Labour sympathizers 'blacklisted': union

Mexican workers face hurdles coming to Canada

Source: Vancouver Sun / Oct 18, 2011

A Canadian labour union representing migrant farm workers in British Columbia is claiming the federal government of Mexico, along with its Vancouver consulate, conspired with two Fraser Valley employers to keep as many as 100 of its members - all of them Mexican nationals - out of the country because they are union sympathizers.

"Mexico is trying to play fast and loose with the law here. There needs to be a deterrent," said Andy Neufeld, communications director with the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Local 1518, the union that represents seasonal workers employed at Floralia Farms and Sidhu and Sons Nurseries.

Workers won the right to certify under the UFCW in 2010 after a protracted labour dispute with their employers.

In documents filed in support of its complaints with the Labour Relations Board, the union alleges the government of Mexico has since acted to deliberately block specific workers involved in that certification drive from returning to Canada under the federal Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program.

The program allows agricultural employers in Canada to hire seasonal workers from Mexico and Commonwealth Caribbean countries for up to eight months every year. In B.C., workers are typically employed in greenhouse operations, picking fruit and vegetables, as well as packaging and freezing products.

Each year workers must re-apply for a visa, and are subject to the selection and approval of their own governments.

Neufeld said the alleged blacklisting of its citizens by the Mexican government is a "clear violation" of B.C. legislation, which protects union members and supporters. "You cannot do that. That's a right that every person in B.C. has, whether you are a migrant worker or not," he said.

The union was unable to provide a specific number of people it believes has been affected by the so-called blacklisting, but suggests it could be up to 100.

Mexico has filed its own documents with the LRB, made available by the union, advising the board it has no authority to intrude on the "sovereign actions" of a foreign state related to its own citizens. The Mexican consulate also emailed a written statement to The Vancouver Sun in response to an interview request.

"The mandate and actions of this Consulate are within the framework of the Bilateral Agreement between Canada and Mexico concerning the seasonal agricultural workers program. In our case, the only agenda and genuine interest is to work in favour of our workers. No black list has ever existed and we have no comments concerning other allegations," the statement reads.

Sidhu and Sons, whose managers also responded to The Sun via email, has filed a separate application with the LRB to dismiss complaints against it. According to the email, a collective agreement has been in place at the operation since November, 2010. However, earlier this year, in April, workers decided to cancel their union certification. That application is still before the LRB.

A phone call to Floralia Farms was not returned by press time.

Hearings in the matters are scheduled to begin before the LRB in February, 2012.

============

Tougher language rules proposed for immigrants

Proficiency must be proven before writing exam

Source: agencies


The Harper government is proposing changes to the Canadian citizenship process that would force immigrants to prove their proficiency in English or French before being able to write an exam and be considered for acceptance into Canada.

Currently, immigrants between the ages of 18 and 54 must prove their language proficiency through a multiplechoice written test, which federal officials believe "does not adequately assess listening and speaking skills" that are needed for effective integration into Canadian society.

The proposed changes, which would affect about 134,000 applicants a year, would require immigrants to prove they can speak English or French when they submit their first application for citizenship, which immigration officials believe will streamline processing of the applications.

"The ability to communicate effectively in either French or English is key to the success of new citizens in Canada," said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in a statement on Friday. "This change will encourage applicants to ensure that they can speak English or French when they apply for citizenship, thereby improving the integrity and effectiveness of the citizenship program for Canada and for new Canadians alike."

Proof would require immigrants to submit results of the English or French language proficiency test approved for immigration purposes by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, proof of secondary or post-secondary education in French or English, or proof of completion of a languagetraining course such as the federally funded Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada.

Other language proficiency tests used previously for immigration to Canada could also be considered proof, immigration officials said.

"It is expected that the majority of citizenship applicants would already have evidence that they could submit with their application," a government notice of the proposal stated. "Therefore, the requirement is not anticipated to pose a burden on the majority of applicants."

Max Berger, a Toronto immigration lawyer, said the changes would pose "an unnecessary burden" on economic immigrants who have already demonstrated their English or French proficiency in order to receive permanent residency.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said. "There's no burning need for these changes."

Those who would be affected by the new rules are refugees, citizens who sponsor a husband or wife and the spouses of economic immigrants, he said.

In the past, the citizenship test has "always been considered good enough to assess one's ability in one of the two official languages," he said.

"If you've ever looked at the citizenship guide, you have to have a pretty good knowledge of English or French to get through and understand it," said Berger. "The citizenship test has proven the test of time."

David Matas, a Winnipeg-based immigration lawyer, said the new rules make application processing easier for the federal government, while making the application more cumbersome for immigrants.

"I think government should be user-friendly," he said. "Putting people through hoops for bureaucratic efficiency, I don't think that's user-friendly."

===========

In Canada, English name a clear advantage in landing job: survey

VANCOUVER — If your name is Alison Johnson or Matthew Wilson, an inventive national study suggests you could do better in the job market than if you go by Min Liu, Samir Sharma or Lukas Minsopoulos.

A comprehensive survey of employers in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto has discovered that job applicants with English-sounding names have a much better chance of receiving a callback than if they have Chinese, Indian or Greek names.

Released Friday, the report, titled "Why do some employers prefer to interview Matthew, but not Samir?" is based on employers' response rate to thousands of online job applications.

