Findings will add to concerns that the seasonal worker scheme visa puts people at risk of debt bondage and exploitation.

Original Source: Financial Times by Delphine Strauss in London – 3rd April 2023

Almost three-quarters of workers recruited through the Seasonal Worker Scheme, which allows UK growers to hire around 45,000 people a year on six-month visas, borrowed an average of more than £1,200 to come to the country and most had little certainty over how much they would earn once they arrived, the research organisation Focus on Labour Exploitation (Flex) found.

Most migrants working on UK farms take out big loans to cover their upfront costs, without knowing whether they will earn enough to pay off their debts, according to research published on Tuesday.

3rd April 2024: Independent – Migrant fruit pickers saddled with debts of up to £5,500 to come to UK through government scheme

Original Source: The Independent – 3rd April 2024

The findings will add to existing concerns that the design of the UK’s visa scheme — a lifeline for a sector that has struggled to recruit since Brexit — is leaving workers at risk of debt bondage and exploitation, unable to quit jobs even if they find the work and living conditions worse than promised.

They come on the back of a damning report by the UK’s borders and immigration watchdog on the UK’s visa scheme for care workers, described as leaving migrants vulnerable to “shocking” exploitation.

Lucila Granada, Flex’s chief executive, said it was “disappointing” that farm workers were still being put at risk when concerns had been flagged as early as 2021.

She acknowledged that the operators charged with bringing workers to the UK have made concerted efforts to improve the information available to potential recruits, and to stamp out illegal practices by local middlemen, while food retailers were also keen to address labour abuses in their supply chains.  

But there were still instances of workers paying illegal fees to brokers who arranged their job, on top of the lawful costs of Home Office visa fees, air fares and expenses for the weeks before the first pay cheque.

More than half of nearly 500 workers surveyed or interviewed by Flex said that before arriving in the UK they did not have accurate information on how many hours they would work or how much they would earn.

Meanwhile contracts shown to workers before they set out were not always translated into the relevant language and did not always match those they were asked to sign after arrival, with many people finding they could not earn as much as expected, leaving them struggling to clear their debts.

“We want to see that this isn’t a lottery for workers — with safeguards embedded in the structure of the scheme,” Granada said.  

Flex argued that workers on the scheme should not be expected to bear the financial risks of coming to the UK and added that it should operate on an “employer pays” principle.

The organisation also wants the government to consider listing the countries recruits can come from, because people who relied on working in the UK for several seasons had been affected when some routes suddenly closed.

A task force set up by supermarkets seeking to eliminate worker exploitation in their supply chains is exploring similar ideas, including moving the seasonal worker scheme on to an ‘employer pays’ principle.

Sophie de Salis, sustainability policy adviser at industry body the British Retail Consortium, said retailers had been working with the rest of the industry and government since 2022 to improve workers’ experience and were funding a feasibility study this year to explore how the scheme could move to an “employer pays” principle.

But she added that the government needed to address “systemic issues driving illegal recruitment fees”, including by recruiting from a set list of countries and setting a five-year rolling quota for recruitment.

The Home Office said the department was “clamping down on poor working conditions and exploitation” and had made improvements to the scheme in each of the four years it had been running.

“We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not met,” they added.

Additional Reading:

3rd April 2024: Independent – Migrant fruit pickers saddled with debts of up to £5,500 to come to UK through government scheme

26th January 2024: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Modern Slavery Issues: Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office

26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – UK government fails to protect workers from trafficking and exploitation

26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Challenge to government’s Seasonal Worker Scheme

25th Jan 2024 Home Office: UK government survey on experiences of seasonal workers scheme confirms the exceptionally high levels of issues (confusion, fees etc) faced by Indonesian and Nepali workers in 2021/2022

24th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Seasonal worker recognised as a potential victim of trafficking

20th Jan 2024 Independent: Migrant fruit picker may have been modern slavery victim under Home Office scheme, government finds

12th January 2024: UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy

2nd Dec 2023 Independent: Nepali Migrant fruit picker who ‘struggled to buy food after being underpaid by British farm’ sues employers

FLEX 6th Nov 2023 – FLEX on the House of Lords Horticultural Committee report

6th Nov 2023: UK government complicit in exploitation of farm workers – Bureau of Investigative Journalism

FLEX 26th Oct 2023 – Seasonal Workers’ Rights; Who’s Responsible?

