Latin-American Workers Intimidated And Coerced By Companies Building The Canada

Two workers testified they were individually called to their manager's office, where they were asked to sign a petition stating they did not want the union to represent them as part of a human rights complaint against their employers, SELI Canada Inc., SNCP-SELI Joint Venture and SNC Laval in Constructors (Pacific) Inc. The tribunal ruled that when the company asked the workers to sign the petition, it was "an attempt to intimidate and coerce individual members of the complainant group to withdraw their support for the union to represent them in this complaint. "Second, it was an attempt on the employer's part to create evidence to be used to attack the union's representative status," said the tribunal. The tribunal found that the employees performed specialized work, operating a tunnel boring machine, and were as a result dependent on the companies for food, housing and future work when the Canada Line construction is completed. The tribunal upheld the union claim and ordered the company to cease such action and pay half the union's costs of launching the complaint. ... http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/13/bc-foreignworkers.html

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