‘It’s like a cage’: Foreign workers who quit Canadian Tire speak out about feeling trapped by work permits
Resource Details
Author(s): Shaina Luck
Date: October 22, 2024
Rowell Pailan spends his days applying for jobs in factories, in restaurants, in shops. He’s ready to take any kind of work. Last September, Pailan quit his job with the company he came to Canada to work for over what he says are disputes about his treatment, including hours and wages. Now, he can’t find an employer willing to do the paperwork to change his closed work permit — a standard part of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program that ties workers to specific companies.
Pailan is one of a group of at least 13 temporary foreign workers who came to Canada in 2023 to work at a large Canadian Tire store in Etobicoke. Many of the workers quit their jobs at the store before their work permits expired, alleging the owner paid them less than the agreed-upon wage in their contracts and threatened to demote or fire them.
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McMaster University professor Catherine Connelly says she was “shocked, but also not that surprised” by what the workers allege they experienced at the Etobicoke store. She says that in her view, closed work permits are one of the “worst aspects” of the TFW program because they can facilitate abuse.
“It literally does trap the worker. It ties them to the workplace,” said Connelly, who specializes in human resources and management and has spent the past 10 years studying and interviewing temporary foreign workers and their employers. “And so people endure considerable mistreatment.”
Pailan is one of a group of at least 13 temporary foreign workers who came to Canada in 2023 to work at a large Canadian Tire store in Etobicoke. Many of the workers quit their jobs at the store before their work permits expired, alleging the owner paid them less than the agreed-upon wage in their contracts and threatened to demote or fire them.
…
McMaster University professor Catherine Connelly says she was “shocked, but also not that surprised” by what the workers allege they experienced at the Etobicoke store. She says that in her view, closed work permits are one of the “worst aspects” of the TFW program because they can facilitate abuse.
“It literally does trap the worker. It ties them to the workplace,” said Connelly, who specializes in human resources and management and has spent the past 10 years studying and interviewing temporary foreign workers and their employers. “And so people endure considerable mistreatment.”