25th Oct 2023: DEFRA Former Secretary – Seasonal Worker Scheme should be taken away from Home Office to prevent continued abuses.

20th Sept 2023: Worker interest groups’ statement on leaving the UK ‘Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce’.

27th July 2023 Maplecroft: UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme Raising Human Rights Concerns in the Food Sector.

21st July 2023: Vulnerable UK migrant workers at risk as audits of farm recruiters stall

23rd June 2023 – ‘They’re afraid’: Seasonal farm workers in the UK face poor conditions and visa hurdles.

17th March 2023 BHRRC Blog Series: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Endangers Vulnerable Foreign Workers. (My Op Ed)

16th March 2023: Labour agencies to face supermarket scrutiny over foreign worker exploitation claims in UK seasonal worker scheme.

11th March 2023: ‘UK Seasonal Workers Scheme Taskforce’ to fund audits to prevent worker exploitation.

23rd February 2023: Farm workers on UK seasonal visas to be guaranteed 32 hours a week

Other stories on challenges of UK seasonal worker scheme: 

1. Working in the UK: Hundreds of Indonesian Citizens Escape, More Than 1,200 Workers from Indonesia Threatened to Cancel (BBC, 16th Feb 2023)

2. AG Recruitment, UK recruiter of debt-hit Indonesian and Nepali migrant workers, loses seasonal workers scheme license following forced labour related allegations, worker abscondments and asylum claims (Guardian, 10th Feb 2023)

3. Indonesian former fruit pickers become illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the UK – ‘This is the easiest shortcut’ (BBC, 26th Jan 2023)

4. Home Office accepts recommendations in Chief Inspector’s report on immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector (Freeths, 16^th Jan 2023)

5. Immigration: Investors warn food companies about risk of forced labour on UK farms (Financial Times 19^th Dec 2022)

6. Investor statement on the UK Seasonal Worker Scheme (Public Investor Statement 19^th Dec 2022)

7. Hundreds of Indonesian fruit pickers in UK seek diplomatic help  (Guardian, 2^nd Dec 2022)

8. Seasonal worker visa puts migrants at risk of exploitation, say supermarkets (Guardian, 2^nd Dec 2022)

9. Seasonal fruit pickers from Nepal left thousands in debt after being sent home early from UK farms (Guardian, 13^th Nov 2022)

10. Indonesia to investigate claims fruit pickers in UK seasonal agricultural workers scheme charged thousands to work in Kent (Guardian, 29^th Aug 2022)

The post 3rd April 2024: Financial Times (London) UK employment – Britain’s seasonal worker scheme leaves many migrants in debt, research finds appeared first on Andy Hall.

Test case likely against the UK seasonal worker scheme as charity alleges breach of right to be protected from labour exploitation.

Original source: The Guardian by Emily Dugan – 26th January 2024

ATLEU Press Statement on this case – HERE

Twitter/X Feed – ‘ATLEU has brought a legal challenge to the UK Government’s Seasonal Worker Visa Scheme on the grounds that it breaches Article 4 of the ECHR (prohibition of forced labour and slavery)’

—-

(Guardian story continued)

When Ismael found himself sleeping rough at York station in the late October cold he struggled to understand how an opportunity to pick berries 7,000 miles from his home had so quickly ended there.

He had left Indonesia less than four months earlier, in July 2022. He was 18 and ready for six months of hard work on a British farm to save for a science degree. “I thought the UK was the best place to work because I could save up a little money and help my parents,” he said.

He had no idea the picking season was already well under way or that he would shortly find himself with no work to do and heavy debts back home.

Ismael’s experience is forming the basis of a test case against the government’s seasonal worker scheme, which argues that the scheme’s design breached his right to be protected from modern slavery and labour exploitation.

