CCPA has released a study called Cultivating Farmworker Rights: Ending the Exploitation of Immigrant and Migrant Farmworkers in BC. It reveals systematic violations of employment standards and health and safety regulations, poor and often dangerous working conditions, and dismal enforcement by government agencies. The authors propose comprehensive policy changes that would ensure farmworkers are no longer relegated to second-class status. The following links have more information about farm workers in BC:

• Justicia for Migrant Workers is a volunteer driven political non-profit collective which strives to promote the rights of migrant workers.
• BC Federation of Labour has information and background on farm worker's rights in BC.
• BC Government Farm Workers Fact Sheet

In the last budget, the federal government promised to create a new independent body, the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board to determine EI premium rates from 2009 and on. However, according to an article on the Progressive Economics Forum, "The “New” Employment Insurance Fund", the board only responds to employer concerns over paying EI premiums which are “too high” as opposed to worker concerns over access to benefits and benefit rates. The Canadian Labour Congress also criticizes the government for overlooking worker access, especially working women's access to benefits.

For more information read the attached article, "Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board : a step in the right direction?", by two of Canada's most experienced and knowledgeable experts on the EI system, Georges Campeau, professor at the Département des sciences juridiques at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Hugo Desgagné, coordinator for Mouvement Autonome et Solidaire des Sans-Emploi (MASSE).

The Caledon Institute has released a policy paper, Canadians Need a Medium-Term Sickness/Disability Income Benefit (in PDF) discussing the possibility of a new sickness or disability benefit. The paper examines the current relationship between Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) disability benefits, and explores possibilities for stronger linkages between these programs.

New Brunswick will be increasing the minimum wage to $7.75 and will continue to review the wage at least once a year to bring the wage in line with standards of living. (Read more on CBC, "N.B.'s minimum wage to increase by 50 cents".) Although after the hike, New Brunswick will no longer have the lowest minimum wage in Canada, some advocates say it still does not account for inflation or for a decent standard of living. Read a CCPA report from March 2007, Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line (in PDF) that shows provincial governments have allowed the value of minimum wages to be eaten away by inflation for too long.

CUPE has published a short but thorough overview of low wage work in Canada by province and demographic group. Read "Low paid work still widespread in Canada" on the CUPE website.

CCPA released a report, Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line (in PDF) that shows provincial governments have allowed the value of minimum wages to be eaten away by inflation for too long. Last week, Ontario announced plans to increase its minimum wage to $10.25 by 2010, arguing a more rapid increase would mean substantial job losses. This report finds that minimum wage has little impact on employment levels. Anti-poverty advocates have called on the government to immediately increase the minimum wage.

On March 7th, a van carrying farmworkers in BC's Fraser Valley crashed, killing three people. According to an article in the Tyee,"Farm Workers' Deaths: A Tragedy Foretold," farm worker advocates, members of the B.C. Federation of Labour and New Democrat politicians have long criticized the BC Liberals for not regulating worker safety. The BC Federation of Labour has submitted Recommendations to protect the lives and rights of BC farmworkers (in PDF) to improve the working conditions and safety of BC farmworkers.

Just about everyone agrees that a minimum wage is not a living wage. A couple of articles make more arguments for increasing the minimum wage. An article on Rabble.ca, "Making the minimum wage a living wage," argues that businesses that can't afford to pay employees a living wage shouldn't be in business. Another article on the Straightgoods.ca, "Economics of the minimum wage," argues that raising the minimum wage does not cause job loss. The CBC has a backgrounder on minimum wage laws in Canada.

The campaign for living wages has gathered momentum with bills sponsored by NDP members in both the federal Parliament and the Ontario legislature to increase the minimum wage to $10/hour. The just-released report on Federal Labour Standards also strongly recommends that the federal minimum wage be reintroduced at a level that would allow full-time workers to live above the poverty line. Read a CBC article,"Bill could raise Ontario minimum wage to $10" and a CUPE report Thirty Years of the Minimum Wage.

