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Migrant farm workers in Ontario strike against working conditions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Migrant farm workers stage wildcat strike to demand thousands of dollars in unpaid wages: Employer responds with deportation

November 23, 2010

(Simcoe, Ontario) Over 100 migrant farm workers employed at Ghesquiere Plants Ltd. are facing imminent repatriation (deportation) after staging a wildcat strike to demanding thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.

The migrant workers from Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados came together across racial, linguistic and ethnic lines to organize this wildcat strike and strengthen their collective power. The workers employed by this farm described numerous rights violations and complaints about their living conditions including the following:

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David J. Climenhaga

The only sector where you can't have a union is the only one with no health and safety rules? Explain, please…

By
David J. Climenhaga
| September 19, 2012

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta

Literally everybody – and that includes Alberta Premier Alison Redford – knows that permitting an industry to “voluntarily” self-regulate the health and safety of its own workers amounts to a load of a very common agricultural product frequently spread on the ground as fertilizer.

This includes, by the way, every one of those well-greased lobbyists and earnest spokespeople for Alberta’s agricultural industry who presumably subjected Ms. Redford to the full court press to forget about her impetuous promise to cover farm workers under Alberta’s health and safety legislation during last fall’s Conservative leadership campaign.

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Migrant Matters
Migrant Matters

Escalating migrant and refugee repression in Canada - Panel

May 24, 2012
| The wide impact that migration and Canada has on low-income racialized people from the Global South who are going to work and/or seeking refuge here.
Length: 1:03:26
rabble series

Inside the working conditions of migrant workers: Journal seven and epilogue

Wall graffiti written in Chinese on a greenhouse bathroom stall. Photo: Aylwin Lo

In light of the recent tragic incident involving the death of 10 migrant workers in Southern Ontario, I felt it was finally time to take the wraps off of a journal I kept during a two-week trip in early 2004 to investigate the conditions of undocumented Chinese migrant farm workers. I hope this can help shed light on the kinds of conditions faced every day by the people who tend, pick and process the food we eat.

This is the seventh in a series. See here for the first entry.

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rabble series

Inside the working conditions of migrant workers: Journal six

A list of demands. Photo: Aylwin Lo

In light of the recent tragic incident involving the death of 10 migrant workers in Southern Ontario, I felt it was finally time to take the wraps off of a journal I kept during a two-week trip in early 2004 to investigate the conditions of undocumented Chinese migrant farm workers. I hope this can help shed light on the kinds of conditions faced every day by the people who tend, pick and process the food we eat.

This is the sixth in a series. See here for the first entry.

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human rights migrant workers farm workers worker exploitation migrant work migrant worker deaths justice for migrant workers
rabble series

Inside the working conditions of migrant workers: Journal five

In light of the recent tragic incident involving the death of 10 migrant workers in Southern Ontario, I felt it was finally time to take the wraps off of a journal I kept during a two-week trip in early 2004 to investigate the conditions of undocumented Chinese migrant farm workers. I hope this can help shed light on the kinds of conditions faced every day by the people who tend, pick and process the food we eat.

This is the fifth in a series. See here for the first entry.

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Immigration labour human rights migrant workers farm workers worker exploitation migrant work migrant worker deaths justice for migrant workers
rabble series

Inside the working conditions of migrant workers: Journal four

View from the writer's bunk. Photo: Aylwin Lo

In light of the recent tragic incident involving the death of 10 migrant workers in Southern Ontario, I felt it was finally time to take the wraps off of a journal I kept during a two-week trip in early 2004 to investigate the conditions of undocumented Chinese migrant farm workers. I hope this can help shed light on the kinds of conditions faced every day by the people who tend, pick and process the food we eat.

This is the fourth in a series. See here for the first entry.

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Tags:
labour human rights migrant workers farm workers worker exploitation migrant work migrant worker deaths justice for migrant workers
rabble series

Inside the working conditions of migrant workers: Journal three

Photo: Aylwin Lo

In light of the recent tragic incident involving the death of 10 migrant workers in Southern Ontario, I felt it was finally time to take the wraps off of a journal I kept during a two-week trip in early 2004 to investigate the conditions of undocumented Chinese migrant farm workers. I hope this can help shed light on the kinds of conditions faced every day by the people who tend, pick and process the food we eat.

This is the third in a series. See here for the first entry.

embedded_video

Tags:
labour human rights migrant workers farm workers worker exploitation migrant work migrant worker deaths justice for migrant workers
Migrant Matters
Migrant Matters

Guelph hosts vigil to honour 11 victims of migrant worker van tragedy

February 21, 2012
| Year after year, migrants without full status die in Ontario. Speakers at a Guelph vigil talk about the latest news on this -- the 10 people who were killed in a Hampstead, Ont. crash this month.
Length: 10:59
rabble series

Inside the working conditions of migrant workers: Journal two

In light of the recent tragic incident involving the death of 10 migrant workers in Southern Ontario, I felt it was finally time to take the wraps off of a journal I kept during a two-week trip in early 2004 to investigate the conditions of undocumented Chinese migrant farm workers. I hope this can help shed light on the kinds of conditions faced every day by the people who tend, pick and process the food we eat.

This is the second in a series. See here for the first entry.

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Tags:
labour human rights migrant workers farm workers worker exploitation migrant work migrant worker deaths justice for migrant workers
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