False promises to newcomers
Thu, December 20 2007
By Mata Press Service
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SFU Professor Habiba Zaman |
The new study, released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative and the Philippine Women Centre, entitled Workerplace Rights for Immigrants in BC – The case of Filipino workers- details the low wage job cycle, and rampant workplace rights violations of Canadian employers.
The study uncovers that despite booming BC economy and in spite of high education levels, competence and skills, recent immigrants often find an elusive economic security and fell victims of “false promises.”
They frequently work in unsafe conditions with little training or access to information about their rights.
The study also finds that enforcement of the Employment Standards Act (ESA) is effectively non-existent.
None of the study’s interviewees had made use of the English-only “self-help kit” (the only way to report violations to the Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services), despite experiencing ESA violations.
“The provincial government’s rollback of employment standards in 2002 means that many basic employment rights now exist only as ‘paper-rights,’ particularly for recent immigrants,” says Habiba Zaman, SFU professor and co-author of the report.
“If no one has informed you of your rights and no one is actively enforcing them, how can you enjoy the protections that are supposed to exist for all workers in BC?” continues Zaman.
“Highly educated immigrants are arriving in Canada with the promise of good employment,” says Cecilia Diocson, co-author of the report and executive director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada.
“Instead, they are experiencing a severe transition penalty in the form of low-paying jobs, often with inadequate protections,” says Diocson.
This is a cycle that stretches into unsatisfactory employment for years and can eventually result in long-term economic hardship.”
Based on the report’s findings and consultation with immigrant-serving organizations, it concluded with extensive policy recommendations such as elimination of the $6 per hour first-job wage and an increase in minimum wage to $10 per hour.
Institute proactive monitoring teams to “randomly” investigate workplaces, and increase penalties for violators. The study likewise strongly suggested to get rid of the “self-help kit” and allow workers to bring complaints about workplace violations directly to the Employment Standards Branch.
Also, the study recommends provision of special funds for community-based, non-profit system, which would provide assistance, including advocacy in order to give full protection of the labor rights of new immigrant workers.
More importantly, it recommended the increase of public education and awareness campaign of the ESA through information sessions, translation into appropriate languages, and extensive distribution.
It also suggested rights be posted at workplaces.
The study authored by Zaman, Diocson and Rebecca Scott is available at www.policyalternatives.ca and multilingual versions of this release are available at www.policyalternatives.ca
Restore the requirement that rights be posted at workplaces.
The Economic Security Project (ESP) is a joint project of Simon Fraser University and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-BC bringing together academic collaborators and community partners to document and analyze BC’s recent policy changes and their effects on the economic security of vulnerable populations, and present workable alternative solutions.
Economic security refers to an assured and stable standard of living that provides individuals and families with the necessary level of resources to participate economically, politically, socially, culturally, and with dignity in their communities.
The Economic Security Project is funded primarily by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under the Community University Research Alliance (CURA) program.
A significant aim of the ESP lies in the training of students and provision of learning experiences for them to become better equipped for future research and community involvement.
It is under this aim that the project has made every attempt to maximize the student involvement.
Students also were given the opportunity to experience research in the setting of the community partner, thereby expanding the traditional student research experience and building relationships for future research and participatory endeavors.
They were thought of positive models for community-academic collaboration and participatory action research, as well as the nature of research careers not only in the academic, but also community and public sectors.
Workplace Rights for Immigrants in BC: The Case of Filipino Workers, by Habiba Zaman, Cecilia Diocson and Rebecca Scott is available at www.policyalternatives.ca and Multilingual versions of this release are available at www.policyalternatives.ca.
