‘SELLOUTS’

The majority of women working on the seasonal farm work programme in Canada have poured scorn on Jamaican liaison officers there, asserting that the group mandated to ensure that they are treated fairly has been unethical and unresponsive to challenges they face.

Fifty-two per cent of the 44 women surveyed during a fact-finding mission approved by the Jamaican Government said that they were dissatisfied with the Jamaica Liaison Service.

The figure is just above that of their male counterparts, with 44 per cent of 396 surveyed indicating that they, too, were not satisfied.

The findings were published in the fact-finding report tabled in the House of Representatives last Tuesday.

The issues cited by workers included liaison officers not being easily accessible, responsive, or interactive.

Workers also said that they were not ethical in their approach and did not ensure that issues they had were resolved.

They noted, too, that liaison officers lacked compassion.

Currently, there are only 13 liaison officers for the programme despite farms being far apart.

Approximately 10,000 Jamaicans are part of the seasonal programme, which began in 1966, and are spread across 655 farms in 10 provinces.

Three former female workers, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, one of whom is still “fighting” for medical treatment from her former employer, called liaison officers “sellouts” and claimed that their loyalty was to supervisors and employers.

The women, who were in their 30s at the time they went on the programme roughly a decade ago, said that they were engaged in picking strawberries and apples.

One woman told The Gleaner that she fell from a ladder while thinning apples, and suffered a brain and leg injury as a result.

She noted that she has remained in the North American country four years later and is fighting to get assistance in accordance with her contract.

“The liaison officers are not supposed to be there because they are not doing what they are put there to do,” she said.

“It is unfair that CDN$75 is drawn out of your salary every fortnight to pay somebody who is standing in front of your employer telling them that if they have any issues, it’s because of where we come from,” she added.

She alleged that after her injuries, a liaison officer submitted a report falsely indicating that she was well. The woman said that this has resulted in her being unable to get treatment.

Additionally, she said that a request for the results of her medical done prior to her arriving in Canada, which she said would prove that she was healthy on arrival, was denied.

“I was told to get off the phone and that I was bright and out of order and ‘renk’ and that I shouldn’t call back their phone … . These liaison officers have been doing a lot of damage to us as migrant farmworkers. They have been crushing us. They are not for us. They are for the employers,” she claimed.

She said also that officers rarely responded to issues they were having, but noted, however, that they would report those who had complained to employers.

“There was no confidentiality between you and the liaison. Basically, them sell out,” she charged.

She rubbished the mission of the fact-finding team, which travelled from Jamaica last September to investigate reports of abuse, calling it a “hoax”.

“How will you get the facts by telling people that you are coming and getting them to polish up?” she questioned.

She said “threatened” workers will not be honest about their treatment because they do not want to lose the opportunity to earn.

Knee injuries

Another former worker said she was forced to pay out of pocket to treat a ligament injury to her knee because a liaison officer allegedly downplayed her injury.

She told The Gleaner that she picked up the injury while kneeling to pick strawberries.

“What I told [the officer] is not what was in the report,” the woman said.

She said that as a result, her employer did not pay for her treatment because the report said that she was well.

She was sent home at the end of the season, a month after she picked up the injury.

The third woman alleged that she had to beg repeatedly to be taken to the doctor after she, too, injured her knee while picking strawberries.

She said that she was eventually taken to the doctor and underwent 10 sessions of physiotherapy after it was discovered that her kneecap had shifted.

“Liaison officers, no matter how much they come to you first and you tell them how you feel, they always take the boss’ side. Them nuh give you encouragement. Them just tell you [to] follow what them say,” she said.

Efforts by The Gleaner to reach Chief Liaison Officer Kenneth Phillips for comment on the allegations were unsuccessful.

The Gleaner was told that Phillips was in a meeting last Thursday.

On Saturday, liaison officer Althea Riley, who shares a telephone number with Phillips, said that they were not in a position to comment.

She referred The Gleaner to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for a response.

Of the overall 442 farmworkers surveyed, 55 per cent said that they were satisfied with the liaison service.

Still, the majority of farmworkers in British Columbia (50.9 per cent), New Brunswick (56.3 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (100 per cent), and Nova Scotia (53.8 per cent) were not satisfied with the liaison service.

Forty-three per cent of workers in Ontario, which has the largest number of Jamaican farmworkers, said that they were not satisfied while 57 per cent said they were.

Labour Minister Karl Samuda told Parliament on Tuesday that the Jamaican Liaison Service must address the weaknesses reported by farmworkers.

“We are, through the ministry, dealing with it and will be making changes where necessary and making new additions,” he said.

Attempts by The Gleaner to speak with Samuda about the findings were unsuccessful. Calls to his cell phone went unanswered.

He did not respond to a WhatsApp message sent on Friday.

“reorganise” Liaison service

The ministry’s oversight committee, meanwhile, said it recommended that the liaison service be “reorganised” because since its establishment in 1966, there has been no review of its structure.

It said in this regard, a staffing structure has been prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

The committee said efforts are under way to have the Jamaica Liaison Service established as part of Jamaica’s Foreign Mission in Canada.

It said on the matter of allegations and complaints made by various advocacy groups, the liaison service conducts investigations when reports are made directly.

“Where the complaints are validated, recommendations may be made to remove the offending farm from among the list of approved farms in the programme.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com