Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr.
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Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr.
By Racquel Porter
Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles Jr. has taken issue with aspects of the Amnesty International study that revealed that migrant workers in Canada which includes Jamaicans, have experienced human rights violations.
The new report says farm workers also experienced multiple instances of exploitation and hazardous working conditions.
The research, conducted between February 2023 and June 2024 with 44 migrant workers from 14 countries, revealed that such abuses are widespread in the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme which, annually, includes thousands of Jamaican workers.
The report said a Canadian employer involved in Jamaica's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme reportedly used racial slurs to intimidate workers, including threatening to send Jamaican employees "back to the trees where you come from".
Noting his concern, Mr. Charles said only six Jamaicans were interviewed to form the sample used as the primary basis for the output of the report.
"I don't even know if the six persons are active, inactive, when last they've been on the programme; they could be speaking about issues from 2022, from 2006. We don't know. What we do know is that Jamaica has taken several steps to ensure that the programme is enhanced and stronger.
"We have increased the number of liaison offices. We have increased the number of liaison officers. We have increased the number of visits that we have to farms. And all of this has led to a positive output, an uptick in the request for Jamaican workers, and a decline in the complaints from Jamaican workers and from the employers," he stressed.
A Jamaican worker who travelled to Canada on the programme provided Amnesty International with photos showing filthy, stained toilets and food cabinets infested with cockroaches as well as "sticky traps" filled with dead insects.
Minister Charles said the ministry welcomes any information, recommendation and criticism that will strengthen the farm work programme but questioned the accuracy of Amnesty International's report.
Cautioning that "we should not readily accept and introduce into the narrative around our farm work programme any unjustified unbalanced assessment", the Labour Minister insisted the report appears "so glaringly unbalanced that we have to question the veracity of it".
In the meantime, Mr. Charles is urging farm workers facing challenges to report them through the available channels.
In 2022, the Jamaican Government commissioned a fact-finding team to assess the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme.
The team reportedly visited 70 farms over two weeks, using random sampling to evaluate conditions.
The resulting report indicated that most Jamaican workers were satisfied with their living and working conditions.
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