A Mexican who came to Canada to work in an Alberta feedlot believes his employers broke the contract and have left him stranded in a foreign country without a job.
Armando Garcia said he signed a contract with CG Paulgaard Farms Ltd., of Hayter, Alta., promising him $12 per hour, overtime pay, health care benefits and his flight paid from Mexico, but none of it materialized.
Instead, Garcia said he had only one day off a week, worked all statutory holidays without extra pay, was not paid for overtime, paid the doctor out of his salary when he was injured and paid his own ticket to Canada.
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“Everything was in my contract,” said Garcia, who complained about his working conditions March 14 during a news conference organized by the Alberta Liberal party.
While at the feedlot, Garcia said he fed cattle, treated sick cattle, welded machinery, swept floors and drove the truck and tractor. One month he worked 211 hours but received a cheque for only $222 because of deductions, he said.
“Nobody can survive on $200 a month.”
Garcia came to Canada in November through a Calgary recruitment agency under a temporary foreign workers program with strict limits on his visa. The restrictive work visa allows him to work only for the employer listed. He cannot work in any other occupation or location, nor take courses and must leave Canada by Nov. 19, 2007.
“I just want to try to find a way to go to my home again,” said Garcia.
As more foreign temporary workers come to the province, rules must be in place to protect them, said Hugh MacDonald, Liberal agriculture critic.
In 2005, there were more than 22,000 temporary foreign workers in Alberta working in everything from construction to farming.
“These workers, if they’re going to be recruited, have to be given rights. Those rights should be given to all Alberta workers on corporate farms. They should be informed what laws will protect them before they make the decision to come,” said MacDonald.
“This is not an isolated case.”
In Alberta, farm workers are exempt from most labour standard laws, said Gwen Vanderdeen-Paschke, a spokesperson for Alberta Employment.
Farm workers are exempt from having maximum hours of work, rest periods, days of rest, overtime, overtime pay, general holidays and pay, vacations and minimum wage, she said.
Farm workers do have the right to be paid the agreed upon wage rate and only certain deductions can be made. No deductions can be made for board and lodging or work clothes that would reduce the salary below the agreed upon wage, she said.
Vanderdeen-Paschke said it doesn’t matter what was agreed to in the contract if the job is exempt from labour standards.
“If he has a written contract that says he will be paid overtime, because it’s an exemption from employment standards, we can’t enforce that,” she said.
Garcia’s only recourse would be civil action through the courts, she said.
Since December 2006, the provincial department has received 18 complaints related to temporary foreign workers.
During question period in the legislature, Ray Danyluk, minister of municipal affairs and housing, said the government would look into the case.
“In Alberta, this is not common. I mean, we take violations of a code very seriously and investigate every complaint that is brought forward, and we need to look at this information and the individual circumstances,” said Danyluk.
Garcia’s former employer, Cliff Paulgaard, said it’s the first time he’s had problems with foreign workers in the feedlot. Problems arose this time when the wrong contract was used to hire an agriculture worker.
In previous years they’ve hired about 50 foreign workers for the feedlot, but they’ve come through established farm worker programs.
Paulgaard said he would use foreign workers again, but make sure the proper contract was used, one that notes the agriculture exemptions.
“It was a misunderstanding. It’s too bad.”
