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CULTURE - EDUCATION
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Cold and cruel welcome
to Mexicans in Canada
to Mexicans in Canada
The Seasonal Workers Agricultural Program (SWAP) has been designed for the employer to have complete power over the worker.
05/20/09
By: Ana Paula Coquet / Seinforma Canada Correspondent
Mexico. - Exploitation to 16,000 workers from the Seasonal Workers Agricultural Program (SWAP) continues to be a reality. Cheap man labour is necessary to Canadian economy but in practice it compromises human rights to thousands of foreign workers annually.[2]
Some of the worst cases of massive abuse have occurred since December 2008, after a law that allows these kinds of workers to be unionized was approved. More than 70 workers, most of them Mexican and Jamaican, were fired from a mushroom farm on December 6. It was unjustified, they were thrown out of the housing the farm provided and they are facing deportation. They had the choice to take a flight home or stay without possibility of work. Many workers couldn’t turn down the offer. The multimillionaire farm produces more than 50 million dollars annually. [1]
SWAP is an agreement between the Mexican and the Canadian government to accomplish a controlled migratory flow in both countries and satisfy the man labor needs of the Canadian farmers. [3]
Mexican Embassy in the edge
The program began on 1974 with the participation of 203 workers. The growth of SWAP has been sustainable on the past years and even though the reiterate sues, the conditions of the workers are the same: unacceptable. Between 1974 and 2005, 134,518 workers were sent, and they have worked in “semi - slavery” conditions. [4]
The Mexican Embassy in Canada describes it as a secure and profitable alternative to maintain better quality of life[ 5]. Alberto Camaro Corona, deputy for the Democratic Revolucionary party (PRD), sustains that there is a conflict of interest in the Mexican consulate, because even though it represents the workers, on the other side, they seek to maintain the employers content.
Jenna Hennebry, Canadian investigator, pointed out that the Mexican authorities have received complaints about the abuses in Mexico, but the response is always the same, “if you want to go work that’s fine, if not you have the choice to stay.” [6]
Unfair agreement
The agreement signed by the two countries, gives the employer discreetly the faculty to send back the workers to their original countries. The terms of the contract don’t allow any appellation to this situation. [7] Wayne Hanley, president of the United Farm Workers Union (UFCW) syndicate, declared that SWAP has been designed for the employer to have complete power over the worker. [8]
When the seasonal period is over, they carry out a questionnaire on each worker that is sent to Secretaría de Trabajo y Previsión Social (Working and Social Department) in Mexico City. The opinion provided about the worker is necessary for their return the next year. This situation avoids that the workers complain about abuses from their bosses. [9]
Before a law was promulgated on November 2008, the agricultural syndicates were forbidden. Even though some progress has occurred on human rights, abuse continues.
The rights that are promised to workers include benefits and taxes: medical insurance, retirement fund, unemployment fund and value added tax on their shopping. They cannot collect their unemployment fund because when they go back to their countries, the fund is invalid. They aren’t informed on most of their rights, like the retirement fund. The Value Added Tax is supposed to be refunded, but the paperwork goes through the Mexican Consulate and it never appears. [10]
In a manifest presented by the Mexican workers in Quebec in September 2003, protests are being held about the failure of the program. The guarantees stipulated on the contracts weren’t respected. This guarantees were working hours, activities were different that the ones assured, other farms “borrowed them”; medical care and indemnity wasn’t provided, even though the paid an insurance policy. There were no security measures and health conditions were degrading. Because they are after all immigrants in Canada they can’t enjoy citizen rights, and being away from their original countries, they can’t have those right either.
It is important to emphasize some of the adversities the immigrants face in Canada. On one side, language is a barrier, if they don’t understand it, abuses are easily committed and misunderstood by the Canadians. On the other side there is a lack of using the Mexican farming skills, reduced by working conditions underneath decent.
The Mexican Government allows the abuse because they need to give the population an employment source the country doesn’t have, and seeks entrances of remittances. The difficult situation in Mexico cannot be an excuse to tolerate abuse anymore. The Government needs to demand that human rights are respected.
In farms, workers suffer from a dehumanizing condition. They are being reduced to objects for the production of the country. The Canadian Government needs Mexicans to perform the jobs Canadians wouldn’t do for the same salary. They take advantage of the poverty third world countries bear for their own benefit, without taking responsibility for the obligations. Canada has to treat the workers on equal terms. It is of paramount importance that the country protects the workers from injustice and offers institutions that inform, aid and council to the immigrants.
