根据《环球邮报》(Global and Mail)报道,枫叶食品公司(Maple Leaf)去年通过一家位于温哥华的移民顾问公司,从中国引进61名中国劳工到该公司位于温尼泊的Brandon肉食加工厂工作。枫叶公司给这些劳工每小时15元工资,这些劳工虽然对薪酬满意但要求搬出公司安排的宿舍,理由是租金太贵。后经了解,这些中国劳工为了来加拿大,每人因交给中介公司1万加元而背上沉重债务。
Maple Leaf Foods in Brandon is re-jigging its program to import workers after finding out 61 of its employees originally from China paid a fee as part of a deal to get the jobs.
The President of UFCW 832 Robert Ziegler tells CJOB, Maple Leaf was surprised as anyone when it found out what was going on:
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Maple Leaf hired a Canadian immigration consultant to find the workers, who paid the equivalent of 10-thousand dollars, in part for training in meat-cutting and some English language instruction. The consultant has been fired.
Many workers are struggling to pay debts related to the fee, which is equivalent to about four times the average annual salary in China.