The case, brought by the Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU) against the Home Office and Defra, is a civil claim for damages which will say he ended up effectively stuck in the UK in debt bondage.

As well as compensation, the unit is looking for a declaration that the scheme breached the teenager’s human rights, which they hope will force the government to adjust it.

Why UK farms are recruiting fruit pickers from 7,000 miles away

Ismael, whose name has been changed as his identity is protected in the case, said he spent two days sleeping rough at York station before finding an underground recruiter on Facebook. He was lent the train fare to Newcastle to take up a job in a Chinese takeaway using his passport as collateral.

Ismael said he was paid £300 a week, working more than 14 hours a day as a chef’s assistant. “There was an empty storage room that just had bins with rubbish and they asked me to live there,” he said. “It was cold, I had no heater or anything.”

He is one of more than 34,000 people who were given a seasonal worker visa in 2022. The scheme was expanded rapidly after a pilot in 2019, despite concerns that it left people vulnerable to exploitation.

More than 200 Indonesian fruit pickers who went to the UK in 2022 asked for diplomatic help after facing difficulties. Many arrived late in the season and found there was not enough work on farms to repay their substantial debts.

Ismael said that in total the cost to him of going to the UK was more than £4,200, which included local hidden fees, such as the down payment to a local broker to guarantee the job. He said he borrowed money from family and that a local recruitment broker lent him £2,500 for the final payment to cover flights and visas as well as other costs.

He said his parents’ home was taken as surety on the debt as well as several original identity and qualification documents that he needed for working again in Indonesia.

The agent, he said, began chasing him for repayments on WhatsApp within a week of arriving. But he was not making the money he hoped.

He said that when work dried up on the first farm he was transferred to another, footing the cost of a £250 taxi because nobody explained transport options. It was just halfway through his expected six months of picking when there was no more work at the final farm, which meant he found himself in York station with just £13 in his pocket.

Around this time, he said, two debt collectors were sent to his parents’ home in Indonesia and “stayed for 24 hours in my garage so my parents couldn’t go anywhere”. He said they were now paying monthly 20% interest on the loan and he felt unable to return.

“I feel like I am in slavery at the moment because all my original documents are being held by the agent, which means if I come back to my country I wouldn’t work because companies need my original documents,” he said.

He said the seasonal worker scheme succeeded for those in countries closer to Britain. “Some of my friends that came here from Kazakhstan, from Ukraine, they paid only for their visa and their ticket. There were no more fees or charges [in their home countries], which means that they could pay [it back] within the first month of work. But it’s really different for us. We need to pay a lot.”

He now lives in London, sharing a small loft with seven other people. Initially he worked cash in hand but has recently been afraid to do that after friends were arrested in an immigration raid.

His initial application to be recognised as a victim of trafficking has been turned down, despite no dispute over its facts.

Ismael’s lawyer, Jamila Duncan-Bosu at ATLEU, said her client’s situation was far from unique and she was looking for others to join his case.

“He’s in such a catch-22 because if he goes back without paying the debt he’s basically not able to work or get into education and that debt will continue to get racked up and he’ll have no way of paying it. Meanwhile he’s stuck. He’s in the UK and he’s essentially been trafficked as a result of being in this position of debt bondage,” she said.

A government spokesperson said: “The welfare of visa holders is of paramount importance, including in the seasonal workers scheme, and we are clamping down on poor working conditions and exploitation.

“We have established a new team within the Home Office compliance network which focuses on ensuring sponsors are abiding by workers’ rights, and will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not met.”

Additional Reading:

See also: 26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – UK government fails to protect workers from trafficking and exploitation

See also: 26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Challenge to government’s Seasonal Worker Scheme

See also: 25th Jan 2024 Home Office: UK government survey on experiences of seasonal workers scheme confirms the exceptionally high levels of issues (confusion, fees etc) faced by Indonesian and Nepali workers in 2021/2022

See also: 24th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Seasonal worker recognised as a potential victim of trafficking

See also: 20th Jan 2024 Independent: Migrant fruit picker may have been modern slavery victim under Home Office scheme, government finds

See also: 12th Jan 2024 TBIJ: UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy

See also: 2nd Dec 2023 Independent: Nepali Migrant fruit picker who ‘struggled to buy food after being underpaid by British farm’ sues employers

See also: FLEX 6th Nov 2023 – FLEX on the House of Lords Horticultural Committee report

See also: 6th Nov 2023: UK government complicit in exploitation of farm workers – Bureau of Investigative Journalism

See also: FLEX 26th Oct 2023 – Seasonal Workers’ Rights; Who’s Responsible?

