We look forward to seeing you this Wednesday at 5pm for our next
WRMWIG meeting, at the Queen St. Commons (Working Centre Cafe) in
Kitchener.
Each meeting we will start off with a feature
presentation from someone with direct experience working with migrant
workers. This week our speaker is Eduardo Huesca and others from the
Guelph-based migrant worker support and advocacy collective,
Fuerza/Puwersa. Eduardo has been coordinating health clinics for
migrant workers with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario
Workers and has also headed up Fuerza/Puwersa. Recently Eduardo has been
working with a group of migrant workers in the area whose situation is
described below. These workers have been given very few hours and are
having trouble affording food. Donations of food items to help support
these workers would be very appreciated, and will be accepted at the
meeting. Eduardo also hopes to bring some of these workers to describe
their experiences directly, if they are able to make it.
The second part of our meeting will allow the
subcommmittees time to meet, and then we will follow-up with a large
group discussion in which we decide next steps.
Our agenda is as follows:
5:00pm - Welcome back,Eduardo Huesca Presentation, Q and A
5:30pm - Committee Meetings
6:00pm - Report backs and group discussion, including fundraising and possible political action over 15% wage differential
6:30pm - Wrap up
See message from Eduardo below on the situation of the workers:
Last
summer many of you were able to help us out with gathering some food
donations for some community members that are in a frustrating and
angering situation. We would like to thank everyone that was able to
help.
Unfortunately, these individuals, our friends, are again
experiencing a situation where they are having difficulty affording
food and other basic resources and we are asking if any of you are able
to help with any donations.
Background information:
Last year a group of five individuals
came to work in the waterloo area from Mexico under a migrant farm
worker program. They were employed by a local business where they worked
and lived all last summer until December. During this time they
experienced a lot of abuse and violations of their contracts at the hand
of their employer. Not only was he verbally abusive, swearing at then,
and calling them dogs, but he also continuously violated their
contracts to his advantage, not providing them with the hours of work
they were contractually promised, just expecting them to stay around
waiting until he feels like giving them work (as they are legally unable
to work for any other employer as part of their work permit). Instead
of 40+ hours per week as their contract stated, which was the agreement
that motivated them to migrate, and allowed him to hire them, he was
providing 6 hours per week. not only were they unable to send money home
(which was their motivation for migrating to work under this program)
but they were unable to afford groceries.
We connected with this
group last year and worked to connect them to community support to at
least improve their immediate situation.
This year three of them have returned and their employer is up to
his old ways and again they are experiencing verbal abuse, and are
getting an average of 12-15 hours of work a week and are again having
trouble being able to afford groceries. We are again working with them
to develop strategies to dive deeper into their situation and work to
develop a plan to hold their employer accountable for the way he is
doing business and treating people. As this is tricky and risky work, we
are moving slowly, being lead by their concerns, ideas wishes and
decisions. In the meantime however we would like to support them with
some food donations to better their current situation.
If you are at all able to provide any donations of food, it would be greatly appreciated.
Please contact
fuerza.puwersa@gmail.com for information concerning drop offs.
thanks so much,
the Fuerza/Puwersa Collective
