Victims of labor trafficking who worked for a multinational catering company are mobilizing continuously on November 20, 21 and 22 to demand their rights and to ask IRCC and the Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, for an immediate solution to the humanitarian crisis they are experiencing.
Former Tresor-Newrest workers are mobilizing continuously on November 20, 21 and 22 to demand their rights and to respond to the disturbing news they received on November 9 that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had withdrawn the initial agreement to expedite their applications for temporary residence permits as victims of labour trafficking. This agreement had been reached with Minister Marc Miller’s office and IRCC in September, a few days before representatives of the same group of workers spoke at a press conference organized by the Centre for Immigrant Workers (CIW) on October 4, 2023.
The mobilizations will take place in three locations: 1) In front of the premises of the airline catering company Newrest 2) In front of the offices of the employment agency Tresor and 3) In front of Immigration Canada. These mobilizations aim to make visible the abuses suffered by Newrest and Tresor while working for these two entities and to call the conscience of Minister Marc Miller and IRCC that there is a humanitarian crisis in the making due to the precarious situation of their status and the lack of payments from Newrest and Tresor.
About a hundred workers will participate in these ongoing mobilizations to express their frustration and disappointment at the fact that they are victims of the failures of the institutional system governing temporary work programs. Likewise, these mobilizations express the lack of protection and immigration responses to their situation and hope that the Minister will have a meeting with a small delegation of workers to hear firsthand the abusive situations and the crisis they are currently experiencing,
“We feel betrayed by this initial news from IRCC and hope to clarify with the Minister’s office how best to proceed to protect us as victims,” said Octavio Zambrano, spokesperson for the group.
A young Mexican woman talks about her experience with the Tresor Agency, where she started her process in September 2022 by submitting her documents and after 7 months without getting any progress in her process, in May 2023 she was pressured by the agency to work in the Newrest company, as it would be the only way to get her permit. During that period, she did not receive any progress or news about the processing of her work permit. The young woman comments that there were also many irregularities on the part of the agency in her salary and to this day, Tresor owes her and more than 100 other workers two weeks’ salary.
“Newrest gave me a form to fill out with my data so they could send my information to the Tresor agency. During my time working for the company, I experienced gender discrimination and overwork, where I was forced to come in an hour early to meet the demands of my supervisors, as we were always under the threat of being fired if we did not meet the standard.” Another young
Mexican woman shares her experience working with Newrest. “I suffered an accident at work where the equipment we worked with on a daily basis was in bad condition, so one day it collapsed on top of me, hurting my knee, ankle and hands. When I brought the accident to the attention of the supervisors, they were only concerned about the lost production.”
What? Continue mobilization in three location of former workers of Tresor-Newrest, víctims of human traffic.
Mobilization at Newrest
When? Monday, November 20th at 10h.
Where?: 2620 Av. Andre, Dorval, QC, H9P 1K9
Who?: Justice for Tresor-Newrest Workers Committee
Mobilization at Tresor
When?: Tuesday, November 21th at 10h.
Where?: 134 Boulevard des Laurentides, Laval, QC, H7G 2T3
Who?: Justice for Tresor-Newrest Workers Committee
Mobilization at IRCC
When?: Wednesday, Nomvember 22th at 10h.
Where?: 1025 Rue Saint-Jaques, Montreal, QC, H3C 1G8
Who?: Justice for Tresor-Newrest Workers Committee
