NDP Demands More Supports for Migrant Workers

The NDP MPP for Essex is calling for more support for migrant workers in the province following the death of a Windsor-Essex worker over the weekend.

Taras Natyshak says the province needs to implement better working and living conditions for these workers who are vital to our food supply.

"Safe housing arrangements, the ability to raise concerns about workplace conditions without fear of retribution, these are pretty standard in every workplace you would find across Ontario," says Natyshak.

He says there seems to be two sets of rules for workers in Ontario.

"The inequalities that exist in our migrant worker system and their working conditions, makes them vulnerable,” says Natyshak. “If COVID-19 has done anything, it has showed those inequalities and injustices."

"These issues existed long before COVID hit our shores,” Natyshak adds. “They are things we have raised concerns about for decades, and it is our hope that people are now seeing how fragile our connectivity is when not everyone is protected."

There are more than 170 farms in Essex County that employ 8,000 migrant workers, 176 of who, have tested positive.

The local medical officer of health is calling on a provincial strategy to test all migrant workers and Natyshak supports the call.