Guatemalan workers who were rescued from a farm in Saint-Jude, Montérégie, on November 26, recount the working conditions that prompted them to denounce their employer.
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The workers, hired on a farm belonging to Jean Lemay, would have remained unpaid for a month, they denounce.
Without a salary, they still had to pay their rent to the farmer, in addition to having to buy their food.
“They were the ones who paid for the food and they also paid for the house even if they were not working,” reports Melvin Mendez of the Network of assistance to migrant agricultural workers of Quebec (RATTMAQ).
It was this organization, in collaboration with the Sûreté du Québec, that went to look for the workers to get them out of Mr. Lemay’s farm.
According to the RATTMAQ, the farmer hired 143 Guatemalans this year. Mr. Lemay would have made some work seven days a week and would have sold their services to other farmers.
Paid at minimum wage, Guatemalans were “sold” for $ 25 an hour, allowing the owner of the Saint-Jude farm to generate a profit.
“Mr. Lemay owes them on average, roughly $ 3,000,” explains Michel Pilon of RATTMAQ.
Jean Lemay is now banned for life from the foreign worker recruitment program because he violated federal hiring law by not respecting the wages and the conditions of the initial job offer.
He must now pay a fine of $ 198,750.