See also: 25th Oct 2023 The Grocer: DEFRA Former Secretary – Seasonal Worker Scheme should be taken away from Home Office to prevent continued abuses.

See also: 20th Sept 2023 Blog: Worker interest groups’ statement on leaving the UK ‘Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce’.

See also: 27th July 2023 Maplecroft: UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme Raising Human Rights Concerns in the Food Sector.

See also: 21st July 2023 Financial Times: Vulnerable UK migrant workers at risk as audits of farm recruiters stall.

See also: 17th March 2023 BHRRC Blog Series: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Endangers Vulnerable Foreign Workers.

See also: 16th March 2023 The Grocer: Labour agencies to face supermarket scrutiny over foreign worker exploitation claims in UK seasonal worker scheme.

The post 26th January 2024: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Modern Slavery Issues: Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office appeared first on Andy Hall.

The former DEFRA secretary told The Grocer the Seasonal Worker Scheme would be better if ‘full responsibility for managing it was transferred away from the Home Office’

Original Source: The Grocer by Grace Duncan – 25th October 2023.

George Eustice has called for significant changes to the seasonal worker scheme following further evidence of human ri abuses within the supply chain.

The former Defra secretary told The Grocer this week that the scheme would be better if “full responsibility for managing it was transferred away from the Home Office to Defra, where the policy expertise lies”.

Currently the scheme is jointly managed by the Home Office and Defra, with workers required to apply through approved scheme operators for farm placements.

Eustice added, while in his role heading up Defra, that he had developed “detailed plans to enable seasonal workers to switch between both employers and operators after they arrived in the UK, so there was more competition within the system and to prevent problems of bonded labour”.

“The government should also make it easier for reputable growers to recruit directly rather than having to go through operators,” he added. “All of these improvements could be delivered if responsibility for the policy were removed from the Home Office.”

The Grocer reported earlier this month that campaigners were warning it was often difficult for workers to move between sites should there be issues with individual farms, which has led some to say they are “never coming [to the UK] again” because “it’s the worst [conditions] it’s ever been”.

It comes as a new report published by The Independent and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism this week accused the Home Office of failing to investigate hundreds of allegations of mistreatment by workers who came to the UK on the seasonal worker visa.

From 19 farm inspection reports seen by TBIJ, nearly half (44%) of the 845 interviewed workers raised welfare issues including racism, wage theft and threats of being sent back home.

However, none of the allegations raised during these inspections were investigated by the Home Office or visa scheme operators, according to a report by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration.

The report also indicated the government department had tried to stop the allegations from being made public.

This was described as “outrageous” by Caroline Robinson, project advisor for Worker Support Centre Scotland, a non-profit which supports seasonal workers in Scotland with advice and information, who added that the scheme had not been given “the thought, priority and resources it deserves”.

“This scheme urgently needs much better regulation and oversight. At the moment far too much is left up to the scheme operators to address. The government cannot outsource its obligations to protect these workers,” she added.

The Home Office was approached for comment.

See more: 17th Oct 2023: Canada blasted by UN for continuing to allow ‘contemporary forms of slavery’ in seasonal worker scheme.

See more: 20th Sept 2023: Worker interest groups’ statement on leaving the UK ‘Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce’.

See more: 27th July 2023: UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme Raising Human Rights Concerns in the Food Sector.

The post 25th Oct 2023: DEFRA Former Secretary – Seasonal Worker Scheme should be taken away from Home Office to prevent continued abuses appeared first on Andy Hall.

