LASSU Movie Night

Migrant Workers in Canada: Movie Night and Dialogue

Please join LASSU in an event to raise awareness of the working conditions of SWAP Mexican workers, and particularly the ones that are being black listed for unionizing whilst working in Canada.

https://www.facebook.com/events/354650377887649/

Monday, 20 February 2012

5:00 until 7:00 pm

SFU, AQ 3153 (Burnaby campus)

Description

Do you know who harvests your food? Come learn more about where your food comes from and the conditions of the workers who put food on your table.

Thousands of migrant agriculture workers legally come from Mexico and Guatemala to work in Canadian fields every year. Migrant agriculture workers work for up to 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. They make a huge contribution to Canada’s economy. They pay taxes, Employment Insurance, and the Canadian Pension Plan. However, when workers ask for dignity and respect at their work place they are mistreated and blacklisted by their own Consulates instead of receiving protection (www.ufcw.ca/stoptheblacklist).

During this event we will watch the documentary El Contrato which "follows a poverty-stricken father from Central Mexico, along with several of his countrymen, as they make their annual migration to southern Ontario to pick tomatoes. For 8 months a year, the town's population absorbs 4,000 migrant workers who toil under conditions, and for wages, that no local would accept. Yet despite a fear of repercussions, the workers voice their desire for dignity and respect" (http://www.nfb.ca/).

After the documentary we will hear from Alexandra Henao who works for the Agricultural Worker's Alliance (AWA http://awa-ata.ca/). AWA works directly with the workers to advocate for their human and labour rights. She will speak about the struggles that Migrant Farmworker experience here in BC as well as the recent cases that have been brought to the Labour Relations Board in BC.

Brought to you by Latin American Studies and SASS!