SURREY – The Conservatives’ decision to cut EI benefits for seasonal workers is a great disappointment, said PICS CEO Charan Gill, who said farmworkers will be greatly impacted.
“6000 seasonal farm workers will have a difficult time finding other employment because of language barriers and lack of training,” Gill said. “PICS was a recipient of funding that allowed us to orient and train farm workers with regards to avoiding injuries while on the job site, unfortunately due to recent changes the funding has been eliminated altogether, and a program that PICS successfully ran for the last 15 years was gutted in 2012.”
Over the years, several farm workers have been killed due to lack of safety and training. The Province endeavors to create employment for farm workers but without proper safety training and basic knowledge, it is difficult for workers to perform at a satisfactory level.
“It is unfortunate that EI funding has been used for other things rather than providing safety training, language classes and other training needed by immigrants and guest workers. Forcing workers to do any type of work without proper training is unfair and on the other hand a disadvantage to the employer because workers will not be able to produce the quality as required by their bosses,” Gill said.
“As it is, workers are already exploited by their employers and labor contractors, and new rules will open doors for further exploitation and dependency on labor contractors. A majority of workers do not obtain a driver’s licenses therefore there is an increased level of dependency on labor contractors for transportation to work.”
Bill-C 38 introduced changes to immigration rules and now the new rules of EI overhaul it; it is a direct attack on the fundamental rights of the working people. It will force workers to work for cash at very low rates at $4 – $5 as this has been proven in other jurisdictions.
“This is an insult on democratic rights of our workers by giving an excuse of labor shortage but not even paying the minimum wage to the poor working people.”
