: Migrant Farm Labourers Working in Canada - Case Study Example

Number 16 June Case Study: Migrant Farm Laborers Working in Canada The history of mankind can be described by its endless interaction among its prime species - humans. People developed the ability to build social groups within defined geographical territories but later on extended interactively across the borders. The proliferation of culture between regions, the strong international trade markets, and ever-changing consumer demands are the fruits of human interactions which we famously coined as globalization.

The latter paints a picture of enhanced international agreements, aggressive trade markets and accelerated penetration of industrialization worldwide. However, globalization has been continuously accompanied by challenges highlighted in its social, economic, political, and environmental components. Most humans have been looking on these worldwide advances in a macro level and have failed to notice the seemingly worsening plight of people living in countries lagging behind from those rich and famous ones (Lee).

The world being a global village transcended racial differences which led people to enjoy new dimensions of interactions which were never experienced before. The enhanced economic activities have highlighted the exchange of labor force between countries. In fact, outsourcing is a famous activity practiced by developed nations to trim down cost of labor for their manufacturing, production and even customer service industries. Migration of workers is another famous activity especially in countries like Mexico.

For some reason, most of the Mexicans travel across borders to Canada for job opportunities and financial stability. In the movie El Contrato, the plight of Mexican workers in Canada, is an eye-opener of the reality behind migrant workers (Lee). Being a migrant worker in the southwestern part of Ontario is not as good as some might perceive. The Leamington, Ontario is the center of greenhouses for mostly tomato production in North America. The increasing demand globally has also influenced the accelerating production of tomatoes which rely heavily in contracted labor outsourced from Mexico.

These migrant workers thrive in production areas of Leamington out of necessity and to support their families. As seen in the film, achieving economic stability has become one of the main driving forces of migration. As one of the workers said, finding jobs in Mexico can be relatively harder and making money is more difficult compared in Canada. It is true that in monetary terms, working in Canada can definitely provide an advantage. However, the adverse conditions that workers experience is far less than better compared than working in their homeland.

Their salary are significantly reduced by taxes while they all shoulder their food and transportations every day. The politics in their workplace dictates that their bosses have absolute authority over their jobs and they can be fired anytime even they are bounded under contracts. Furthermore, there is a weak compliance on labor protection and safety. The film strongly emphasized the lack of mandatory safety training and pesticide protection applications during the entirety of their job in the greenhouses.

Aside from health concerns, violations done by their employers through physical and verbal abuses become rampant. These labor conditions are definitely not a new scenario, not only in Canada but for the rest of the world. This pattern of global inequality are being reproduced and abused in several locations. From a perspective, globalization definitely accelerated illegal activities such as child labor and slavery. Just as one of the workers stated in the film, “Slavery has not disappeared” (Lee).

The effects of globalization on a local scale must not be taken for granted. While the world is being busy with advancements and trade agreements between countries, there are local people suffering and their needs need to be taken into the spotlight. To give credit to the global labor codes and policy, these migrant workers can fully take hold of its provisions. Unfortunately, most of them are not aware of their legal rights and most of the time their voices goes unheard. The enforcement of these labor codes is also weak and tainted with unethical political motives.

In fact, the film shows that even officials are more concerned with the contracts than the rights of the Mexican workers. To mitigate the negative impacts of globalization especially on the social health of local populations, it is time for everyone to work together to combat this pressing issue. Policy on labor protection and safety must not only be created but be strictly enforced throughout all levels of workplace across the globe. Like in the case of Mexican workers of Ontario, Canada, the government must act to mobilize its local government units and create a dedicated committee/agency to address their needs.

Information campaigns can be conducted with the collaboration of our sociologists and key persons to explain the rights and privileges of our local workers. They need people who can understand their plight. Those people who can give them respect and appreciate their hard work. In fact, the government can go as far as creating social amelioration welfare programs that enforces a lien to any products of their employers so that it can be solely used for worker’s health or educational benefits or for their families.

Ideally, globalization is meant to create wealth and prosperity. Let’s make this dream a reality especially for our local population, not only for those who are already rich and famous. Work Cited El Contrato. Dir. Min Sook Lee. 2003. Film.