Pivot's report, Beyond Decriminalization: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law Reform presents the results of two years of research and in depth discussions with eighty-four sex workers from various aspects of the sex industry in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. The report moves beyond the question of criminal law reform by looking at what kind of reforms would be required in a number of different areas of law including labour, municipal, immigration, and family law, in order to protect sex workers in the event that the adult sex industry is decriminalized. Katrina Pacey, Pivot lawyer and author of the report says, "The bottom line is that sex workers want access to the same legal and human rights protections that are afforded to other Canadians. Decriminalization is only the first step to making this possible." Pivot's Sex Work page has more information on their work to empower sex workers to determine the laws they would like to see governing sex work.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) June 2006 paper looks at the question of wage supplements. Read the 13 page CCPA report (in PDF.)

The May 2006 edition of E-Network (in PDF) - a Canadian Policy Research Network publication - contains stories on vulnerable workers, poverty in Canada and a link to their spring newsletter.

Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is a volunteer driven political non-profit collective comprised of committed activists from diverse walks of life (including labour activists, educators, researchers, students and youth of colour) based in Toronto, Ontario, and now in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We are engaged in this work alongside our personal commitments and numerous social justice struggles.

The CBC report, "Dying for a job," is the result of three years of research. Journalists with CBC's Investigative Unit navigated freedom of information laws and negotiated for data from workplace safety insurance boards across Canada. The work allowed us to help track top national trends in the workplace of today. This is the first time a Canadian media company has investigated workplace safety issues by analyzing Canada’s own data on a national level. A number of links are available from the main page of the article on the investigative report including injury reports across the country.

Quebec's minimum wage increased by 15 cents today. Workers are criticizing this so-called wage "hike" saying that it is not high enough to cover their basic costs of living.

Quebec's minimum wage increased by 15 cents today. Workers are criticizing this so-called wage "hike" saying that it is not high enough to cover their basic costs of living. See the Montreal Gazette story for more information.

A year-long appeal by 76 largely poor and elderly Indo-Canadian Farmworkers began in Tax Court in Vancouver on January 9th. The Farmworkers are appealing rulings by the Canada Revenue Agency that they did not work enough hours during the 1997 picking season to qualify for EI. BCPIAC and the Community Legal Assistance Society are working with the Farmworkers Legal Advocacy Program to assist 76 largely poor and elderly Indo-Canadian farmworkers in their appeal to the Tax Court of Canada against charges of EI fraud. Read the BCPIAC report for details about the farmworker's case (in PDF) and a CBC story: "B.C. farm workers fight EI fraud allegations."

Vulnerable workers are those whose participation in the labour market leaves their well-being at risk because of difficulty accessing work that is decently paid and/or that offers conditions of work that meet basic social norms. Two million Canadian workers fit this description. Vulnerable workers typically earn low pay, lack the opportunity to upgrade skills, lack legal protection or are handicapped in terms of defending their rights, don’t qualify for programs like Employment Insurance, lack access to non-statutory benefits like medical insurance or dental plans, have difficulty obtaining affordable housing or affordable child care, and rarely belong to unions. The Canadian Policy Research Network (CPRN) has published a report: Policies to Boost the Income, Security and Productivity of Canada’s Vulnerable Workers. The press release, report summary, and full report (in PDF) can be downloaded from the Canadian Policy Research Network website.

Reductions in employment standards and enforcement amount to willful neglect of province’s most vulnerable workers, says labour economist. Numbers obtained from the BC Ministry of Labour show that sweeping changes to the employment standards system have dramatically undermined the province’s ability to enforce minimum protections for workers. David Fairey, a labour economist, obtained the information while doing research for a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives called Eroding Worker Protections: BC’s New Flexible Employment Standards. The CCPA's press release provides an overview of the report.

A new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) that surveyed public school students raises concerns that BC’s employment regulations are leaving children and youth without adequate protections in the workplace. Of the surveyed 12 to 14 year-olds who have jobs:

• 70% reported they worked without supervision some or all of the time
• Nearly half (48%) reported that their parents had not evaluated the health and safety of the workplace
• More than half (58%) reported that their employer did not receive written approval from their parent

Read the CCPA's press release or the 41 page report, Child and Youth Employment Standards: The Experience of Young Workers Under British Columbia’s New Policy Regime (in PDF).