WorkSafeNB aims to reduce language barriers for foreign workers

A group that helps immigrants and temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick is applauding an effort by WorkSafeNB to inform newcomers of their rights and responsibilities related to workplace safety.

But they also say the language barrier is only part of the issue.

About two months after a lobster plant on the Acadian Peninsula received a hefty fine for mistreating foreign workers, WorkSafeNB CEO Tim Petersen highlighted some new resources in a commentary published online this week.

"We acknowledge that these workers may face challenges in the workplace, making it essential to equip them with the knowledge and tools for a safe working environment," he wrote.

The resources include a web page, social media campaign and pamphlets in Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian and Vietnamese, besides the usual English and French.

WorkSafe wants everyone to have a good understanding of workplace safety and the proactive steps they can take to protect themselves, Petersen said.

WorkSafeNB CEO Tim Petersen says he hopes the new pamphlets help empower newcomers and temporary foreign workers. (WorkSafeNB)

This includes the right to refuse unsafe work, participate in health and safety discussions and gain access to information and training.

"We understand the challenges posed by language barriers, diverse health and safety expectations, and hesitancy to voice concerns at work," said Petersen.

"We're committed to removing these barriers and empowering individuals to actively participate in fostering safe and healthy workplaces."

WorkSafe is also involving employers, industry associations, settlement agencies and multicultural organizations, he said.

"This is absolutely a positive step forward … we're really happy about this," said Aditya Rao, of the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre in Fredericton.

"This is really important information that needs to be available in multiple languages. It's certainly going to make a difference for workers to know that these rights exist," he said.

Aditya Rao, a board member of the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, said the new pamphlets will be very useful to temporary workers who don't speak English or French. (Matthew Liteplo/Submitted by Aditya Rao)

Rao said his group would definitely make use of the new resources and make sure people have access to them.

The pamphlets cover the languages that most of the workers in the province speak, he said, adding that most of the people the centre deals with speak Spanish or Tagalog, one of the languages of the Philippines.

"We've raised the issue of not having access to the information in different languages before and so, we're really pleased to see this action," he said.

At the same time, Rao said the new resources are "not nearly enough of what needs to be done."

Some other big remaining issues are that rules aren't being enforced and employers aren't reporting violations when they happen, he said.

Workers are protected "on paper," but in real life they face threats of deportation when they want to complain about a safety incident, said Rao.

"Many of the folks that we're working with are just keeping their head down and working anyway," he said.

Getting access to compensation after they've suffered harm and returned to their home country is also a problem, said Rao.

The Migrant Justice Centre deals with violations such as lack of training, verbal abuse, deplorable working conditions and unreported workplace injuries, said Rao.

The failure to report injuries could be motivated by an employer's desire to avoid investigations and other consequences, he said.

In his mind, the mechanism that allows all of these things to happen is the closed-door work permit system, and to fully address safety issues, it would have to be abolished.

"This temporary foreign worker program is exploitative by design," said Rao.

Changes announced last month

Last month, the federal government announced changes to the program that would allow a worker to receive a permit to work at any business in a particular sector.

Rao feels these would still effectively be closed permits.

"In an area like New Brunswick, where all the employers know each other … we know that when a worker speaks out about working conditions in one plant, the recruiters know who this worker is, the employers know who this worker is. They share the worker's name and, lo and behold, the next season, the worker's not invited back to work in Canada."

Tracy Glynn is a researcher with the centre and agrees with that assessment.

"It's clear to us we really need to abolish the closed work permit system," said Glynn.

"We're seeing many issues," she said, including workplace safety, housing and abuse.

Tracy Glynn says based on her research she's been hearing from migrant workers, mainly at seafood processing plants, who face issues with workplace safety and abuse. (Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre)

The centre's caseload has been increasing since the organization was founded two years ago, said Glynn.

They mainly hear from migrant workers at seafood processing plants, she said.

Last year, for example, Canada issued 183,820 permits for temporary foreign workers — 4,410 of them were in New Brunswick. More than half of those — 2,350 — were for fish and seafood plant workers, according to a report provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

A distant second, with 295 permits in 2023, was the category of "labourers in fish and seafood processing." Third was "general farm workers" with 215 permits.

Glynn said provincial and federal governments have a responsibility to protect workers and have been failing to do so.

While she's pleased by the creation of the new pamphlets, she'd like to see more opportunities for language training.

"That would be also nice to see," she said.