Listening to migrant workers: should Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program be abolished?

Weiler, Anelyse M.; McLaughlin, Janet

doi:10.1007/s10624-019-09563-4

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This work must, however, be done with careful attention to what workers say they want and need and to available opportunities and constraints. As argued recently by Weiler and McLaughlin, 47 for instance, despite the threats to rights, freedom, dignity, and voice associated with Canada’s TFW programs, abolition rather than reform of these programs in the context of wider social justice initiatives is not the best way to strengthen the rights of these workers. Many, but by no means all, international migrant workers want to move to the host country; access to permanent residency will not, in and of itself, eliminate the OHS and other vulnerabilities of these workers and the right to mobility for work is essential to their health and well-being and that of their families, particularly in the context of economic volatility and precarious employment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Occupational Health and Safety and the Mobile Workforce: Insights From a Canadian Research Program

Neis

Lippel

2019

New Solut

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, employment-related geographical mobility (mobility to and within work) is a pervasive aspect of work that has potential health and safety implications. As an introduction to this special issue, this article defines the mobile workforce as those who engage in complex/extended mobility to and within work encompassing >two hours daily, less frequent but more extended mobility between regions and countries, and mobility within work such as between work sites or in mobile workplaces. Focusing on the Canadian context, we discuss the challenges associated with developing a statistical profile for this diversely mobile workforce and provide an overview of articles in the special issue identifying key health and safety challenges associated with extended/complex employment-related geographical mobility. We estimate that up to 16 percent of Canada’s employed labor force (including those commuting > one hour one-way, temporary residents with work permits, and transportation workers) engage in extended/complex mobility related to work.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational Health and Safety and the Mobile Workforce: Insights From a Canadian Research Program

Neis

Lippel

2019

New Solut

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, if granted open work permits and thus permitted to change employment, migrant workers would feel less vulnerable to the arbitrariness and pressures at work and may be in a better position to demand respect and develop attachments to their workplaces. Demands for open work permits and/or permanent residency (on arrival or as a two‐step pathway) have been advocated by researchers and activists such as UFCW, Migrant Rights Network, and Justicia for Migrant Worker (see, for instance, Weiler & McLaughlin, 2019; UFCW, 2020, migrantrights.ca; https://harvestingfreedom.org/ ). These demands are articulated from the perspectives that foreground migrant rights.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“We are part of this place, but I do not think I belong.” Temporariness, Social Inclusion and Belonging among Migrant Farmworkers in Southwestern Ontario

Basok

George

2020

International Migration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Canadian temporary migration regime has been widely criticised for its failure to provide protections and address migrant needs. This article contributes to these critiques by analysing how temporariness impacts the sense of belonging and perceptions of social inclusion among farmworkers in Canada. The sense of inclusion and belonging is vital for individuals’ sense of well‐being, and therefore, a critique of temporariness is incomplete without it. Based on ethnographic research conducted in 2018–2019 in a rural community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, it documents that, despite certain initiatives to make temporary migrant workers feel welcomed, migrants have not grown attached to this place. We situate farmworkers’ limited sense of belonging in the exclusionary architecture of this labour migration regime. We argue that two structural elements in particular make it impossible for most migrant farmworkers to feel connected to Canada—the forced separation from their families, and the lack of mobility within the labour force.

show abstract

“…Focused on worker dependency, this extensive body of research points to the risks generated when residency is tied to employment (Bakan et al 1997; Craig et al, 2015; Goldring & Landolt, 2013; Hennebry 2012; Hodge, 2006; McLaughlin & Hennebry, 2013; Nakache & Dixon‐Perera, 2015; Tungohan 2015; Walia, 2010). Such a requirement, it is argued, leaves workers extremely vulnerable to a range of abusive practices, including wage‐left, dangerous working conditions and extortionate rental rates (Bucklaschuk, 2014; Fudge, 2014; Hennebry, McLaughlin & Preibisch, 2016; Horgan & Liinamaa, 2017; Perry, 2012; Weiler & McLaughlin, 2019).…”

Section: Mobile Workers: Mobile Filipino Labour Navigates Tim Horton Globallymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parsing the mobilities of capital and labour: The case of Tim Hortons and internationally mobile Filipino workers

Bryan

Barber

2021

International Migration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2007, Canada expanded the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to include service and hospitality sectors. By 2010, more migrants entered Canada with temporary visas than as permanent residents. While some found employment in hospitality and tourism, most were concentrated in the fast food sector. Working transnationally, this paper uses Tim Hortons' concurrent global expansion and its arrival in the Philippines as a case study of the global mobilities and intersecting pathways of capital and labour. Drawing on the theoretical contributions of feminist political economy, it illustrates how the aspirations and mobilities of the Filipino workers at the centre of this study are organized in the service of capital; capital, in this example, as represented by the globally ambitious Tim Hortons' parent corporation, Restaurant Brands International (RBI) and, more specifically, the Brazilian American global investment firm that owns and manages RBI, 3G Capital, as well as by the efforts and objectives of franchise holders.

show abstract

Listening to migrant workers: should Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program be abolished?

Cited by 20 publications

References 6 publications

Occupational Health and Safety and the Mobile Workforce: Insights From a Canadian Research Program

Occupational Health and Safety and the Mobile Workforce: Insights From a Canadian Research Program

“We are part of this place, but I do not think I belong.” Temporariness, Social Inclusion and Belonging among Migrant Farmworkers in Southwestern Ontario

Parsing the mobilities of capital and labour: The case of Tim Hortons and internationally mobile Filipino workers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About