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They came to Canada to work. But $24 for a 10-hour day wasn't what they had in mind


Condition on farm horrible, Mexicans say; manager acknowledges there are issues

By JONATHAN WOODWARD

Monday, October 3, 2005 Page S1

VANCOUVER -- Thirty-two Mexican farm workers temporarily brought to Canada to harvest crops through a government program say they're going back to Mexico because of poor conditions on their Pitt Meadows farm.

For three months, some have lived in unheated construction trailers and cooked outside on propane stoves. Forty-four pickers shared one laundry machine, and say they stumble over a language barrier when asking to make things better.

"In Mexico, we have houses that are better than this," said Mauro Sarmiento, 32, who arrived on June 28 to Purewal Blueberry Farms from his home state of Oaxaca.

"There they are simple, but here they are not adequate because it's much colder here and it rains," he said.

But what drove them to go on strike and then demand to leave is a pay rate that has sunk to as low as $24 per 10-hour day -- all of it a violation of their contract under Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. The program has brought people from Mexico and the Caribbean to work in much of Canada for 30 years. After B.C. growers estimated they were losing $16-million in crops because of a labour shortage, the program was extended last year to that province.

Mexicans are recruited by government ads with the words "Live in Canada!" superimposed on the Toronto skyline. Last year, nine B.C. farmers brought 47 Mexicans to work. This year, more than 30 employers signed up to bring 500 workers in. There are about 18,000 such workers across Canada.

The program has been criticized as an incentive to stop farms from mechanizing or raising wages to attract pickers, and the B.C. berry-picking industry has been scrutinized for abuse.

The job action at Purewal is the first major strike since the program began in B.C.

In Mexico, Mr. Sarmiento is a campesino, an agricultural labourer who farms his own land. He came to Canada to make money for the family he left behind -- an eligibility requirement for the program to ensure the workers return to Mexico -- and has made, to date, about $4,500.

During the peak blueberry season, Purewal paid the workers their contract's requirement of $8.30 per hour, and gave them 40 hours of work per week.

But in September, the blueberry season ended, and the farm's crop changed to mandarin oranges. Workers paid for piece work couldn't harvest enough to make a decent wage and complained to the Mexican consulate, said Erika Del Carmen Fuchs, an activist who has taken up the Mexicans' cause.

"They wanted to talk to the boss, but the information wasn't passed through," she said.

It was only after the 32 workers stopped working on Friday that the employer promised to finish building a covered cooking area.

Yesterday, that building's floor was only wood shavings, and light streamed between vertical slats in the walls. There is only enough hot water for about five showers every morning.

After repeated complaints and pressure from the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and the B.C. Raspberry Growers Council, the farm bought a dryer for their workers on Friday, Ms. Fuchs said.

The farm's owner did not return phone calls. The manager on site, Parmajit Ajula, acknowledged there were problems with accommodation, but said he hasn't had time to address the workers' complaints.

"This year, people are so busy. Next year, I will build a proper washroom, a proper kitchen."

Workers need to understand that farming is a seasonal industry, he said; it may be slow now, but he said work will pick up in 10 days for pruning and planting.

Mr. Ajula said he would pay the workers the outstanding wages today, and arrange for flights home. Many pickers had a contract to stay in Canada until mid-December, but local workers and the 12 remaining Mexicans will finish the harvest.

Another worker, Daniel Garcia, 30, said he would like to come back to Canada next year. He has not talked to his wife about returning home yet, because the farm only has one phone line for the workers and their supervisors.

"[The owner] always says tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow," Mr. Garcia said. "For the past three months, nothing has happened."