Toronto, Kitchener, London, Vancouver, May 24, 2012 — Coordinated by Migrant Workers Alliance of Change, simultaneous actions outside MP offices took place in 4 cities today, with migrant workers, community members and trade unionists demanding the Conservative government reverse a policy that would permit employers to pay migrant workers 15% less. This discriminatory policy is an attack on migrant workers and on all working people. Actions will continue next week in Calgary and Edmonton, as momentum builds against the wage cut.

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By Janet Bagnall, edmontonjournal.com May 13, 2012

Barely two months after a British Columbia Supreme Court judge certified a $10-million class-action lawsuit on behalf of more than 70 temporary foreign workers alleging flagrant violations of pay and working conditions, the Conservative government told Canadian employers that they can start paying short-term foreign workers 15 per cent less than they pay Canadian workers. If the federal government felt any qualms about giving employers carte blanche to create a two-tier workforce, it wasn’t obvious. Its attitude: Canada is facing a labour shortage. This is a way to fix it.

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By: Sozan Savehilaghi April 30, 2012 · 4:42 pm Downtown East Newspaper

The current Conservative Government is well known for policies that devastate poor communities, immigrants, women, and aboriginal people. One of their latest, Bill C-31, which is called the Refugee Exclusion Act by migrant justice activists, will have a horrifying impact on refugees who seek asylum and safety in Canada. Grassroots organizations such as No One Is Illegal in Vancouver Coast Salish Territories, as well as Non-Government organizations such as Amnesty International, Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, have come out in denunciation of this bill. Bill C-31 is condemned internationally and is against Canada’s own Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It defies the UN Convention on the Rights of Refugees which Canada has signed on to.

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Toronto Star. Published On Sat Apr 28 2012

Temporary workers, such as those who work in Ontario’s farms, can now be paid 15 per cent less than the average wage. Temporary workers, such as those who work in Ontario’s farms, can now be paid 15 per cent less than the average wage. Temporary workers, such as those who work in Ontario’s farms, can now be paid 15 per cent less than the average wage. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has always vehemently denied bringing cheap foreign labour into Canada. Employers had to pay foreign temporary workers “the prevailing wage,” he pointed out.

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guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 March 2012 17.58 GMT

Housemaid Alem Dechasa killed herself after street attack that sparked outrage over treatment of migrant workers in Lebanon Alem Dechasa was found dead in hospital, apparently hanged using strips from her bed sheets. Warning: video contains violence Link to this video Ethiopia is lobbying Lebanon to investigate fully the death of an Ethiopian housemaid who killed herself after being beaten on the street in Beirut. Video footage of Alem Dechasa being attacked outside the Ethiopian consulate in Beirut was broadcast on Lebanese television two weeks ago, causing outrage in the country about the mistreatment of the thousands of migrant workers in the country. In the video, Dechasa is seen being violently dragged along the street by a man and forced into a car. One man screams at her, “Get into the car” while another is seen helping to force Dechasa into the back of the vehicle.

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