Tibetan immigrant workers in Canada protest against wage discrimination/ENG

2016. április 28./Phayul.com/TibetPress

eredeti cikk

By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, April 27: A group of Tibetan immigrant workers from a major food distribution facility, in the city of Ontario in Canada carried out a protest demanding equal wages as unionized workers. The protesters, mostly Tibetan immigrants, blocked the entry to trucks carrying supplies.

The protestors were demonstrating against their employer Fresh Taste produce, a whole seller in the depot, rallying for equal pay as unionized workers who have not only better pays but pension and other benefits. The Tibetan workers are instrumental to the operations of the market and the businesses beginning their shifts at around 1AM in the morning, receiving supplies and getting the business ready for customers. Protestors have alleged that the employer, besides paying substandard pay, has strict working hours that sometimes do not even have toilet breaks.

Another whole Seller Company Teamsters Local 419’s Representative Ken Dean sympathized with the protestors who he believed had very “erratic work shifts”. He told CBS News Toronto that some of the workers haven’t had a wage increase in almost 14 years. "The wages run anywhere from $14 to $17, I believe, and our industry standard average is probably up around the $20 mark," he said.

“They simply aren't aware of what others are earning or what their rights may be in regards to organizing. It's only when the newcomers speak to those established in the industry do they realize they could be earning more”, he further added.

Karma Tsetan, the spokesperson for the Tibetan employees, said the Tibetans who are mostly newcomers end up working at the food terminal, as it's one of the few places where people without English skills can get a job easily. “I am helping them and explaining to them that they should form a union. That’s not just better pay but other benefits and they will also have their job security in the long run”, Karma said.

New York based Tibetan legal professional and former para-legal Pasang Tsering told Phayul, “While it is not uncommon that immigrants are exploited everywhere in so many ways, it is extremely outrageous that these warehouse employers in Ontario are not following their own local law, Ontario Human Rights Code, that prohibits discrimination against any employee on the basis of race, national origin, or even citizenship.”

Pasang further added that despite the Tibetans not knowing English well the employers hire them at the because they can perform their jobs equally well as their counterparts in the warehouse workforce. “Therefore, these employers pay significantly lesser wages to our Tibetan immigrant workers compared to other employees in that same workforce for performing exactly the same work. This is what we call a wage theft. This is an absolutely unlawful employment practice,” Pasang said.

Any further information on whether negotiation between the protestors and their employer ‘Fresh Taste’ has resumed could not be ascertained.