Foreign Club Med workers say they are victims of discrimination

Due to a lack of local manpower, Club Med turned to temporary workers, mostly from Mexico, to fill positions at the hotel, the majority of them in housekeeping, catering and cooking.

According to information obtained by Radio-Canada, some of the Mexican employees employed by Club Med since its opening in 2021 do not benefit from the same salary treatment as their Canadian colleagues, which the latter have noted and deplore.

A former New Brunswick employee of Club Med, Gwyn Boudreault, believes that it has any sense that Mexican colleagues earn $15.50 an hour, while he was immediately offered a salary of around twenty dollars.

I don’t find that fair and I don’t understand why this is the case. Yes, they are immigrants, but they do the same job as me. Why aren’t they paid the same as me?

Radio-Canada spoke with two other Canadian housekeeping employees who are also paid $20.50 per hour. As permitted by law, employees who are accommodated by Club Med see their salary cut by approximately $52 per week.

Roxanne*, a housekeeping employee at Club Med, was shocked to learn that Mexican colleagues were earning $5 less an hour. She was so surprised, she says she asked them to see a pay stub as proof.

” I didn’t find that correct. They work hard there! »

The vice-president of operations in North America for Club Med, Olivier Rozier, affirms that the nationality of the employees does not affect their salary. Rather, it is the initial training, skills, qualifications, and experience of each individualhe explains.

He adds that Club Med is currently working with the union representing the employees, the Teamsters, and an outside firm to to evacuate all subjects and situations of wage discrimination.

The Teamsters confirm that a pay equity grievance has been filed.

Roxanne* and Gwyn Boudreault say they have never felt pressure to work overtime, but have noticed that during certain busy or understaffed periods, Mexican colleagues work six days a week while they work five.

If you’re not happy, go back to Mexico

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, more than 200 permits have been issued to foreign nationals to work at Club Med Québec Charlevoix since 2021.

One of the main reasons Ignacio* accepted a position at Club Med was to work a 40-hour job over a five-day period. This is what his employment contract provides.

Once on Canadian soil, the temporary worker with a permit closed tied to his employer, however, felt compelled to work six days a week.

[Nos patrons] know we have no choice but to do what they tell ushe explains.

For a long time, we worked 48 hours a week.

When he asked not to work the equivalent of one extra day per week, a supervisor reportedly told him: If you’re not happy, go back to Mexico.

These are comments that Mr. Rozier qualifies as discriminatory and that go against the values ​​of Club Med.

” In a situation where this would happen and that we would be informed, we would immediately get around the table to talk about this case and sanction it. »

Club Med attaches great importance to its guests and their well-being, but the price to pay, for us, is to be really unhappy, laments Ignacio*.

If he and some of his colleagues do not wish to work overtime, the union representative, Sylvain Lacroix, indicates that others wish to do so.

Mr. Rozier, for his part, asserts that overtime are not offered according to the nationalities of the employees, and that everyone is free to do as they wish.

High pressure

Ignacio*’s schedule is back to 40 hours a week. He noticed an improvement in this regard after signing a first collective agreement in April. His colleague Alberto Pacheco, a pastry chef’s assistant, felt for his part, during our interview in mid-September, still feeling a lot of pressure to work overtime, even when he expresses his wish not to do so.

” If I say no to something I have the right to refuse, why insist? If they don’t have the staff to serve 800 people, they just can’t take reservations for 800 people. That’s all. »

The workers also denounce that their schedule can change on very short notice. This lack of respect for our time is the biggest irritant, according to Pacheco.

You never know if they’ll change your schedule or your days off, so I don’t feel comfortable making planssays Mr. Pacheco, believing that it is all the more difficult to make friends and create a life outside of your work.

For his part, Mr. Rozier affirms that the schedules are established over four weeks in accordance with the collective agreement.

It’s hard to work for Club Medjudge the Canadian employee, Roxanne *. I don’t refer anyone.

In the past, she had a few dozen Canadian colleagues in her sector, but only three or four remain.

Mr. Rozier indicates that at the end of the summer the staff turnover was 15% so very acceptable for our industry.

However, the majority of foreign employees have, it should be remembered, closed permits which prevent them from working for an employer other than Club Med.

Not just labor

Club Med employees have begun to turn to the Network for the Assistance of Migrant Agricultural Workers of Quebec (RATTMAQ) to denounce their working and living conditions.

The coordinator of the Quebec office, Véronique Tessier, says that she was stopped by just under ten employees [du Club Med] with complaints that affect several aspects of workers’ lives, including housing, working conditions and climate.

She explains that employees live a feeling of helplessness and the feeling of being abandoned, of not knowing where to turn in case of difficulties.

She would like to see the end of closed permits, which keep employees tied to one employer. She sees this as an inequality of power that benefits the employer, but she concedes that the entire licensing model will have to be reviewed to achieve this.

” The people we bring here are not only workers, but above all human beings. »

According to the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST), temporary foreign workers have the same labor rights and obligations as all workers in Quebec.

Housing: Source of stress and instability

Some [travailleurs] still live today in accommodation without access to a kitchenexplains Véronique Tessier. We are talking about permanent housing, not something for a few weeks.

On this subject, Club Med replies that it is not obliged to provide accommodation to its employees and maintains that in each building, there are kitchens, either individual or collective.

However, the Radio-Canada investigation was able to show that some dwellings do not provide access to a stove, only to a small refrigerator and a microwave.

Workers living in Baie-St-Paul, 25 km from their place of work, testified to the RATTMAQ of one insecurity about their accommodationbecause many had to be relocated several times without knowing where they were going to live.

For Ms. Tessier, this reality testifies to the fact that the company and the community of Baie-Saint-Paul were not ready to welcome such a large contingent of foreign workers.

The approximately 200 permits for foreign workers were issued under the international mobility program which exempts the employer from the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process, but also from providing housing to the permit holder.

Disappointment

If Mr. Rozier affirms that healthy working conditions are at the heart of our priorities and this vision is shared within our company, our history and our valuesthe five employees with whom Radio-Canada spoke expressed their disappointment with their experience.

Many spoke of a deterioration in their mental health. Some even said that their work experience at Club Med Quebec Charlevoix was among the worst in their lives.

” Personally, I feel like nothing to them. We are replaceable, disposable. It’s difficult. Many of us feel very alone because of our working conditions. »

Like Ignacio*, Alberto Pacheco hoped that his contract with Club Med would be the gateway to a new life and a permanent residence in Canada.

The reason I stay in this job is that I know it’s not the worst job. My desire to stay in Canada is stronger.

Since our interview, Mr. Pacheco has resigned from Club Med because he says he couldn’t take it anymore, and Ignacio* wants to work elsewhere.

*These names have been changed to protect the identity of employees.

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