The Struggle Continues
The Struggle Continues
Statement on the Adoption of the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers by the Committee on Domestic Workers
MIGRANTE International welcomes the adoption of the ILO Convention on Domestic Work by the Committee on Domestic Workers which recognizes domestic work as work and bestows upon domestic workers equal rights and recognition as other workers. Indeed, this is a milestone - a product of long years of hard-fought struggle to secure the rights of domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers which MIGRANTE International has actively supported and campaigned for through its chapter organizations in the Philippines and abroad.
Migrante @ the ILO Conference
Migrante Canada sends delegates
to the ILO Labour Conference in Geneva
Migrante Canada will send its delegation to the International Labour Organization 100th Session of the International Labour Conference to be held in Geneva starting tomorrow, June 1 to 17.
The Migrante delegation of domestic workers and advocates together with delegates from the Canadian Labour Congress will make representations on the fourth item of the conference agenda: “Decent work for domestic workers.”
More than half of the 10 million Filipinos abroad work as domestic workers. They work in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Middle East and North America. Most of them have left their home country due to massive unemployment and poverty to look for job and a better life abroad that their government cannot provide to them.
ILPS formed chapter in Canada
21 anti-imperialist organizations from across Canada unite to form ILPS-Canada Chapter
by Kabir Joshi-Vijayan, Steve da Silva, and Malcolm Guy
Toronto, Ontario, May 21, 2011 — Seventy delegates and observers representing nearly two dozen organizations from across Canada came together to launch the Canadian chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS). Taking place at the Centre for Spanish Speaking People in Toronto, delegates from Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto held a daylong conference to discuss future campaigns of the ILPS, finalize a constitution, and elect delegates to a Coordinating Committee.
It was a major step forward for anti-imperialist unity in Canada in the midst of growing popular struggles around the globe from North Africa to the Middle East and from India to the Philippines and beyond and in the face of an aggressive and war-mongering new majority Conservative government at home, the opening declaration stated.The organizations present represented groups from the Latin American, South Asian and South-East Asian communities, along with media collectives and community arts and workers’ organizations. The groups included: Anakbayan, Barrio Nuevo, BASICS Community News Service, BAYAN Canada, Casa Salvador Allende, the Centre d’Appui aux Philippines – Centre for Philippine Concerns, Canada-Philippine Solidarity for Human Rights, Damayan Manitoba, Filipino Migrant Workers Movement, Filipino Workers Solidarity Group, Immigrant Workers Centre, Gabriela-Ontario, Canada South Asia Solidarity Alliance, Migrante-Canada, Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Philippine Advocacy Through Arts and Culture, PINAY – Filipino Women’s Organization in Quebec, Proletarian Revolutionary Action Committee, PSG, Toronto Haiti Action Committee, Tamil Resource Centre, Femmes de Diverses Origines – Women of Diverse Origins, and the Women United Against Imperialism.
Rigoberto Tiglao insults Filipino migrants and their advocates
Migrante Canada
16 May 2011
Rigoberto Tiglao insults Filipino migrants and their advocates
Columnist Rigoberto Tiglao insulted Filipino migrant workers in his article “Myths about
OFWs” (May 12, 2011, Philippine Daily Inquirer). Mr Tiglao is out of touch with the realities of
Filipino migrants. Even in developed countries like Canada, Filipino migrant workers are
faced with exploitative conditions and uncertainty.
He also insulted legitimate migrant advocates with his sweeping statement that NGOs exploit
the migrant situation for their own financial gain. Migrant organizations such as Migrante do
not benefit nor would even attempt to benefit from the hardships of our kababayans here in
Canada. As a matter of fact all of our organizers and advocates work on a voluntary basis.
We in Migrante Canada dare Mr. Tiglao to try to work as a caregiver here in Canada to see
how dangerous, difficult and dirty that job can be.
Raising the Voices of the Migrant Workers in B.C.
Coalition for Migrant Workers Justice: Raising the Voices of the Migrant Workers in B.C.
Vancouver, B.C. (April 19, 2011) – The many migrant workers under the government Temporary Foreign Workers Program have a strong friend and ally in the newly launched Coalition for Migrant Workers Justice (Coalicion por la Justicia de Trabajadores Migrantes / Koalisyon para sa Katarungan ng mga Migranteng Manggagawa) which held a press conference last April 19 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in east Vancouver.
In the Coalition’s Unity Statement, the 13 members of the Coalition -- academia, faith-based groups, service providers, grassroots organizations and unions, human rights groups, and migrant workers themselves -- expose the injustice, the vulnerability, poor working conditions and barriers of the temporary foreign workers. Joe Barrett of the BC Building Trades Council said we are all connected with the migrant workers’ issue because “an injury to migrant workers is an injury to all Canadians,” most especially in the case of violations of labour standards.
Open Letter to Candidates
OPEN LETTER TO ALL CANDIDATES
April 20, 2011
Dear Candidates,
RE: Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Policies
Migrante-Canada, a Canada-wide organization comprised of Filipino TFWs, established immigrants and citizens would like to inform our membership and the public about your position regarding the plight of TFWs across the country.
- A recent Auditor General’s report found that Canada’s TFW program leaves migrant workers vulnerable to a range of abuses. Examples include TFWs having to pay thousands of dollars to unscrupulous recruiters; not being the promised wages by employers; and being subject to inhumane living and working conditions.
- In 2007, the Philippines was Canada’s largest source country for immigrants and TFWs combined. Apart from the Americans, Filipinos comprise the majority of TFWs coming to Canada. A recent article came out from the Globe and Mail (March 11, 2011) citing the Philippines as the new “top source” of immigrants to Canada.
- The number of TFWs in Canada has increased dramatically in the last several years. In 2008, there were an estimated 250,000 TFWs in the country compared to 100,000 in 2002.
Denny's Workers' Class Action Suit
Click this link for the details of the class action suit
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Demo at Denny's
DEMO at DENNY'S
MIGRANTE B.C. and MIGRANTE Canada, the latter with its 17 member organizations from coast to coast, support the struggle and demands of Herminia Dominguez and the Denny's workers, and the class action lawsuit that is now before the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
For many of us, we meet TFWs when they are already in Canada. When they are already at the Denny’s restaurants cooking and serving our Grand Slam Breakfast, at the Tim Horton’s coffee shops pouring our coffee and bagging our doughnuts or at the Little Caesar’s Pizza serving us our pepperoni pizza slices.
