Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Reforms to foreign worker program are ‘cosmetic,’ workers’ advocates say

Ottawa’s reforms to the temporary foreign worker program are only a “cosmetic” response to the public outcry over the RBC-iGate affair, say migrant workers’ advocates.

While the move to eliminate the “wage flexibility” that allows employers to pay migrant workers 5 to 15 per cent below prevailing wage is welcomed, critics said some of the proposed changes look good only on paper and mean nothing without oversight and enforcement.

“We have little faith that they would result in anything meaningful,” said Naveen Mehta of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Canada. “It’s just (smoke and mirrors).”

Using Ottawa’s bad employer list as an example, former live-in caregiver Kay Manuel, whose story of exploitation sparked off new migrant worker protection laws, said the federal government has yet to name a bad Canadian employer on its website since its 2011 launch.

“All these changes are meaningless and cosmetic,” said Manuel, a member of the Toronto Caregivers Action Centre. “We are not stealing jobs, but filling the ones that Canadians do not want due to the long hours, low pay and live-in requirement.”

While labour unions are advocating for an independent commission to assess labour market needs and adjudicate employers’ applications for migrant workers, grassroots advocates worried employers will make migrant workers pay for the new fee on Labour Market Opinion (LMO) to get them here.

“The changes announced today are mostly about rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship,” said Chris Ramsaroop, a member of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a coalition of grassroots advocacy groups.

Calling Ottawa’s reforms “political jockeying,” Deena Ladd, executive director of the Toronto Workers’ Action Centre, said Ottawa could enhance the migrant worker program’s transparency by publicizing Canadian employers using the program and the jobs migrant workers they are bringing in to fill.

“It is certainly useful to know who the employers are, for the (labour) organizing and advocating purpose,” Ladd said. “More transparency is critical.”

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Nicholas Keung

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