They came to Quebec in the hope of finding a better life there. Instead, we took advantage of their vulnerability and their precarious status to exploit them. This is what is alleged in a request for authorization to bring a class action against a personnel placement agency and its multinational client, filed Tuesday in the Superior Court of Quebec.
WHAT THERE IS TO KNOW
- A request for authorization to take class action was filed Tuesday in the Superior Court of Quebec on behalf of migrant workers who consider themselves victims of an “illicit” personnel placement system.
- The request targets the Laval personnel placement agency Trésor and the multinational airline catering company Newrest, which provides meals for flights departing from Montreal. Both companies deny the allegations.
- Six migrant workers took the stand on Wednesday to testify about their working conditions.
The request – brought by the Center for Immigrant Workers (CTI) – targets the Laval personnel placement agency Trésor and the multinational airline catering company Newrest. Both deny these accusations.
Newrest would produce approximately 15,000 meals per day which are served on planes departing from Montreal, alleges the authorization request.
“If you took a plane at Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Airport in the last two years, the food on your plane may have been prepared by a migrant worker who was the victim of serious abuse,” said Benoît Scowen of CTI , during a press conference which took place Wednesday morning at the organization’s premises.
Six workers also spoke in Spanish, identifying themselves with the first letter of their first name. The CTI said they were granted permission to stay in Canada under a temporary residence permit for victims of human trafficking.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Migrant workers launch a campaign and a request to take collective action alleging violations of their fundamental rights at the Montreal airport. Photo taken during the press briefing.
“As workers, we were made invisible and treated like slaves,” said K., a Chilean woman who arrived as a tourist with her husband and daughter under 2 years old.
She met the Trésor agency in January 2023. “This agency promised to take me from the status of tourist to that of worker by means of a closed work permit to work with an internationally renowned company called Newrest” , she explained. “What seemed like a dream turned out to be a nightmare […]. I was exploited. And in the workplace, I have been the direct victim of racism, gender-based violence, psychological abuse and physical wear and tear. »
Both K. and her husband were made redundant.
“I suffered psychological, physical, verbal and sexual abuse from my superiors, for example I was once asked if I was a virgin, I was forbidden to speak my native language or even speak , I was touched without my consent and I was even pushed,” testified A, who arrived from Mexico in February 2022 as a tourist to take an English course.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Migrant workers launch a campaign and a request to take collective action alleging violations of their fundamental rights at the Montreal airport. Photo taken during the press briefing.
Reaction from Newrest
In a written statement, the Newrest company indicated that it took the elements mentioned in the request “very seriously” and that it would carry out a “additional investigation in complete transparency”.
“Newrest formally denies the allegations made against it by the Center for Immigrant Workers. The group, created in 2005 and present in Canada since 2010, scrupulously respects the social and immigration laws in force in Canada and more particularly in Quebec for the hiring of its employees,” indicated the company.
“When listed, Newrest subcontractors, in Canada, as in the 54 countries in which the Group is present, are systematically subject to an internal audit procedure. This procedure allows Newrest to ensure that its subcontractors respect their legal, social, tax and union obligations,” she added.
“Illicit” system
If a judge authorizes the class action to move forward, it will target anyone who worked for Trésor or in a Newrest production unit without a valid work permit. Around 400 workers would be affected, alleges the CTI.
“The action aims to obtain justice for hundreds of migrant workers who are victims of a manifestly illicit system set up and operated by the defendants,” we can read in the request written by lawyers from the Trudel Johnson & Lspérance law firm. “Since 2021, an agency called Trésor has fraudulently recruited members of the group by falsely promising them a “closed” work permit, that is to say linked to an employer, and legal employment in Canada. The members are people who were already in Canada under visitor status or abroad, especially in Spanish-speaking countries,” we can read in the 32-page legal document.
The people recruited were then encouraged to work “fraudulently” during a probationary period, the request continues.
“Newrest and its employees are fully aware of the fact that the members of the group working in its production units do not in fact have work permits and that the vast majority of these workers will not obtain one,” the request adds.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Guillermo Montiel Villalvazo, a Treasury executive who is named as a defendant, said he was “stunned” by the allegations. “We are an agency that has been operating legally since 2013. We have never offered employment to anyone who did not have a license,” he told the news agency.
Trésor did not return our call or respond to our email.
H., a Mexican woman who left her children in Mexico in the hope of a better life, gave a contradictory version during the press briefing.
“I contacted Trésor from Mexico and arrived with the promise of a closed work permit. I was welcomed by bad people, who took advantage of my need and ignorance about immigration, making me work without a work permit for three months for the trial period and then threatening me with deportation” , said the one who started working for Newrest in October 2022.
“Tresor and Newrest abused me and many other colleagues. The abuse ranges from psychological abuse to physical abuse to unpaid wages. Today, Newrest and Trésor owe me more than $4,000 for unpaid hours. »
She says she never received her license, which was supposed to be issued in January 2023. She was fired in August 2023.