Chris Ramsaroop, Organiser of Justice for Migrant Workers advocacy group
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Chris Ramsaroop
A migrant workers advocacy group based in Canada is alleging that some foreign workers, including Jamaicans on the Overseas Employment Programme, have complained that they have not been issued with personal protective equipment and there is no physical distancing where they are being accommodated.
More than 300 farm workers left Jamaica earlier this month for the United States and Canada under the overseas employment programme.
The individuals reportedly signed a waiver that protects the Jamaican Government from any liability that may arise due to them participating in the programme during the coronavirus pandemic.
Organiser of Justice for Migrant Workers, Chris Ramsaroop, said his group has lobbied the Canadian authorities to improve the treatment of foreign workers and is awaiting a response.
He is of the view that with the $1,500 provided to employers for the care of each worker, the Canadian Government has absolved itself of any responsibility.
"Why couldn't it go to the farm workers to provide some support for them?Why couldn't they provide hotel rooms instead of being put into cramped bunk houses?... There is no accountability, there is no transparancy at the moment towards that money and how that money is going to be spent," he contended.
According to Ramsaroop, many of the workers are housed on the property of their employer in trailers, bunk or farm houses, with two to three workers in a small room.
Further, Mr. Ramsaroop said some of the Jamaican workers have complained that they were uncertain of what they were agreeing to when they signed the document absolving the Jamaican Government of liability.
"Many of the workers who we're talking to are saying that they felt they had no choice to sign this. They felt compelled, they felt coerced," he insisted, arguing, "What we're trying to say is there has to be fairness and decency and dignity for the workers who put food on our table here in Canada."
Mr. Ramsaroop wants political representatives in Canada to lobby the Jamaican government to ensure that the workers' rights are protected.
He was speaking Monday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica programme.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Collette Roberts Risden, had said the Jamaican workers would have been placed in quarantine for two weeks and paid.
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