2014-08-07
The Windsor Star
The Windsor Star
A disaster was recently averted. The Bonduelle plant fire resulted in extensive damage and potential job loss, but we all breathe a sigh of relief that no lives were lost.
This could have been a very different story if the accident had occurred later this year. As recently reported in the Windsor Star, Bonduelle has sought approval from the City of Tecumseh to rezone an industrial warehouse on its property for conversion into a residential bunkhouse for a group of 45 migrant workers from the Caribbean.
Red flags were raised on this request by community groups. They had two worries: the first was the potential occupational health and safety risks that the workers could face from living in close proximity to an industrial site.
The second worry, as has been borne out by migrant workers' experiences in other locations across Essex County, is the social isolation workers face when living at work, thereby separated from the rest of the local community.
Sadly our first concern was only too aptly demonstrated by last week's fire.
What would have happened to those workers if they were living on site when the explosion occurred? For migrant workers living in close proximity to their workplaces, often on plant sites in accommodations owned by their employers, there is only the thinnest of lines separating work and home.
Many workers complain about cramped living conditions, and dangerous chemicals and pesticides seeping from their workplaces into their living quarters.
But because their ability to work in Canada and their right to remain in housing is tied to their employer, speaking out is difficult.
It is not clear whether Occupational Health and Safety legislation applies to housing facilities on work sites, but extending its application to include them might be one way of ensuring that sufficient health and safety monitoring is in place.
It would also allow workers to complain of safety concerns in their accommodation without fear of reprisal. Another option would be to extend the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act to workplace housing. Currently migrant workers living in employerowned on site accommodations are not covered by the Act, and are therefore deprived of the legal protections provided to other residential tenants in Ontario.
When migrant workers live in employer-owned accommodation, at the site of their workplaces, they are not only doubly dependent on their employers, but they are separated from the rest of the community, compounding the vulnerabilities they face while working in Canada.
As the community rebuilds from this disaster, an opportunity exists to take steps to make sure that local workplaces are safe for all workers. At a provincial level, changes can start with making sure that Occupational Health and Safety and Residential Tenancies laws apply to those who live on employer's' premises, so that they are provided with healthy and safe living and working quarters.
More close to home, conversations in Windsor-Essex with migrant workers are necessary to determine their wants and experiences about their living situations.
Any decision moving forward must include their voices in any decisionmaking process.
The workers and companies of Essex County are no strangers to the health and safety challenges of industrial and farming work.
Where migrant workers live on-site, the risks they face are aggravated. It's easy to focus on fears of "outsiders' in our midst, but our best hope for building a safe, open and welcoming community lies in ensuring that migrant workers are included and protected as members of our community, rather than being relegated to living in the confines of old warehouses.
Claire Mummé teaches at the University of Windsor's Faculty of Law. Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers.
Agriculture and horticulture workers y General relevance - all sectors
Conciencia Pública
Ontario y National relevance
Inglés