Worker conditions: Keep an eye on Metro, IGA and FTQ demerges

It was started by an activist from the estate named Claude Dollaire The boycott movement on Tuesday. He asks groceries and restaurants to stop distributing Demers products until the employer has completely changed the living conditions of his foreign workers.

For now, managers of Sobies-IGA and Metro grocery stores do not intend to remove Demers products from their shelves. However, talks were held with the company to take corrective action.

In addition, Sobies-IGA spokeswoman Anne-Helen Lavoie told Radio-Canada In Saint-Nicofor, a representative will visit the site to check on the progress of work undertaken so far in the shelters of foreign workers.

Sobies-IGA also asks Demers to provide Plan to take corrective action to ensure that the premises meet sanitary standards. Said the spokesman Sobies is concerned about this situation and needs all of its suppliers to ensure adequate working conditions for all of its workers..

On the Metro side, Communications Director Genevieve Gregoire said the situation with Radio-Canada should be closely monitored and a follow-up would be done. We will see to it that the appropriate actions are on their side as they declare, She suggested via email.

On Facebook, some neighborhood grocery stores indicated they had removed Demers products from their shelves. This is especially the case with the Intermarch Boer in Montreal.

The FTQ Solidarity Fund also announced that there was Talks were held with the company on Monday about the information revealed in the report. Mr. Demers has provided us with the existing measures and we hope that his plan will correct the situation for the coming weeks and months. We will continue to follow the file, Said Patrick McWilken, a senior media relations consultant.

The fund said it did not intend to withdraw its investment from Productions Horticulture Demers.

Debate in the National Assembly

The situation of Guatemalan workers was transferred to the National Assembly on Tuesday afternoon. Labor Minister Jean Boulette was questioned by Emilis Lessard-Therian, a spokeswoman for Quebec Solidarity in Agriculture. Demers received $ 30 million in financial aid in March. Will the Minister suspend this loan as long as the workers are kept in safe, health facilities?

Mr. Boulette wanted to reassure the member not to answer the question directly. Meetings are still going on. I have contacted Mr. Demers, a colleague of the Department of Agriculture, who is taking the necessary steps to ascertain the conditions under which these workers are.

Andres Fontesilla, the immigration spokeswoman for Quebec Solidair, replied: We understand from the minister’s response that taxpayers’ money can be used to rob workers. The CAQ tells us: “Take less, but be careful”. For the world that works in the fields, we understand that there is more to take and we give up on them.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Quebec Premier Franois Legalt hinted he had discovered Not acceptable These living conditions. I believe this is an isolated case. The Minister of Agriculture, Andre Lamontagne, spoke with Mr. Demers, who said he was going to rectify the situation. […] It is up to the federal government to ensure that conditions are good for foreign workers.

In an interview with Radio-Canada, Sherbrooke’s solidarity MP Kristin Labrie described the situation: Not allowed. There are obligations that employers must take to be polite to their employees. It is not acceptable to give public funding to organizations that do not respect the minimum expectations one can have as an organization. Here, in Quebec, I think a lot of Quebeckers have been slandered for seeing people behave like that.

Check that is considered compliant

For his part, Martin Gibbouly, chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors for companies that hire foreign farm workers (firms), said an inspection had been carried out in an appropriate form at Productions Horticulture Demers, and the facilities were found compliant. The company was ordered by the federal government to conduct these inspections.

What happened next, caused the decline of these homes, which was really serious. We do not accept such conditions for foreign workers, He says.

The last inspection was in May 2021, said Martin Gibbouli The report could not be read back and forth. However, he stated that he had seen the photos of this inspection, It shows traces of mold, but has never been seen in the last few days.

I do not understand why the workers did not deny this before. A year has passed since the situation was condemned. I was not informed a year ago because we would take action faster than that.

However, Martin Gibbouli believes that many employers keep their workers in very good conditions.

For his part, Jacques Demers, CEO of Productions Horticulture Demers, declined to comment further on the situation, saying he was busy. To plan deadlines. He did not want to re-open the doors of workers’ homes so that Radio-Canada could check whether improvements had been made since April. He argued in an interview Monday.