CANADIAN LABOUR BRITISH COLUMBIA:

MIGRANT WORKERS LAUNCH LAWSUIT AGAINST DENNY'S FOR WAGE THEFT:

The service industry has traditionally been both penny pinching and outright dishonest when it comes to their employees. This has been exasperated by a recent trend across the western world of hiring migrant labour, many of whom don't know their rights (and bosses are certainly not going to inform them out of the kindness of their overflowing hearts) or who are intimidated by their status in the country that they have emigrated to. One example in the USA, the workers at Chipotle, was recently mentioned on this blog. Here's another from Canada, out BC way. Seems that Filipino workers at the Denny's restaurants in that province have gotten together to demand their rights. Here's how the story is seen by the BC Federation of Labour.

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BC Fed in the News:

Fillipino Denny's workers launch class action
January 13, 2011
Fifty temporary foreign workers from the Phillipines have launched a class action lawsuit against Denny's restaurant. The workers allege Denny's has not paid them in full and say the restaurant has not reimbursed them for recruitment and processing fees they paid in order to come to Canada.

The B.C. Federation of Labour is calling for a moratorium on the recruitment of workers under the Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker Program until all alleged abuses are investigated and the program is cleaned up.

To see the CBC Television story on the class action lawsuit against Denny's click here.
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And here is how the story is seen by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
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Migrant Workers File $10 Million Lawsuit against Denny’s in British Columbia
More than 50 Filipino migrant workers recruited to Canada under the Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program have filed a $10 million class action suit against Denny’s restaurants in British Columbia, charging the company did not live up to the employment contract the workers signed before they arrived from the Philippines. The suit was filed in the B.C. Supreme Court on January 7, on behalf of the Filipino migrant workers employed at Denny’s from 2006 until the present.

One of the lawyers representing the workers, Charles Gordon, alleges that “the workers came to Canada, mainly as cooks and servers, to take jobs at Denny’s Restaurants in B.C. but were required to pay approximately $6,000 each to an agency that was recruiting employees for the Defendants, and the workers have not received the hours of work, overtime pay, air travel and other conditions they were promised.”

“These workers were encouraged to come to Canada with a set of promises that have never been met – they have done their part but the Denny’s has not lived up to their end of the deal,” says Christopher Foy, another member of the legal team.

“The federal government’s Temporary Foreign Workers program continues to be a shameful treadmill that lures workers to Canada, and then leaves them defenseless and vulnerable,” says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. “The fact that the Denny’s workers have been forced to go to court is yet another blatant example of how the exploitative TFW program turns a blind eye to what happens to migrant workers once they arrive in Canada.”

CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:

PROTEST MIGRANT WORKER DEATHS IN ONTARIO FIELDS:

The migrant workers support group Justicia For Migrant Workers is calling for two protests over the recent deaths of two migrant agricultural workers in Ontario. The first will be held this Friday at the Ontario Ministry of Labour (see graphic and click for better viewing if needed). The second will be during the Thanksgiving long weekend. Here's a brief notice of them from the Go-Jamaica website.

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Citizens to protest over Jamaican farm workers deaths

The Canadian lobby group Justice for Migrant Workers is to spearhead a series of protests over two days against the conditions that led to the deaths of two Jamaican farm workers in Ontario just over a week ago.

Thirty-six year-old Ralston Whyte and 44-year-old Paul Roach died on September 10 on the Filsinger Farm from environmental suffocation.

Chris Ramsaroop, the convener of Justice for Migrant Workers says this Friday, his group will be leading a protest outside the gates of the Canadian labour ministry ( the Ontario Ministry of labour actually-Molly ).

On October 10, the group will be leading a 10-hour march in Ontario.

According to Ramsaroop, the group wants to highlight that migrant workers are being forced to operate under substandard and unsafe conditions:

Paul Roach and another Jamaican worker, Robert Samuels, were pumping about six inches of cider vinegar from one tank into another on the Filsinger Farm when the pump stopped working.

The pump is believed to have been clogged by a sludgy substance that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids that had settled at the bottom of the tank.

It’s reported that Roach climbed inside the tank, to clear the blockage, and was overcome by fumes.

The other victim Ralston Whyte went to help and he too was overcome by the fumes.

