Transnational Employment Strain in a Global Health Pandemic: Migrant Farmworkers in Canada (Politics of Citizenship and Migration)

The 2020-22 COVID-19 pandemic reinforced inequalities between the global North and South, amplifying pre-existing disparities between migrant and citizen/permanent resident workers in receiving and sending states worldwide. In contexts such as Canada, it also underscored that many workers in occupations and sectors deemed “essential” enough to be exempt from stay-at-home orders and other public safety measures are migrants, a sizeable number of whom sustain Canada’s food supply through their work in its agricultural industry. This book explores the dynamics behind the pandemic’s deleterious outcomes for this vital group of workers, highlighting migrant farmworkers importance to the Canadian economy, society, and the world of work alongside the conditions they endured before and during the global health pandemic through policy and media analysis and open-ended interviews with workers enrolled in two streams of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) as well as migrants without legal status employed in agriculture located in Ontario and Quebec. Advancing the notion of transnational employment strain, the authors derive insight from the employment strain model, a framework for understanding risks to the physical and psychological well-being of workers, and expand it to account for migrants’ relationships across transnational space. Acknowledgements Praise For Transnational Employment Strain in a Global Health Pandemic: Migrant Farmworkers In Canada Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction Situating the Case Study: COVID-19 Outbreaks, Travel Bans, and Exemptions in the Canadian Context Rates, Clusters, Outbreaks, and their Drivers in the Canadian Labour Market Canada’s Initial Response to COVID-19: Counteracting COVID-Safety Protocols with Labour Market Activation and Exemptions to Travel Bans Agriculture in Canada: An Essential Industry and Major Site of COVID-19 Outbreaks Methodology and Methods A Multi-Method Approach Description of the Sample Analysis Chapter Outline References 2 Rethinking Employment Strain Through a Transnational Lens: Centring Migrant Workers’ Lives Migrant Farmworkers in Canada: The Institutional Context Transnational Employment Strain How a Global Health Crisis Exacerbated Employment Strain Among Essential Migrant Farmworkers References 3 Transnational Employment Strain: A Longstanding Feature of Migrant Farm Work Employment Demands Among Transnational Migrant Farmworkers Occupational Health Hazards and Injuries Pressure to Increase Productivity and Extend Working Hours Overcrowded and Substandard Housing Deportability Transnational Responsibilities and Employment Demands Employment Resources Available to Migrant Farmworkers Control Over the Work Environment Adequate Remuneration Protecting Migrant Farmworkers from Excessive Employment Demand: Government Initiatives References 4 Transnational Employment Strain in Pandemic Times: Magnified Strains and Insufficient Resources Increased Occupational Health Risks and Inadequate Protections Amplified Strains in Employer-Provided Housing Heightened Insecurity: Reprisals, Dismissals, and Repatriation Reduced Earnings and Insufficient Income Supports “Essential” but Excluded from Employment Resources Provided to Frontline Workers Wider Community: Employment Demand or Resource? References 5 Mitigating Transnational Employment Strain Among Migrant Farmworkers: Principles and Practical Strategies Status Upon Arrival and an Overhaul of the Regulation and Valuation of Work in Agriculture Protection from Employer Reprisals Prompting Repatriation: An Independent Tribunal and Open Work Permits A National Housing Standard Meaningful Access to Income Support and Wide-Ranging Services Access to Public Health Insurance Decency in Wages and Collective Bargaining Rights for Agricultural Workers: Increasing Workers’ Power Over the Employment Relationship Regular and Unannounced Workplace and Housing Inspections Beyond Canada: Understanding the Transnational Employment Strain Globally References References Index The 2020-22 COVID-19 pandemic reinforced inequalities between the global North and South, amplifying pre-existing disparities between national workers and migrants, many of whom sustain food supplies far from home through their work in agriculture. Leah F. Vosko, FRSC, is Professor of Political Science and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair at York University, Canada. Tanya Basok is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Windsor, Canada. Cynthia Spring is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics at York University, Canada