“The universal principles of human rights cannot be implemented and enforced without the consent of nation - states.” Tanya Basok, researcher at the University of Windsor, has said. [11]
It is necessary that SWAP becomes a source of opportunities for the Mexicans, that it helps the economy of both countries, fortifying bilateral relationships and creating real institutions to protect the workers from the abuses the workers might suffer in their stay, and that it respects their legal and innate rights.
*Ana Paula Coquet Dávila is a Mexican social communicator. At present she is working in TV post-production at the Federal District, at Circuit 24, House of Representative
Notes:
[1] Despiden y deportan a agricultores mexicanos, Correo Canadiense, 11 de diciembre de 2008, http://www.elcorreo.ca/elcorreo/story.php?story_id=9461
[2] REYES Campos, Ivonne, Aumentan abusos contra mexicanos en Canadá, Rumbo de México, 4 enero de 2009. http://www.rumbodemexico.com.mx/macnews-core00005n/notes/?id=181407
[3] TREJO García, Elma del Carmen, Programa de Trabajadores Mexicanos Temporales, Subdirección de Política Exterior, Servicio de Investigación y Análisis, Junio 2007.
[4] Consulado General de México en Toronto, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 2 de agosto de 2006.
[5] ESTRADA Efiss, Thamara, Vigente el programa de trabajadores agrícolas temporales, La Opinión de Michoacán, 6 de enero de 2009, http://www.laopiniondemichoacan.com.mx/hemeroteca/Enero09/Principal/07/05070109.html
[6] ROMÁN, Jose Antonio, Insisten en éxito del programa de empleo temporal en Canadá, pese a violaciones, La Jornada, 3 de enero de 2008, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/01/03/index.php?section=politica&article=007n1pol
[7] IBID.
[8] UFCW Canadá. Trabajadores extranjeros deportados de una granja en Ontario, Diciembre 6 de 2008, MarketWire, http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Ufcw-Canada-927564.html
[9] SOCK Lee Min, Son legales y pagan impuestos a cambio de ningún beneficio, 30 de septiembre de 2003, La Jornada, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2003/09/28/mas-cano.html
[10] PICKARD MIGUEL, Los migrantes mexicanos en Canadá: El programa de semiesclavos pronto se expandirá a EEUU, CIEPAC, 3 de marzo de 2004, San Crist-bal de las Casas, http://www.ciepac.org/boletines/chiapasaldia.php?id=398
[11] BASOK Tanya, Human Rights Citizenship: The Case of Mexican Migrants in Canada, University of Windsor, April 2003,
By: Ana Paula Coquet / Seinforma Canada Correspondent
Mexico. - Exploitation to 16,000 workers from the Seasonal Workers Agricultural Program (SWAP) continues to be a reality. Cheap man labour is necessary to Canadian economy but in practice it compromises human rights to thousands of foreign workers annually.[2]
Some of the worst cases of massive abuse have occurred since December 2008, after a law that allows these kinds of workers to be unionized was approved. More than 70 workers, most of them Mexican and Jamaican, were fired from a mushroom farm on December 6. It was unjustified, they were thrown out of the housing the farm provided and they are facing deportation. They had the choice to take a flight home or stay without possibility of work. Many workers couldn’t turn down the offer. The multimillionaire farm produces more than 50 million dollars annually. [1]
SWAP is an agreement between the Mexican and the Canadian government to accomplish a controlled migratory flow in both countries and satisfy the man labor needs of the Canadian farmers. [3]
Mexican Embassy in the edge
The program began on 1974 with the participation of 203 workers. The growth of SWAP has been sustainable on the past years and even though the reiterate sues, the conditions of the workers are the same: unacceptable. Between 1974 and 2005, 134,518 workers were sent, and they have worked in “semi - slavery” conditions. [4]
The Mexican Embassy in Canada describes it as a secure and profitable alternative to maintain better quality of life[ 5]. Alberto Camaro Corona, deputy for the Democratic Revolucionary party (PRD), sustains that there is a conflict of interest in the Mexican consulate, because even though it represents the workers, on the other side, they seek to maintain the employers content.
Jenna Hennebry, Canadian investigator, pointed out that the Mexican authorities have received complaints about the abuses in Mexico, but the response is always the same, “if you want to go work that’s fine, if not you have the choice to stay.” [6]
Unfair agreement
The agreement signed by the two countries, gives the employer discreetly the faculty to send back the workers to their original countries. The terms of the contract don’t allow any appellation to this situation. [7] Wayne Hanley, president of the United Farm Workers Union (UFCW) syndicate, declared that SWAP has been designed for the employer to have complete power over the worker. [8]
When the seasonal period is over, they carry out a questionnaire on each worker that is sent to Secretaría de Trabajo y Previsión Social (Working and Social Department) in Mexico City. The opinion provided about the worker is necessary for their return the next year. This situation avoids that the workers complain about abuses from their bosses. [9]
Before a law was promulgated on November 2008, the agricultural syndicates were forbidden. Even though some progress has occurred on human rights, abuse continues.
