https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ag-foreign-farm-workers-pandemic-1.6279572

CEIU has written to the CBC in response to the above noted article and invited them to speak with us. CEIU has raised concerns over the past two years to senior management regarding a lack of health and safety equipment for our inspectors, a lack of security protocols, and ever shifting mandates and priorities leaving our members feeling unsupported and set up for failure in the execution of their work.

The Auditor General report itself speaks to the inspectors overwhelming workload and lack of experienced staff, who are lacking support by management. The issue rests with management, who was informed on multiple occasions by both the OAG and our union of these problems, and not the workers, who are doing their best given ongoing challenging circumstances – including having to conduct inspections virtually, relying on onsite managers to yield a laptop with a camera. Again, despite the union raising its concerns, little has changed for the inspectors working conditions.

Our members have for years expressed their multiple frustrations in being able to execute their mandates in the TFW program, and have felt for years that their employer at ESDC is preventing them from taking on criminal employers who are the ones that ought to be prioritized by the department. Instead, management direction is to focus on infractions by the workers, instead of focusing on the true criminals.

CEIU will continue to advocate for our members working at ESDC, and will not stand idly by allowing the media to slander workers.