Canada has been blasted by the United Nations for allowing ‘contemporary forms of slavery’ in the seasonal worker scheme. There has been a lot written recently on the systemic forced labour in Canada’s seasonal workers scheme, where we see similar modern slavery risks to those found in the US, UK and Australian seasonal worker schemes also. This article is particularly insightful. A good read.

As one agricultural worker says: ‘You leave everything you know behind to be exploited’.

Original Article: ricochet by Anna Aglietta – October 17th, 2023

Leonel Nava, from Tlaxcala, Mexico, came to Canada as a temporary worker after the birth of his second child, and is currently on a farm in British Columbia. He describes long, grueling work days — “they mistreat you, they shout at you, often they insult you.”

Back in Mexico, Neva’s job on a chicken farm did not allow him to adequately support his growing family. He landed in B.C. 2014, “knowing no English, nothing about field work, and having never left Mexico before.”

While the work allows him to provide for his children, his experiences are seldom positive. Conditions vary from farm to farm, but, according to Nava, most workers report long working hours, often six or seven days a week, mistreatment, and low-quality lodging are the standard. And because of the power imbalances inherent to the relationship between workers and farmers, few workers dare complain.

Contemporary Forms of Slavery

“You leave everything you know behind to be exploited,” says Nava.

And Nava’s experience echoes what a UN representative heard during a recent 14-day visit to Canada. He says that thousands of temporary workers in Canada are subjected to “contemporary forms of slavery.”

Leonel Nava is a temporary worker from Mexico currently on a farm in British Columbia.

UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata says temporary foreign agricultural workers, because of the limitation of their visas, are amongst the most vulnerable to the phenomenon.

“I am deeply disturbed by the accounts of exploitation and abuse shared with me by migrant workers,” he says in a statement, adding that many migrant workers face “contemporary forms of slavery, as they cannot report abuses without fear of deportation.”

His comments, however, did not come as news to the workers or the organizations that support them — voices that have been sounding the alarm about the dehumanizing treatment of migrant workers for years.

The report is one “in a long line of hundreds and hundreds of statements and positions and calls and even promises,” but nothing ever changes, says Syed Hussan, Executive Director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a member-led organization of migrant farmworkers, care workers, and students.

A failure of the immigration system

Nava is one of the 70,000 plus seasonal workers who come to Canada every spring to work in the agricultural fields, and head home again before winter (exact numbers are hard to come by, as there are various overlapping immigration programs and an uncounted number of illegal workers).

Canada, which has been facing a shortage of local field workers for the past 70 years, supports them with legal immigration pathways, but no access to permanent residency.

The agricultural sector accounts for 7 per cent of Canada’s GDP (or $143.8 billion) and makes the country the fifth-largest exporter of agri-food and seafood in the world. Migrant workers make up 15 per cent of Canada’s agricultural workforce.

“This workforce is effectively only Black and brown bodies who are coming here to work for the profit of the richest few.”

The reality for workers, as Obokata observed during his visit, is far from ideal. On some farms, workers are reported to work as much as 17 hours a day, six or seven days a week.

“‘Migrant worker’ is actually a political category,” says Hussan, explaining that it can be used to refer to various immigrants’ categories, from temporary workers in the agricultural and care sectors to refugees, even travelers with work-holiday visas. Usually, it is used in reference to “anybody without permanent residence status who’s a worker,” he says.

When it comes to seasonal agricultural workers, most hail from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or the Caribbean. Like Nava, many come here because they cannot find work opportunities in their home country. Indeed, Hussan observes that “this workforce is effectively only Black and brown bodies who are coming here to work for the profit of the richest few.”

Going back throughout colonization, Canada has a long history of exploitingthe labour of racialized immigrants.

After the Second World War, the U.S. introduced a scheme to allow low-wage Mexican workers to be employed by farmers. The Canadian agricultural sector lobbied for a similar scheme, claiming that the sector was in danger due to low-cost competition. In 1966, the government obliged, allowing workers from Jamaica, and later other countries throughout the Global South, to come to Canada to work during summer.

A visiting UN representative recently called on Canada’s government to step up its efforts to safeguard workers’ rights and offer a clear pathway to permanent residency for all migrants. 