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Here's more from the website of Justicia for Migrant Workers about the October 10 demonstration.

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Pilgrimage to Freedom:
Breaking the Chains of Indentureship
Thanksgiving Weekend -
October 10, 2010

Support migrant workers and allies who will be marching from Leamington to Windsor, Ontario to call attention to the living and working conditions of migrant workers who grow and process our food this Thanksgiving.

Migrant workers are marching to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.

Allies will be walking alongside workers in solidarity with their call for justice.


Call for Support

1) Donations
· Financial and in-kind donations are needed to help make the march a success and to cover costs of transportation, food and other supplies.
· Please contact Justicia if your organization or local can assist with in-kind or financial support at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com

2) March in solidarity with migrant workers
·We are inviting allies to walk alongside migrant workers for some or all of the march. Buses for rest and other support will be provided to marchers during the march.

· Contact Tzazna Miranda Leal or Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant workers to register as a marcher and to get more information at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com

· Please contact us to register by October 3rd.

3) Spread the word!

· Help share information about the march with members of your community, organization or local.

·Contact Justicia for Migrant workers for copies of posters and other outreach tools at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com

Background

Approximately 18,000 migrant farm workers from Thailand, Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the Caribbean arrive in Canada to work in our fields, orchards and greenhouses every year.

Many workers pay thousands of dollars in fees to recruiters to get work in Canada, sometimes for jobs that do not even exist. Once they arrive, many workers face dangerous working conditions, sub-standard housing and employment standards and human rights violations.

Because of their precarious immigration status, migrant workers have little protection against being sent home by employers for speaking up about their rights. Migrant workers and allies are marching in the Pilgrimage to Freedom to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.

Justicia for Migrant Workers is a volunteer-run collective that strives to promote the rights of migrant farm workers.

CANADIAN LABOUR QUÉBEC:

NEW EXPLOITATION OF FARM WORKERS IN QUÉBEC:

Always in search of new sources of underpaid migrant labour to exploit agribusiness in Québec has finalized a deal with a new source- Honduras. Here's the story from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

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Federal Government Asked to Intervene After Quebec Agribusiness Owners
Cut a Deal With Honduras Under Federal Temporary Foreign Workers Program
Migrant agricultural workers from Honduras began toiling in Quebec fields this week, after a Quebec farm lobby group and Honduran officials cut a deal to bring the workers to Canada under the federal government's controversial Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program. The TFW program provides no oversight to prevent the abuse of foreign workers contracted to Canadian employers, yet it is a program the federal government has aggressively been expanding by the tens of thousands of workers.

"The TFW program is the federal government's "Exploitation Express" that delivers migrant workers to Canada as a vulnerable and disposable work force," says Wayne Hanley, the national president of UFCW Canada - the country's largest private sector union.

"The collusion between the farm lobby and the governments is not only appalling, but an assault on the rights and safety of precarious workers who are fired and shipped out if they voice any concerns."

While the newly arrived Honduran workers do have visas and a work permits, the employment contract they are forced to sign clearly states that Canada "has no power to intervene or ensure the contract is enforced" in case of dismissal, abuse or exploitation.

The abuse of migrant workers under TFW program was recently in the news after UFCW Canada and community allies launched a campaign to denounce the nefarious living and working conditions of migrant Guatemalan farm workers. For a number of years workers from Guatemala have been brought to Canada under TFW contracts that force them to sign away some of their basic workplace rights to get the job and keep it.

Yet in spite of the well documented problems with the TFW program, the federal government has begun discussions, along with industrial agriculture lobbyists, to "harmonize" the system; potentially allowing employers even less supervision, as well as passing housing and transportation costs that are now paid for by employers onto the workers.

"The TFW program absolutely has to change," says Hanley, "but what's going on here is the private sector, behind closed doors, calling the shots on employment and immigration policy."

"The abuse has to end - not increase. That will only happen with an open and just public review and reform of the programs that bring temporary workers to Canada," said the UFCW Canada national leader.

"Whether workers come from Honduras, Mexico, the Caribbean, Guatemala, Thailand, the Philippines or other sending countries, the story is the same. They are forced to surrender their human and workplace rights at the border in order to work here. The federal government would say it's not so but a public review would definitely show otherwise."

