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 MANITOBA:

LET THE "THREE AMIGOS" STAY:

Three Filipino workers are now awaiting a deportation hearing here in Winnipeg. The decision about whether they can stay has been set for December 23, 2 days before Christmas. As the following article in the Winnipeg Free Press makes plain they have been the victims of unscrupulous immigration agents and a negligent employer. As we type these words a fund raising dinner for the trio is being held at the Legion Hall on Logan Avenue.

The case of the three men has been taken up by Damayan Manitoba, affiliated with the national organization Migrante Canada. Both organizations advocate for the rights of "temporary workers" here in Canada who are far too often the victims of crooked recruitment agents, lawyers and employers. Here's the story, and I hope you will join Molly in wishing the three men well. This story has special relevance here in Manitoba with our large Filipino community.

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Foreign dads fear deportation
Were working with expired permits to support families in Philippines
By: Carol Sanders


Three dads trying to support their families in the Philippines hope they won't be home for Christmas.

The temporary workers face an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Dec. 23 after working in a gas bar in Thompson with invalid work permits.

"I hope they let us stay and work," said Ermie Zotomayor, 45. "It's the only means we have to support our families," said the man with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. He and his two educated co-workers -- Antonio Laroya, 45, and Arnisito Gaviola, 42 -- each paid $3,000 to a recruiter in 2007 to find them service jobs in Canada. They shared a trailer in High Prairie, Alta., and worked at a gas station and a restaurant, sending money home to their wives and children in the Philippines. Following a local downturn in the economy, they were offered similar jobs in Manitoba.

The men said their prospective Thompson employer was supposed to take care of their work permits and needed them to start work right away. They went to work in February for $10 an hour, sharing an apartment in the northern city and sending the bulk of their pay home.

"We were caught in a situation where we have to do what we have to do," said Zotomayor, who's been advised not to identify the employer. "We don't want to be a burden."

On June 24, the men were arrested at their Thompson apartment by the Canada Border Services Agency and held at the RCMP detachment for eight hours.

"We were scared," Laroya said. They paid another $1,500 to an immigration consultant in Calgary to help them, not knowing they cannot work while awaiting their Dec. 23 admissibility hearing.

All three have jobs lined up in Thompson with another employer, but can't take them.

"Filipino friends in Thompson have been helping us out... giving us food (and shelter)," Zotomayor said. Now they're in Winnipeg sleeping on the floor of a friend's apartment awaiting their hearing two days before Christmas.

A fundraising dinner and dance is being held this evening at the Royal Canadian Legion on Logan Avenue for the "three amigos" as they're known in the community, said Diwa Marcelino with Bayan Manitoba. It's part of Migrante Canada, a national organization of 16 groups advocating for the rights of Filipino temporary workers.

The three amigos' case is far too common, Marcelino said.

"They were duped by employers and criminalized for trying to work and survive," he said. "Their only crime is working to provide a better life for their family."

Employers benefit from cheap, reliable labour and the workers end up losing their livelihood and being sent home, he said.

If the adjudicator decides Dec. 23 the three men have to leave Canada, they have no right to appeal, said a government spokeswoman in Vancouver.

That doesn't seem fair to Jomay Amora-Mercado, the Manitoba representative for Migrante Canada.

"They've contributed to the economy of Canada." The national body is pushing for temporary workers to have the right to apply for permanent resident status, she said.

The former temporary worker was a "Timmy's girl" at a Tim Hortons in Sherwood Park, Alta., who paid $5,000 to a recruiter for the privilege. Migrante Canada wants the federal government to change the way it issues temporary work permits so workers aren't at the mercy of a single employer, she said.

"It should be work-specific, not employer-specific," she said. When a labour market opinion proves there's a demand for workers, the worker issued the permit shouldn't be chained to a single employer in that market, Jomay said.

For information or fundraiser tickets, call 218-7100 or 414-5902.

CANADIAN LABOUR- ALBERTA:

THE HARD LIFE IN THE FIELDS OF ALBERTA:

Canada plays host to an increasing number of foreign temporary workers, and their lot is not an easy one. Unless they have the good fortune to be represented by a union they pretty much fall outside of the normal legal protections that Canadian workers enjoy. Here's a story from Alberta about just how grasping their employers can be. From a press release by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union...

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Alberta stats confirm frontline evidence of foreign worker abuse

Workplace violation statistics released as UFCW Canada delegation and allies gather for national conference on challenges faced by immigrants and foreign workers

March 18, 2010 — The violation of the workplace rights of many Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) in Alberta “reinforces what we’ve reported for years now,” says Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada. “Except for locations where those workers have a union, TFWs in Alberta and across Canada are regular targets for exploitation and workplace abuse.”

UFCW Canada is Canada’s largest private sector union, and represents thousands of TFWs under collective agreements. These agreements protect these TFWs against workplace violations, require health and safety information in the workers’ language, and provide a legal pathway for these workers to permanent Canadian residency.

“So the story for UFCW Canada members who are Temporary Foreign Workers is positive. But outside the union, TFWs are treated by thousands of employers like disposable commodities, with no respect for their safety or other workplace rights. The latest stats from Alberta back that up.”

The UFCW Canada president’s remarks come in the wake of newly released Alberta Ministry of Labour inspection statistics that show that of the 407 Alberta TFW workplaces inspected this year, 74% of those employers had violated the Employment Standards Act regarding pay rates and record keeping. The data was released by the Alberta NDP, which obtained the records under a Freedom of Information application. ( In other words the Alberta government had to be squeezed to provide the information- Molly )

“We agree with the Alberta NDP and the Alberta Federation of Labour that the federal government’s TFW program needs to be revised to fully respect the human and labour rights of these vulnerable workers. That should also include the right to build a permanent life in Canada for these workers and their families. And that goes across this country — not just Alberta,” said Hanley.

“Unless you’re unionized, the treatment of Temporary Foreign Workers continues to be a national disgrace,” says Naveen Mehta, Director of Human Rights, Equity and Diversity, UFCW Canada.

Mehta is also one of a 25 UFCW Canada delegates from across the country who are attending the 12th Annual Metropolis Conference on Immigration and Diversity being held in Montreal. UFCW Canada is presenting and participating as one of the country’s leading advocates, in the community and on the front lines, for migrant workers in Canada.

“The federal government has to stop turning a blind eye to what happens to these workers once they get to Canada,” says Mehta. “Canada was built on generations of immigrants. That is a proud legacy that is being cast aside by federal migrant worker programs that treat these workers like inputs and not people. We are here with our allies to change that.”