Right now, Canada offers agricultural workers two immigration pathways. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program SAWP) allows workers from Mexico and selected Caribbean countries to come for up to eight months per year, while people from other countries can come through the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP).

In both cases, workers are invited to Canada by a local employer, after the latter has demonstrated that qualified Canadians are not available, for a predetermined period of time, after which they need to go back to their country. They are usually invited year after year, sometimes for up to decades, but neither case allows workers to bring their families, or aspire to a more permanent immigration status.

According to Michel Pilon, Executive Director of the migrant rights organisation Réseau d’aide aux travailleuses et travailleurs migrants agricoles du Québec (Support Network for Agricultural Migrant Workers in Quebec, RATTMAQ), “the problem with these programs is the closed permit.”

Closed work permits mean that workers “cannot change employers and may face deportation upon termination of their employment,” states Obokata in his report. He went on to add that “this creates a dependency relationship between employers and employees, making the latter vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.”

At the B.C. farm he is currently working on, Nava says, the “housing is unacceptable and there are plagues of rats.”

Additional factors contribute to making the situation worse for workers. First, programs like the SAWP are exempt from labour standards, such as employment insurance, minimum wage protections, and overtime pay, while workers are often unaware of what rights they have. As a result, Obokata states that workers often face “excessive working hours, being obliged to perform extra-contractual tasks, physically dangerous tasks, low wages, no overtime pay, being denied access to healthcare and/or transport to medical facilities, limited access to social services.”

What’s more, workers are often required (either by their work permit or because of the remoteness of the farms) to live in accommodation provided by the employer, “sometimes warehoused one on top of each other, potentially without clean drinking water,” says Hussan.

At the B.C. farm he is currently working on, Nava says, the “housing is unacceptable and there are plagues of rats.” Workers try to “look for places that are not too bad,” but most have little hope of finding a farm where conditions are actually considered good.

Once Nava complained on social media about the employer-provided accommodation he was living in at the time and, as a result, his employer tried to take his phone and close his Facebook account to prevent him from talking.

Service Canada and Immigration Canada did not respond to Ricochet’s requests for an interview.

Denis Roy, Treasurer and Director of Finances at the Quebec Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA – Union of Agricultural Producers), says that the UPA encourages workers to affirm themselves and set their boundaries, while ensuring that farmers are aware of and respect the workers’ rights. “Our goal”, he says, “is that the program of temporary workers is win-win-win, for the workers, their families and the farmers.”

When asked about the long days that workers are subjected to, or the extensive housing issues, Roy says that workers come to Canada to make money and, according to farmers, often prefer to work longer and save on housing to earn more. And if they didn’t, he adds, they could refuse with no consequence.

But the reality is more grim, explains Nava. When someone speaks up, “they are labelled as problematic,” and they risk facing repercussions, both in the short or long-term. For example, once Nava complained on social media about the employer-provided accommodation he was living in at the time and, as a result, his employer tried to take his phone and close his Facebook account to prevent him from talking (Nava knew his rights and refused to comply).

Workers who stand up for their rights are also at risk of being fired and, since their work permit is tied to their job and they live on the farm, this means that they end up both homeless and undocumented, with no possibility of getting another job.

Agricultural workers are frequently subjected to long hours, abusive treatment, and often substandard living conditions. 

This situation is compounded by the debt that migrants may take on to come to Canada: recruiters in their home countries often require upfront payment to connect a worker with a farm, forcing them to take a loan. This practice makes it even harder for workers to quit abusive employers, because they would have little chance to repay the loan, which is “equivalent to one or two years of salary in local currency,” says Hussan.

And then there is the infamous practice of blacklisting, where employers share the names of “problematic” workers with other farms and liaison services in their home countries, effectively preventing the person from coming back to Canada. “While all the governments consistently denies it is happening, workers who speak up for their rights are not invited back the next year,” explains Hussan.

As a result, Obokata concluded that “certain categories of migrant workers are made vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery in Canada by the policies that regulate their immigration status, employment, and housing.”