UFCW Canada has been an ally and advocate for migrant agricultural workers in Canada for more than three decades, and in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) operates ten agriculture worker support centres across Canada.

CANADIAN LABOUR:
SUPPORT GUATEMALAN MIGRANT LABOUR IN CANADA:


When one thinks of migrant labour in Canada one usually thinks of Mexico, but there are large numbers of workers from other Central American nations presently in Canada, and they perhaps have even less protection than the Mexicans whose situation is already a national scandal. Here's a news item and appeal from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union about this situation.
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New campaign calls for action on Guatemalan migrant abuse

UFCW Canada and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) are spearheading a new campaign to denounce the systematic abuse and violation of the rights of Guatemalan farm workers who come to Canada through the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP).

The campaign, called No More Injustice and Oppression against Migrants!, calls attention to the illegal treatment of Guatemalan workers and the degrading terms of a contract imposed on them by FERME, an employer association, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – an intergovernmental agency mandated to “promote humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all,” according to its website.

“Over 4,000 Guatemalan workers come to Canada every year to harvest our food and make one our most important industries possible,” says Andrea Galvez, coordinator of the AWA Centre in Saint-Remi, Quebec, where many Guatemalan migrants work. “But we repeatedly hear from Guatemalan migrants who are degraded and demoralized by the individuals and organizations who cash-in on the temporary foreign workers program.”

Workers are recruited in Guatemala by the IOM and must ante up a $400.00 deposit – a huge amount of money for the average Guatemalan – before they’re allowed to work in Canadian fields. If the worker refuses to obey the outrageous terms listed in the contact, he or she can be terminated and the deposit is not returned, which is a terrifying prospect for workers because they generally borrow from friends and family to get the cash.

Although the TFWP is administered by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), the contract imposed on migrants does not allow the ministry to intervene in the terms of work. Once the contract is signed, the worker is brought in and left to the mercy of employers.

UFCW Canada and the AWA are strongly urging Canadian authorities to open an official investigation into FERME and the IOM’s management of the project, and are calling for immediate and substantive reforms to the TFWP.

All activists are encouraged to join this fight by sending messages and by using their social networks to help spread the word by posting links to the campaign page.
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THE LETTER:
Please go to this link to send the following letter to (shudder) Prime Minister Steven Harper in support of Guatemalan migrant workers in Canada.
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Dear Prime Minister:

Approximately 4,000 Guatemalan men and women come to work in the Canadian agriculture industry every year. As you know, they enter Canada through the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, which has been widely criticized since it was introduced over seven years ago because it offers even less protection for migrants who come to Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).

Workers are recruited in Guatemala by the IOM and have to accept a series of inhumane conditions to come to Canada. Although the Pilot Project for Occupations Requiring Lower Levels of Formal Training is administered by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), the contract imposed on migrants does not allow the ministry to intervene in the terms of work. Once the contract is signed, the worker is brought in and left to the mercy of employers. I am writing to strongly request a complete review of the pilot project and the dehumanizing contract it imposes on workers.

I am asking Canadian authorities to open an official investigation into FERME and IOM’s management of the pilot project. I also want to make sure that those workers willing to come forward and file complaints will be heard without fear of deportation, and that workers already fired for voicing their concerns are given the opportunity to be heard as well.

Moreover, I am asking for the creation of a neutral body that will regulate the program and ensure acceptable working conditions and fair treatment.

We all have an interest in creating a strong Canadian agriculture industry. However, we cannot allow this to be done at the expense of workers’ rights and Canada’s well earned international reputation for decency and fairness. I strongly urge you to demonstrate leadership on this issue by doing the right thing.

Sincerely,

CANADIAN LABOUR-MANITOBA:

AN OFFER THEY COULDN'T REFUSE ?:

When the United Food and Commercial Workers-Canada (UFCW-C) signed up migrant farm workers at Mayfair Farms the other year it seemed like a breakthrough and the start of an encouraging trend. It was less encouraging this year when workers at Mayfair voted to decertify the union, citing lack of benefit from their membership in the union. While it may or may not have been true that the UFCW union didn't do all that it could to press workers' interests a brief glance at the figures presented showed that they did benefit, even if only marginally. At the time when this was reported I was suspicious that there was more to the story than was initially reported.