The study, supported by Metropolis B.C., a federally funded diversity-research agency, was conducted to find out why recent immigrants are struggling much more in the Canadian job market than immigrants in the 1970s did.

To test possible discrimination by human resource officials in Canada's largest and most multi-ethnic cities, researchers sent dozens of employers identical resumes — changing only the name of the applicant.

On average, University of Toronto researchers Philip Oreopoulos and Diane Decheif found that resumes featuring English names were more than 35 per cent more likely to receive a callback than a resume featuring Chinese, Indian or Greek names.

Of the three cities surveyed in 2010, however, the study discovered Metro Vancouver employers, both large and small, were the least swayed by the ethnicity of applicants' names.

In Vancouver, resumes featuring English names were just 20 per cent more inclined to get a callback than those with Chinese or Indian names.

The Metropolis B.C. study is the first of its kind to cover ethnic hiring practices in three major Canadian cities, as well as to quiz recruiters about why they make their hiring decisions. It also suggests ways to combat possible bias.

The researchers interviewed time-pressed Canadian employers who told them they were highly concerned that job applicants with foreign backgrounds would have inadequate English-language and social skills for the Canadian marketplace.

But the researchers also suspect many recruiters, who they found fearful of making a "bad hire" in a tough economic climate, were making many decisions based on "subconscious" ethnic discrimination.

"It should not be overlooked that many recruiters are clearly concerned that immigrants may lack critical language skills for performing well on the job," concluded Oreopoulos and Decheif.

"It appears that many employers' unconditional concerns are based on real productivity worries. (However) we cannot rule out that the stated reasons for discrimination belie underlying prejudice."

The researchers theorized that name-based discrimination may well be a factor in Canada, since recruiters did not seem to improve their callback rates if resumes emphasized that applicants with Chinese, Indian or Greek-sounding names were fluent in English or French and a mother tongue.

The extensive study for Metropolis B.C., whose federal funding will run out this year, was conducted by having researchers respond to online job ads in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Each sample resume said that the applicant had a bachelor's degree and four to six years' experience.

In a related test of Canadian hiring practices involving immigrants, the researchers sent out a series of virtually identical resumes to company recruiters — changing only the country in which the applicant had job experience.

"We find that employers value Canadian experience more than Canadian education when deciding to interview applicants with international backgrounds, suggesting that employers are more interested in internationally born applicants with more Canadian experience," wrote Oreopoulos and Decheif.

Recognizing the importance employers place on good language and communication skills, the report recommends that recruiters find ways to efficiently assess an applicant's English or French — including by making quick phone calls to see if an interview would be worthwhile.

To counter possible ethnic discrimination in hiring, the authors also suggested that hard-pressed recruiters "consider masking names on applications before making initial interview decisions."

=============

El 15 de Octubre en Mexico

Carta abierta a la opinion publica

A los medios de comunicación
A los movimiento sociales:
Al pueblo de México:
A los ciudadanos del mundo:

¡Somos el 99% contra el 1%!

El sistema de produccion capitalista se alimenta de la acumulación a partir del despojo y la explotación. Esta etapa de la crisis mundial del capitalismo ha llevado a la humanidad al borde del precipicio, lo cual se refleja en el incremento de la explotación del ser humano, la destrucción de la naturaleza, creciente desempleo , caída de salarios, deficiencias en la educación, salud, alimentación y vivienda. La crueldad del capitalismo es particular contra grupos como: niños, jóvenes, estudiantes, trabajadores, mujeres, indígenas, campesinos, la comunidad Lésbico, Gay, Bisexual y Trangénero, ancianos, entre otros. Somos los nadies, el 99%.

Frente a esto se ve la respuesta de los pueblos en las múltiples manifestaciones que están llenando plazas en más de 950 ciudades, entre ellas Santiago de Chile, Madrid y en el mismo corazón del capitalismo, Nueva York. En el ámbito nacional 40 familias de han apropiado de la riqueza de todos. Representados por la clase política y los poderes fácticos legales e ilegales, que actuando como criminales cumplen la función de mantener este sistema destructor. La actual guerra contra el pueblo, disfrazada de guerra contra el narcotráfico, es el instrumento protector del sistema contra la protesta social fomentando el terror, desapareciendo, torturando y asesinando. Por ello consideramos que el profundo cambio político, económico y social, que necesitamos, no vendrá de los partidos políticos ni de las instituciones subordinandas al sistema.

En este contexto se están dando diferentes formas de lucha entre las que se encuentran el ejemplo del doctor Edur Velasco, profesor de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Azcapotzalco, quien mantiene una huelga de hambre con el cual nos solidarizamos y acompañamos acampando frente a la Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV).

Hacemos un llamado a todas las organizaciones sociales, cívicas y políticas, a los indignados y al pueblo de Mexico en general a:

1) Construir un espacio de análisis y reflexión en donde se conjunten y conjugen los esfuerzos de todos a partir de sus necesidades y problemñaticas;

2) Reforzar el plantón permanete frente a la BMV y hacer de este espacio un atrinchera de lucha que como objetivo tenga abolir las condiciones de opresión, explotación, exclusión y marginación en las que el 1% mantiene sumergido al 99% de la sociedad y muendial.

¡Si los de abajo se mueven, los de arriba se caen!