Forced Labour: Best Practices

On January 17, Wayne Hanley, National President of UFCW Canada, and Angel Aguirre Rivero, governor of the State of Guerrero, signed a mutual cooperation and letter of intent to protect the human and labour rights of Mexican temporary agricultural workers in Canada. The cooperation pact will provide assistance, training and outreach to improve the living and working conditions of migrants before, during and after their stay in Canada.

“UFCW Canada is showing once again that ours is a long-term commitment to temporary workers in Canada,” said President Hanley. “We look forward to the new possibilities this agreement will offer to the migrant brothers and sisters who contribute to the Canadian agriculture, economy and society.” In association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA), UFCW Canada will assist workers through its network of ten AWA support centers across Canada, with Spanish-speaking staff. Services include assistance with issues such as labour rights, housing conditions, health and safety, workers’ compensation and other work related matters. The AWA also provides a toll-free assistance phone line accessible from anywhere in Canada and Mexico, for workers and their families. The government of Guerrero, through the Secretary of Migrants and Foreign Affairs, will provide information and training to migrant workers to ensure they are aware of their rights.

This is the fourth agreement of its kind signed by the UFCW Canada with a Mexican state government in the last three years. It reflects the commitment of the union towards long term partnerships with multiple actors, including governments, labour federations, academic institutions and civil society organizations.

Every season, more than 17,000 Mexicans work in Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP); a bilateral treaty between Mexico and Canada. The new agreement aims to address the current shortfalls in the SAWP program by offering a model of institutional coordinated support, accessible to every migrant worker.

Cross posted from UFCW

AI’s research has indicated that some recruitment agencies and brokers are involved in the trafficking of Nepalese migrants for exploitation and forced labour. This violates both ILO Forced Labour Convention No. 29, ratified by Nepal in 2002, and key provisions of Nepal’s Foreign Employment Act, 2007. Documented cases include migrants forced to work long hours without a day rest, accept lower than promised wages, were locked in, had passports confiscated and were physical beaten or denied food when they did not comply with their employer’s demands.

In a short accompanying video, the General Secretary of the Nepalese trade union GEFONT, Umesh Upadhyaya reports on the treatment of Nepalese migrant workers abroad and how they do not receive any assistance from embassies in the country where they end up working.

The ITUC and GEFONT sent these observations documented by Amnesty International on the application of the ILO Forced Labour Convention No. 29 to the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Standards and Recommendations in August 2011.

Read the full report on the Amnesty International website.

The event opened with a number of moving testimonies exposing the plight of the thousands of workers employed in diplomatic missions, including undeclared workers, those with special residence cards and workers hired locally. Qualified and distinguished men and women in their prime told of the abuses and humiliation experienced: undeclared work (even for high-level posts in some instances), unfair dismissals, uncounted working hours, employer’s contributions never paid, employees forced to do domestic work - even at the ambassador’s private residence, domestic staff made to work around the clock, wages that do not afford a decent living and are never indexed, zero holiday pay, social security cover rarely in order and, of course, a total ban on the right to unionise, to hold one’s head high and assert one’s rights.

Not all these problems are found in every Embassy, but it is high time things were set to rights. Diplomatic immunity, territorial immunity, must not be used as pretexts for exploiting staff.

The meeting went on to discuss the aims of the inter-union grouping and completed a list of demands.

The afternoon was then devoted to a legal presentation on workers’ rights. At the same times as gaining an overall picture of labour rights, the participants also observed the ambiguities and gaps in the legislation that continue to undermine these workers’ rights today.

The representatives from the two Ministries made the following commitments:

1. To set up a works council with the Labour Ministry to fulfil two missions:
  To listen and arbitrate in the event of individual or collective disputes in diplomatic missions
  To propose legislation and agreements aimed at guaranteeing enhanced social protection

2. To create a charter, a code of conduct that will be submitted by the Foreign Affairs Ministry to all the heads of diplomatic missions.

These two pledges represent an important and concrete step forward for the inter-union grouping. It will now be possible to deal with the specific problems of each worker and to tackle them at the core with a view to bringing collective and lasting solutions.

The inter-union grouping equipped itself with a 12-person executive at the meeting. This body will drive the implementation of the decisions taken at this crucial event.

The day was marked by a great sense of solidarity and consciousness of the need for unity as well as the resolve to build a future as a sector-based organisation.

Should you wish to join us in our efforts, please contact Mr Fabrice Epis, senior CNE officer, at fabrice.epis@acv-csc.be or by telephone through his secretariat on +32 (0)2 557 86 17.

Chris Terlaeken, LBC full-time official Fabrice Epis, CNE senior officer

More information on the website of the inter-union group of staff from diplomatic mission: Ambactus