Search results for “temporary foreign workers”

  • Newcomers funding banner

    Budget fails to fund enough supports for newcomers to BC

    New immigrants, temporary foreign workers and international students are bearing the brunt of the blame for the housing crisis and strain on public services where the provincial budget is failing to keep up with demand.

  • Raising the bar: our recommendations for equitable gig work in BC

    Raising the bar: Our recommendations for equitable gig work in BC

    Platform companies like Uber, Lyft and Skip the Dishes derive profits at the expense of taxpayers’ contributions and workers’ health and safety. The BC government has a unique opportunity to set high standards for sustainable, responsible platform work and we are pleased to support the government’s deliberations on this issue.…

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    Addressing the racism of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

    There is renewed attention on Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) in the wake of the recent damning report from the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery that calls the program “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.” Yet, the central critiques and recommendations made in the…

  • Fires and farmworkers: Climate justice means improving protections for migrant farmworkers

    The impacts of the climate crisis are socially and geographically uneven: the wealthiest regions contribute disproportionately to the destruction of the planet while the poorest regions suffer the heaviest consequences. In this context, migrant farmworkers find themselves doubly displaced, facing droughts and inundations in their home countries, then heatwaves, fires…

  • hotel workers on the picket line

    A paradox in COVID-19 pandemic recovery: Increased precarity of women hotel workers in British Columbia

    REPORT: While BC’s accommodations and food services sector (AFS) received over a billion dollars in government COVID-19 subsidies, women workers—predominantly racialized and immigrants—either lost their employment or had hours and income significantly reduced.

  • Why we need sectoral bargaining

    Why BC needs sectoral bargaining now

    Too many BC workers lack meaningful access to the benefits of collective bargaining and the failure of our labour laws to keep up with the evolving nature of work is a key culprit.

  • uber eats delivery person of colour on their bike looking down on their phone

    New protections for BC platform workers entrench racism

    In November 2023, the BC Ministry of Labour announced new employment standards that claim to “bring fairness” to the estimated 40,000 ride-hail and food-delivery workers in BC. The move comes after a year of public engagement with platform workers, platform companies and labour experts, which brought to the fore the…

  • Deportable by design – banner

    Exploitable and deportable by design: Why migrant workers’ housing is harmful to their health

    Canada’s treatment of migrant workers is drawing international scrutiny after UN investigator Tomoya Obokata warned that its Temporary Foreign Worker Program “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights.” Migrants, activists, and…

  • Democratic employee ownership

    The case for expanding democratic employee ownership in Canada

    Workers lack democratic rights in the corporations and institutions that govern their work lives. As we find ourselves in an era of high inequality the question of ‘why shouldn’t working people be the owners and beneficiaries of the fruits of their labour?’ becomes timely and necessary. Read this research report…

  • Will 2023 be the year BC farmworkers finally receive basic minimum wage protections?

    The majority of BC households are stressed because of debt and inflation. It’s even worse for one group of farmworkers who, legally, may earn less than minimum wage. While British Columbians rang in the New Year, the provincial government quietly increased the minimum piece rate wage for farmworkers by a…

  • BC’s property tax increases: What has been the impact of the 2018 changes?

    Four years ago, the 2018 BC Budget introduced a number of new taxes in support of an affordable housing agenda. The taxes, along with new spending measures and renter protections, were part of the government’s Homes for BC 30-point housing plan and included: Higher provincial property taxes (Additional School Tax)…

  • Paid sick leave finally on the agenda: Here’s why it matters

    The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that everyone’s health and well-being depends on workers being able to stay home when they are sick. In BC, workers now have a legal right to time off when they are ill—three days for regular illness and unlimited time for COVID-19—but not paid…