • Friday, March 18, 2016, 6 pm -10 pm
  • Holiday Inn (711 W. Broadway, Vancouver)
  • Tickets at $60 each (with dinner); Table of 8 at $450. For tickets, contact 604.879.5850 or email us at migrante.bc@gmail.com
  • Facebook event: RSVP here (optional).
Fay Faraday, a respected social justice lawyer, will be the keynote speaker at Migrante BC's Gala Fundraiser

Fay Faraday, a respected social justice lawyer, will be the keynote speaker at Migrante BC’s Gala Fundraiser.

Keynote speaker: Fay Faraday, noted social justice lawyer; also a strategic adviser and policy consultant on human rights, labour, and constitutional law; litigator for unions, community organizations and coalitions for constitutional and human rights cases before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Pushing back at the normalization of worker precariousness globally and domestically, Faraday’s keynote will issue a call to action and solidarity to map a vision for reform that builds security for all migrant workers.

All proceeds will go towards our volunteer-run and non-profit organization, Migrante BC.

Migrante invites people to join in at the Gala Evening and consider becoming a sponsor:

SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION:

Gold Sponsor $1000 and comes with name recognition during the event, FP advertisement in the souvenir program, 4 tickets to the Gala fundraiser and invitation to private pre-Gala cocktail reception with Fay Faraday

Silver Sponsor $500 and comes with name recognition during the event, HP advertisement in the souvenir program, 2 tickets to the Gala fundraiser and invitation to private pre-Gala cocktail reception with Fay Faraday

Bronze $250 and comes with name recognition during the event, HP advertisement in the souvenir program, 1 ticket to the Gala fundraiser and invitation to private pre-Gala cocktail reception with Fay Faraday.

New Coalition for Migrant Worker Rights calls for Trudeau to MoVE for Real Change

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Migrant worker groups from coast to coast have come together as a historic coalition to jointly advance migrant workers’ rights and working conditions. The new Coalition for Migrant Workers Rights – Canada (CMWRC) includes organizations from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, PEI, and Quebec who represent Canadian-born and migrant worker groups.

The CMWRC has launched MoVE – a campaign for Mobility, Voice and Equality for Migrant Workers to call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to act urgently and end tied work permits, enabling migrant workers to change employers when needed, and to move towards a single-tier immigration system based on permanency and family reunification to ensure decent work for all.

Low-wage migrant workers are generally restricted to working only for the individual employer listed on their permit. In practice, it is extremely difficult for migrant workers to change workplaces when they encounter problematic employers. This has the effect of dampening wages and working conditions down for all workers.

The MoVE campaign is calling on the new government to ensure the rights of all workers. Add your voice to their call: sign the CMWRC petition.

“We need to build a fair immigration system that values people, supports families and rejects divisiveness. That means justice and status for migrant workers. The time for change is now.” – CMWRC

New article: Policy tools needed to improve livelihoods for farmers and farm workers in BC

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While the BC Jobs Plan has focused on increasing the number of jobs in the province, many have raised concerns about quality of those jobs. For instance, how effectively does the province’s job-creation plan promote job security, enforced occupational health and safety protections, remuneration that is fair and liveable, and opportunities for workers to participate in workplace decisions that affect their lives? In particular, how does the BC Jobs Plan affect workers who are already at a high risk of poverty and precarious work, including racialized newcomers, migrant workers, and Indigenous peoples in BC?

In response to these concerns, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives hosted a conference in November to gather ideas for creative policy tools to create good jobs in BC. As part of the conference, BC Employment Standards Coalition member Anelyse Weiler, along with UBC researchers Dennis J. and Hannah Wittman, contributed a paper focused on farmers, farm workers and food security in British Columbia. Growing Good Agricultural Jobs in British Columbia considers the tensions within the current political-economic context between advancing dignified livelihoods for farm employers and hired workers. However, the authors argue that this tension is not inevitable, and that key policy changes can help to advance livelihood self-determination and better job quality for both farmers and farm workers.

Recently, the Vancouver Sun published an op-ed highlighting some of the ideas proposed in the longer paper by Weiler, Dennis and Wittman: In growing good jobs for B.C.’s economy, we’ve been neglecting a key ingredient.

 

New report: “Access to Justice for Migrant Workers in BC”

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At a forum in downtown Vancouver on Saturday, August 10th, the West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association (WCDWA) presented findings and recommendations from its new report, “Access to Justice for Migrant Workers in BC.” The report addresses a wide variety of inequities and forms of discrimination that are intrinsic to the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), along with the program’s successes. It also includes specific stories of abuse and injustice experienced by people in BC employed under this program. Next to Ontario, BC employs the second-highest number of TFWP workers in Canada.

Participants at the forum included a number of individuals employed under both the Live-In Caregiver Program and agricultural worker streams of the TFWP, as well as representatives and advocates from a number of organizations involved in migrant labour issues. Other participants included Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore, Lorene Oikawa, Vice President of the BC Government Employees Union, Judith Diesta from the Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers’ and Caregivers’ Rights, Lucy Luna from the Agricultural Workers Alliance, and Al Li Lim, Staff Lawyer and Executive Director of WCDWA. Following the WCDWA’s presentation, participants engaged in a roundtable discussion on the issues addressed in the report, including how to better serve needs of people who are employed under the TFWP.

To read “Access to Justice for Migrant Workers in BC,” please click here.

 

Coalition membered interviewed for article in the South Delta Leader

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In a recent article for the South Delta Leader, Coalition member Jeremy Bryant was interviewed about his advocacy volunteer work alongside farmworkers in Delta. He discusses the lack of fairness in Canada’s “guest” farmworker programs, and points out the need for those who are employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) or the agricultural stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) to be offered a route to citizenship.

Read the article here: Critics say the temporary foreign worker program is replacing immigration.