Intercede
Organization profile published 1979
Publisher: Employment Services for Immigrant Women, Toronto, Canada
Year Published: 1979
Resource Type: Organization
Cx Number: CX1091
Abstract:
Connexions has published multiple abstracts on the International Coalition for the End of Domestics' Exploitation.
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This abstract was published in Connexions Digest in 1979:
Immigrant and Canadian-born women met on October 27, 1979 in Toronto for a forum called "A Review From The Kitchen: Immigrant Women Speak Out On The Value Of Housework". Many of the participants and guests have formed a coalition called International Coalition For The End Of Domestics' Exploitation (INTERCEDE).
INTERCEDE is working:
1. to get the pseudo-contract signed by federal immigration and employers of domestic workers on work permits made legal and binding on the employers;
2. to make sure that the bill to bring domestic work under minimum wage legislation passes when it is re-introduced in the Ontario legislature in 1980;
3. to secure funding by the government of independent community agencies so that the minimum wage legislation and the terms of the domestic worker's contracts are observed by employers of domestic workers;
4. to open the way for all women who are presently in Canada on work permits to be able to apply for landed immigrant status immediately;
5. to raise welfare rates immediately to a living wage, and to allow immigrant women to apply for welfare with no threat of deportation.
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This abstract was published in Connexions Digest in 1981:
The International Coalition to End Domestics' Exploitation (INTERCEDE) was created in May, 1980, a joint effort of four groups: Employment Services for Women, Housewives Initiative, Labour Rights for Domestic Servants and Wages for Housework Committee; its purpose is to respond to the problems domestics are experiencing in the workplace. Some of these problems include less than minimum wage and long working hours. Present legislation gives domestics very limited protection under law, i.e. they are excluded from the Employment Standards Act, the Labour Relations Act, the Workmen's Compensation Act and the Human Rights Code. The federal government allows working visas for women based on the Canadian need but, through the immigration policy, makes it impossible for these women to become landed immigrants.
The Coalition, in its short history, has already completed a brief to the Ontario government in which domestics' exclusion from labour legislation is documented. INTERCEDE led a delegation in December, 1980 that discussed the brief's recommendations with Robert Elgie, Minister of Labour; support for these recommendations was received from the N.D.P. and the Liberals.
INTERCEDE also submitted the only brief received by the Task Force on Immigration Practice and Procedures; this brief recommended the following changes:
- the assessment criteria for landing as a domestic worker should be upgraded to reflect both the demand for domestics and the skills required in the job;
- domestics should be allowed to apply for landed status from within Canada after they have been here a year;
- employer and employee should agree to and sign a contract outlining job duties and specifying wages;
- the employee would have the right to change jobs, if there is a contract violation.
As well as working with women's interest groups and planning a national campaign for immigration rights for domestics, INTERCEDE networks and gathers information about services that are available to domestics. The need for more counselling and advocacy services has been identified.
Currently the Coalition is mounting a letter campaign to Lloyd Axworthy who has responded to the Task Force recommendations in a way that INTERCEDE feels results in "a select few from the U.K. and northern Europe (being) granted landed status, while thousands of domestic workers from the Caribbean and Philippines won't have a chance."
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