Forum Smashes Silence on Conditions of Work
Faced by
Immigrant Women
The South Asian Women's Rights Organization (SAWRO)
organized
a forum January 19 to discuss their conditions of work as
immigrant women and how to defend their rights in light of the
current Ontario government's passage of Bill 47, the Making
Ontario Open for Business Act, and its other attacks on
workers' rights. Some 50 people participated in the forum "A
Community Response to the Attack on Workers' Rights."
The problems immigrant women face on arrival in Canada
in
finding work and providing for their families was addressed in
the opening remarks, including the impact that the just-announced
cuts to post-secondary education will have on those whose work is
precarious. A Unifor organizer introduced a toolkit the union has
produced as part of mobilizing its members against the PC
government's retrogressive anti-social agenda.
 
In the course of the forum, the experience of working
women in
the community was presented through skits, a panel presentation,
and a video produced by SAWRO youth, smashing the silence on the
indignities faced daily by women and their families.
The common thread running through the forum,
representing the
experience of many, was the unacceptable choices which face
families every day, to pay for food and other essentials or to pay
their rent. The power that temp agencies and the employers that
hire their services exercise over workers' lives, the havoc
played in their lives by erratic work schedules, lack of
appropriate and affordable daycare, low wages, including being
paid cash at less than minimum wage, provided with no benefits
and without access to Employment Insurance, maternity benefits
and workers' compensation were brought out in the discussion. In
addition, there are a limited number of temp agencies through
which the women find work, meaning women who speak out on their
conditions may be blacklisted and unable to find work.
 One
skit showed the experience of many immigrant women -- from the
promises floated by recruitment agencies before they immigrated about
Canada as the "dream country," through their "Welcome to
Canada" and the humiliation of their post-immigration conditions.
Their education credentials and professional work experience
dismissed, they find themselves at the mercy of temp agencies and
the employers they represent trying to cobble together enough
hours of work to provide food and rent for their families.
The video presentation focussed on specific proposals
drafted
by SAWRO during community consultations to change the situation
in their favour. The proposals include holding a public inquiry
into the under-employment of skilled immigrant women, restricting
the scope of operation of temporary help agencies, introducing
economic disincentives to reduce chaotic work scheduling and
providing access to fully subsidized childcare for low income
workers.
As part of the ongoing discussion with SAWRO members, a
survey
was circulated during the forum asking participants their views on the
implications of Bill 47 and their views on the SAWRO
proposals.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number
15 - April 27, 2019
Article Link:
Forum
Smashes
Silence on Conditions of Work Faced by Immigrant Women
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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