Indeed there was, as the following from the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), with information from our local paper the Winnipeg Free Press lays bare. The first question was whether union supporters had been deliberately weeded out from the pool of migrant labour returning to Canada each spring. Yup true, but that wasn't all. No less a personage than the Mexican Consul took it upon himself earlier this year to visit all farms in Manitoba employing Mexican nationals to give a little "sweet advise". Read all about it below.

I wonder how you say "leaned on" in Spanish ?

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Mexican consul tampered with migrant farm vote
Threatened Mayfair Farms workers with blacklisting before union decertification vote was held.

Winnipeg (17 Aug. 2009) - The Mexican consul visited migrant Mexican farm workers in Manitoba and threatened to blacklist them from ever coming to Canada again if they did not vote to decertify their union at Mayfair Farms in Portage La Prairie, says a spokesperson for group supporting the workers.

The vote to abandon the union, which they had previously chosen to join, was announced earlier this month.

Jennifer deGroot, a member of a coalition supporting seasonal workers in Manitoba and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), outlines what happened in an article published by the Winnipeg Free Press on Friday.

"Recent media reports state that workers at Mayfair Farms in Portage La Prairie chose to decertify after the long struggle to unionize," deGroot writes.

"What those reports don't talk about is the threats that workers received when they expressed interest in unionizing. At least one strong union supporter was denied return to Mayfair Farms this year," she reports.

"The day before the decertification vote the Mexican consul – which has a vested interest in keeping workers in Canada, as their remittances are a major source of national income – held a closed-door meeting with workers at Mayfair Farms.

"Early this summer the Mexican consul visited all farms with seasonal agricultural workers in Manitoba letting workers know that should they unionize they would be blacklisted.

"The lack of permanent status, the ever-present threat of being sent home, their isolation and their inability to communicate in either official language leave them among the most exploited of Canadian workers. Yet, they keep coming back."

The full Winnipeg Free Press article is available at the links below.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has signed a formal protocol with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada) to support the union in its ongoing drive to organize long-exploited migrant farm workers in Canada.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
More information:
Winnipeg Free Press: How clean are your carrots? - PDF version
More than 12,000 Mexican agricultural workers in Canada in 2009

CANADIAN/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS:

WRITERS OF DIFFERENCE:

Here's an announcement from Agitate Ottawa about an upcoming event down there in government land. If you're in the area drop on by. It might be interesting, and you'd be supporting a good cause.

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Queer/Trans Writers of Colour and Indigenous Writers Converge!:
Agitate! presents a night of performances and discussion. We’ll begin the night with an impressive line up of performers and finish with an engaging panel of writers and poets, showcasing artists of colour and indigenous artists in celebration of Pride! Often writers of marginalized identities face challenges in representing and publishing their own points of view coupled with the threat of their voices being tokenized(?) and co-opted in the process. Featuring both emerging and established writers from Ottawa and elsewhere, we will be discussing issues of representation, intersectionality(?) and how identity and experience are expressed in their craft.

Confirmed so far are Rob Friday and Kalyani Pandya from Ottawa, Nalo Hopkinson from Toronto, and Trish Salah from Montreal.

August 20th
Doors at 6:30, Performances at 7pm, Panel from 9-10pm.
Montgomery Legion Hall (top floor) 330 Kent St.
$10 – $20 sliding scale (all proceeds go to Migrant Trade Union in South Korea)

This event will also be a fundraising effort for the Migrant Trade Union (MTU) in South Korea. MTU is a union of documented and undocumented migrant workers in South Korea, the only union of its kind in the world today. The MTU has joined in the struggle of GLBT people in South Korea, including defending the needs of its own GLBT members. Agitate feels it is important to connect our work with the struggle of other racialized(?) people in the world, especially as the rights of migrant and undocumented workers in Canada continue to be largely ignored.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-POLAND:

SYNDICALISTS HELP STRANDED WORKERS:

The following item is from the Polish Union of Syndicalists, the ZSP.

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New Campaign: Was Your Flat a Work Camp?:‏
A group of Chinese workers is stranded in Warsaw after not being paid for construction work. The chain of legal responsibility is not 100% clear as each agent and subcontracting agent they dealt with are trying to pass on the responsibility for paying them. But in this tangled web, we mustn't forget the construction company which owns the building sites.

