A communications problem

Mexican workers sent home by North Lake Fisheries was not for refusal to work

Cooper Institute, as part of its ongoing temporary foreign worker program, is engaged in the situation of Mexican migrant workers at the North Lake Fisheries. The company was granted the right to bring 35 Mexicans to work in the fish plant. After a series of failed communications with the workers, the company sent 20 of the workers back home to Mexico.

This is serious: for most Temporary Foreign Workers, the threat of being sent home is the ultimate punishment; it serves to keep the workers docile and willing sometimes to tolerate abuses.

Our general assessment of the case is that there has been a serious communication problem between the company and the workers. The Mexican workers misunderstood a reference to 55 hours in their contract, which was merely the overtime pay maximum. They thought it read that they were assured that many hours of work. In reality, the contract does not give any number of expected hours per week, with an indication only that the number of hours would depend on the production level.

In fact, though, a CBC reporter investigated Employment and Social Development Canada’s approval of the North Lake Fisheries application for Labour Market Impact Assessment” (LMIA).

The specifications were for 35 Mexican workers for 40hour weeks. It seems that the company grossly overestimated their production capacity and their labour needs. It seems from the events of the past weeks that instead of 35 Mexican workers they needed only 20.

The Mexican workers, like most Temporary Foreign Workers, come here with expectations that they will have enough work to pay for accommodations and food while here. But the essential part of their coming to work here is that they expect to send basicliving money back to their families as well as paying debts incurred in the recruitment process.

The Mexicans said that some of them worked only 33 hours a week during the first three months, that there was work during the past weeks for only a few of them, and that the hours were greatly reduced. In a meeting with the Mexican workers, the company officials told the workers they had only enough work to offer three or four hours daily, but the workers didn’t accept these new conditions. The officials classified this as a “refusal to work.” This, unfortunately, is what was presented in the media.

No one involved made the connection that this “refusal to work” conclusion was drawn in the context of the two sides speaking different languages without a competent interpreter. Possibly deeper than the language difficulty are the cultural differences. The extreme level of desperation of the Mexican workers realizing that they are not able to take care of their families would be foreign to most Islanders. The conflict was poorly handled.

The process of returning the workers to Mexico was also poorly conducted. The workers were advised only at the last minute who was going to travel or when. It is ironic that the only two Mexicans who spoke some English were among the first to be sent home. The travel itineraries were a nightmare and violated the dignity of the workers. Most only had the $100 they had paid as a deposit for their housing in Souris.

During the last stages of this turmoil, Cooper Institute has appreciated the good disposition of the fish plant officials. One notable difference from other work places is that the North Lake Fisheries provides acceptable housing arrangements: the old Souris Manor.

Happily the company stopped sending workers back to Mexico. The remaining 15 Mexican workers have returned to work at the plant. We are grateful for the support of St. Mary’s Parish in Souris and other community people who provided the workers with food after they had spent 15 days without receiving wages.

Many changes are needed at a policy level to ensure that this kind of situation will not be repeated. The Government of Prince Edward has a number of responsibilities: to keep a yearly registry of all temporary foreign workers in P.E.I. and their employers; to oversee the conduct of agents and their fees for recruiting workers; to provide health care for workers with contracts of fewer than 181 days; to provide nonthreatening access to safe and non-abusive workplaces; to move quickly to provide temporary foreign workers access, if they desire it, to permanent residency.