Few options to defend themselves

Last September, Canada amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Temporary Foreign Workers) to introduce new protections for workers and prevent abuse, requiring, for example, that employers inform workers of their rights, as well as mandating inspections (usually pre-scheduled) of work sites.

These measures, says Nava, provide “relief, but a very light one,” observing that there is no economic incentive for the government to change things. And, as Obokata notes in his report, the rules are very seldomly enforced, and most workers are unaware they even exist.

Organisations like RATTMAQ and the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change are trying to change the status quo, supporting and organizing workers who are standing up for their rights. For example, Pilon says that RATTMAQ wins 95 per cent of the lawsuits against employers brought forward by workers.

However, he adds, “few workers file complaints, […] even if their employers break the law.” The main reason is that workers fear being blacklisted and not being called back the following years, losing, for many, their only source of income.

More than 70,000 plus seasonal workers who come to Canada every spring to work in the agricultural fields, and head home again before winter. Migrant workers make up 15 per cent of Canada’s agricultural workforce. 

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change

In addition, Nava observes that language is a big barrier, as “the large majority of workers do not speak any English.” Indeed, temporary agricultural workers are not offered language courses as other classes of immigrants in Canada, who are usually required to take French or English classes. And while nonprofits supporting workers are always careful to provide services in Spanish, the same cannot be said of employers and government resources.

Finally, they know “they won’t be listened to,” says Nava, describing how often individual complaints, addressed to either the Mexican Consulate or Service Canada, are not addressed.

And yet Nava believes strongly in speaking up, not just for himself, “but for the thousands of migrant workers who share the same situation” as him, and invites other workers to stand up for themselves and organize in groups, like the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

All he wants, he says, is respect. “I am generating revenues for the employer, it is not like they are giving me free money, so I think I should be treated as an equal.”

Calls for permanent status

All stakeholders involved agree that to change things, there will need to be drastic changes to the system.

In his feedback, Obokata called on the federal government to step up its efforts to safeguard workers’ rights and offer a clear pathway to permanent residency for all migrants. “I urge the government to bring forward legislation requiring Canadian companies to implement mandatory human rights due diligence, and expand the independence, powers, and mandate of the CORE (Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise).”

“I am generating revenues for the employer, it is not like they are giving me free money, so I think I should be treated as an equal.”

The RATTMAQ is working closely with various stakeholders in Québec, including UPA and several government officials, to improve conditions for workers in the region. Quebec, he notes, is quite open compared to other provinces, explaining that “it may sound surprising, but the UPA agrees with the idea of sectoral open work permits.”

Sectoral permits would tie the workers to the agricultural sector, to avoid labour shortages: “we have the mission of feeding the population,” says Roy, “and we cannot stop the production of a field.” But workers would be allowed to change employers if they face exploitative conditions, potentially ensuring better labour standards.

UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata says temporary foreign agricultural and low-wage streams of the temporary foreign workers program constitute a breeding ground for ‘contemporary forms of slavery.’

To many, however, this is not enough. According to Hussan, “the only solution is permanent resident status quo. Every person in the country must have the same immigration status, because there’s no other way to have equal rights.”

Unfortunately, years of advocacy on the part of workers, labour associations, and citizens have brought little change. While the government has repeatedly acknowledged the challenges faced by workers and has promised to better protect them, it has not enacted any substantial change.

For instance, a federal pilot program for permanent residency only applies to individuals with permanent contracts. While this presents an opportunity for workers involved in greenhouse agriculture, or animal farming, seasonal field workers are automatically disqualified.

In Quebec, where immigrants must be approved by the province before moving to the federal level, the program does not even apply and any other immigration route requires high proficiency levels in French that most workers do not have, says Roy. RATTMAQ and UPA, together with other organisations, are lobbying at the provincial level to change that, but they have not heard back.

And yet, as Nava says, permanent residency is the only way to end the injustices. “All we ask is the freedom to choose our future.”

See more: 20th Sept 2023: Worker interest groups’ statement on leaving the UK ‘Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce’.

See more: 27th July 2023: UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme Raising Human Rights Concerns in the Food Sector.

See more: BHRRC Blog Series: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Endangers Vulnerable Foreign Workers.

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