JW Construction is the largest residential developer in Poland. (It also has business abroad, for example in Russia.) Despite the financial crisis and a huge drop in the sale of flats, the company has record profits. This is partially because of policies of hiring cheaper and cheaper labour through subcontractors.

ZSP found that the Chinese stranded here worked on JW sites and, besides not getting paid, did not have proper safety equipment. JW, like all firms hiring subcontractors, will claim that it has no responsibility towards the people building on their sites, because ultimately this is the obligation of the subcontractor. But we do not agree that they have no responsibility. For this reason, we've decided not only to take action against the subcontractor, but to go directly to the main beneficent of the "work camp system" - the construction company JW.

JW has a rather checkered past: it has clear connections with members of the political elite and has used their influence to get lots of favours. A former Prime Minister is on the supervisory board of the company. In the past there were many problems with this firm; the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection even found that they had many illegal clauses in their consumer contracts and had cheated purchasers of flats. There have also been many complaints against the quality of their construction work.

We therefore decided on a campaign connected to this company. ZSP will be organizing pickets and leafleting at their sales points with the slogan "Was Your Flat a Work Camp?" It will partially be directed towards consumers, who, more than with the work conditions, will probably be concerned about whether these flats are even safe. It is one way to pressure the company. We will be demanding that they guarantee that all people working on their sites are paid, insured and receive all proper health and safety training and equipment.

We have little faith that anybody in the government will check this company. Furthermore, we believe the state is also a guilty party since they did everything to make it easier for firms to hire workers from around the world, but do absolutely nothing to ensure that they are not exploited in Poland.

The law also allows foreign companies to "delegate" workers to Poland, meaning that a Polish company can pay a foreign one and then claim they had absolutely nothing to do with whether or not that person was paid. In the most scandalous instance of abuse of such anti-worker laws, the government of North Korea contracted out slave labour to Polish companies.The state is perfectly aware of the fact that Chinese workers sent to JW Construction sites were not being paid; many had left or were kicked out of work there (for demanding their pay) and some groups of them were eventually deported. Yet nothing is done to ensure that their capitalist cronies at JW use paid labour at the sites.We will demand changes in the law regarding foreign workers and demand that the Work Inspectorate check that such workers are actually paid - but we do not count on these institutions which serve the capitalists. Therefore we will try to at least make pressure through direct action.More to follow.

Background on the situation of the workers: http://cia.bzzz.net/chinese_workers_face_deportation_from_poland

AMERICAN LABOUR:

DON'T FORGET THE JAILED INDIAN GUESTWORKERS:

The following story and appeal is from the AFL-CIO Blog. It's a story of treachery and also of the human capacity to endure. It's the story of guestworkers lured to the USA with false promises and finding slave labour conditions. It's the story of men who escaped, found jobs in North Dakota and were once again victimized by the USA government which has arrested them and holds them in detention. Read the following, and respond to thge appeal to petition for their release.

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Rep. Ellison Joins Faith and Labor Leaders in Urging Release of Jailed Workers:


Barb Kucera, editor of Workday Minnesota, follows up on the Indian guest workers who this past spring and summer waged a hunger strike for justice. The welders and pipe fitters had been lured from their native India to the United States with promises of green cards and good jobs at Signal International’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. Once there, they found themselves held in modern-day forced labor, victims of a human-trafficking scheme under the guise of the H-2B guest worker program. Now, 23 of the workers have been jailed by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Community leaders in Minnesota—including Congressman Keith Ellison and the Rev. Craig Johnson, bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—issued a call for the release of 23 workers from India held in the Fargo, N.D., jail by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

At the news conference, Johnson told a group gathered in front of the U.S. Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis:

"It is important that people of faith stand in solidarity with those among us who have been wrongly accused. "

Ellison called the situation perverse.

"It’s unjust, it’s wrong and we’re not going to stand silent while it goes on."

He and other faith leaders joined in a 24-hour fast to show solidarity. They also contacted the U.S. Department of Justice to urge the workers’ release and an investigation of Signal International.





“To Signal International, we say, ’shame on you!’” said Ray Waldron, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO.





(You can take action by sending an e-mail to members to Congress through the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ), here.)





Saket Soni of the NOWCRJ said many of the 300 workers sold homes or property to make the trip and paid $20,000 each to a recruiter. In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of immigrants were lured to the Gulf Coast with such promises, Soni said.