The rights that are promised to workers include benefits and taxes: medical insurance, retirement fund, unemployment fund and value added tax on their shopping. They cannot collect their unemployment fund because when they go back to their countries, the fund is invalid. They aren’t informed on most of their rights, like the retirement fund. The Value Added Tax is supposed to be refunded, but the paperwork goes through the Mexican Consulate and it never appears. [10]
In a manifest presented by the Mexican workers in Quebec in September 2003, protests are being held about the failure of the program. The guarantees stipulated on the contracts weren’t respected. This guarantees were working hours, activities were different that the ones assured, other farms “borrowed them”; medical care and indemnity wasn’t provided, even though the paid an insurance policy. There were no security measures and health conditions were degrading. Because they are after all immigrants in Canada they can’t enjoy citizen rights, and being away from their original countries, they can’t have those right either.
It is important to emphasize some of the adversities the immigrants face in Canada. On one side, language is a barrier, if they don’t understand it, abuses are easily committed and misunderstood by the Canadians. On the other side there is a lack of using the Mexican farming skills, reduced by working conditions underneath decent.
The Mexican Government allows the abuse because they need to give the population an employment source the country doesn’t have, and seeks entrances of remittances. The difficult situation in Mexico cannot be an excuse to tolerate abuse anymore. The Government needs to demand that human rights are respected.
In farms, workers suffer from a dehumanizing condition. They are being reduced to objects for the production of the country. The Canadian Government needs Mexicans to perform the jobs Canadians wouldn’t do for the same salary. They take advantage of the poverty third world countries bear for their own benefit, without taking responsibility for the obligations. Canada has to treat the workers on equal terms. It is of paramount importance that the country protects the workers from injustice and offers institutions that inform, aid and council to the immigrants.
“The universal principles of human rights cannot be implemented and enforced without the consent of nation - states.” Tanya Basok, researcher at the University of Windsor, has said. [11]
It is necessary that SWAP becomes a source of opportunities for the Mexicans, that it helps the economy of both countries, fortifying bilateral relationships and creating real institutions to protect the workers from the abuses the workers might suffer in their stay, and that it respects their legal and innate rights.
*Ana Paula Coquet Dávila is a Mexican social communicator. At present she is working in TV post-production at the Federal District, at Circuit 24, House of Representative
Notes:
[1] Despiden y deportan a agricultores mexicanos, Correo Canadiense, 11 de diciembre de 2008, http://www.elcorreo.ca/elcorreo/story.php?story_id=9461
[2] REYES Campos, Ivonne, Aumentan abusos contra mexicanos en Canadá, Rumbo de México, 4 enero de 2009. http://www.rumbodemexico.com.mx/macnews-core00005n/notes/?id=181407
[3] TREJO García, Elma del Carmen, Programa de Trabajadores Mexicanos Temporales, Subdirección de Política Exterior, Servicio de Investigación y Análisis, Junio 2007.
[4] Consulado General de México en Toronto, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 2 de agosto de 2006.
[5] ESTRADA Efiss, Thamara, Vigente el programa de trabajadores agrícolas temporales, La Opinión de Michoacán, 6 de enero de 2009, http://www.laopiniondemichoacan.com.mx/hemeroteca/Enero09/Principal/07/05070109.html
[6] ROMÁN, Jose Antonio, Insisten en éxito del programa de empleo temporal en Canadá, pese a violaciones, La Jornada, 3 de enero de 2008, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/01/03/index.php?section=politica&article=007n1pol
[7] IBID.
[8] UFCW Canadá. Trabajadores extranjeros deportados de una granja en Ontario, Diciembre 6 de 2008, MarketWire, http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Ufcw-Canada-927564.html
[9] SOCK Lee Min, Son legales y pagan impuestos a cambio de ningún beneficio, 30 de septiembre de 2003, La Jornada, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2003/09/28/mas-cano.html
[10] PICKARD MIGUEL, Los migrantes mexicanos en Canadá: El programa de semiesclavos pronto se expandirá a EEUU, CIEPAC, 3 de marzo de 2004, San Crist-bal de las Casas, http://www.ciepac.org/boletines/chiapasaldia.php?id=398
[11] BASOK Tanya, Human Rights Citizenship: The Case of Mexican Migrants in Canada, University of Windsor, April 2003,
***
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The Canadian Government needs Mexicans to perform the jobs Canadians wouldn’t do for the same salary. (Photo stps.gob.mx/ Seinforma Canada)
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