When they arrived, they discovered squalid living conditions. After they tried to form a union to improve their lot, they were threatened with deportation, said Soni.





Some of the workers contacted NOWCRJ, which helped them report the situation to the Justice Department. But the department is dragging its feet on investigating the case, while some of the workers have been swept up in immigration raids.





The workers, who entered the country with guest worker visas, are really victims of human trafficking, said Soni. Earlier this year, the men marched on foot from New Orleans to Washington, D.C., to urge the Justice Department to investigate the case and to allow them “continued presence,” a temporary visa status that allows victims of trafficking to work in the country while the investigation is still ongoing.





Some of the workers later got jobs in North Dakota, where they were picked up by immigration officials and have been held for nearly two months. The workers at the Fargo jail are currently engaged in a hunger strike.





Ellison said the workers’ plight might seem far-removed from the lives of most Americans, but their case has implications for everyone.





"When these workers are exploited in this manner, this diminishes all labor. This exploits all labor."

In a statement, Signal International said the company’s employment practices and facilities have been inspected by representatives of the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of State.





The news conference was coordinated by ISAIAH, a Twin Cities faith organization. Several of its members participated in the solidarity fast, the organization said.





Faith and community groups also have held rallies in Fargo to support the jailed workers. Supporters are urging people to contact Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, which oversee the Department of Justice.

BRITAIN:

EQUAL TREATMENT FOR UK MEAT WORKERS: TELL MARKS & SPENCER TO 'LOOK BEHIND THE LABEL':

In the UK Marks & Spencer is not just a clothing retailer but rather a full spectrum department store, including food retailing. The UK union Unite is waging a campaign against exploitation of migrant workers by M&S. Here is their statement. You can join the campaign and send an email to M&S management via the link at the end of the story....

PICTURE:
Equal Treatment for UK Agency Meat Workers: Tell Marks & Spencer to 'Look Behind the Label'! Members of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and labour rights supporters picketing Marks and Spencer's flagship store on February 27 in support of the T&G campaign for equal rights for agency meat workers. CTU unions taking part included the IUF-affiliated Catering And Hotels Industries Employees General Union and the Clothing Industry, Clerical and Retail Trade Employees General Union. The ITUC/GUF/HKCTU Hong Kong Liaison Office also participated in the action. The store management failed to send a representative to accept a letter calling for action on the meat issue, so it was taped to the entrance door.

THE CAMPAIGN:

The T&G section of the IUF's UK affiliate Unite is stepping up its campaign for equity for UK meat workers. Marks & Spencer, the UK retailer, is best known to consumers abroad for its line of clothing. But in the UK M&S is a full-line retailer with an important share of the food sector, including meat. M&S has also invested massively in its Corporate Social Responsibility profile, claiming it insists on the highest standards for its suppliers. M&S urges consumers to "Look behind the label" for proof of their high ethical and social standards. The T&G has looked behind the label, and found rampant casualization and abusive exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers in meat companies producing for M&S.

The T&G first raised its concerns about the situation of meat workers within the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), of which M&S is a prominent member. An internal report commissioned within the ETI confirmed that a permanent two-tier workforce has opened up in the meat industry in the UK, where mainly migrant agency workers are employed on inferior terms and conditions than directly employed staff often doing the same jobs. Agency workers typically get minimum pay, are constrained to use agency accommodation, receive no sick pay or benefits and work erratic and unpredictable schedules, often being sent home unpaid when there is no work. Up to 20% of UK meat workers, including those supplying M&S, are working under these highly abusive conditions, undermining standards for the sector as a whole.

The union highlighted these issues with demonstrations last year, supported by IUF affiliates in other countries, calling on M&S to insist that its suppliers act to ensure equity for all meat workers. The company's response has so far been confined to wooden statements that its suppliers are in conformity with the minimum legal provisions.

The campaign therefore continues, and will be expanding to the many countries around the world where M&S has franchises. Retailers – in particular those who vaunt their "ethical" credentials and allegiance to "socially responsible" sourcing - can and must insist on equitable treatment for all workers employed in their supply chains.

To support the campaign, you can send a message to M&S corporate management by clicking here. Copies will be automatically sent to the T&G and to the IUF secretariat.