本帖最后由 jameslong 于 2009-10-19 07:59 编辑
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/articles/20728
Quebec Commission levies heavy fine
Chinese immigrant workers awarded $164,000 in damages
By Laurin Liu Published: Oct 5
TheQuebec Human Rights Commission ruled this September that 15 Chineseworkers should receive $164,000 in damages from their employer, CalegoInternational, for racial discrimination in the workplace. It is theheaviest fine to be levied by the Commission in a human rights case todate.
The Commission asked that $10,000 be paid in moral and punitive damagesto each worker and $5,000 paid to two workers who were forcibly thrownoff the company’s premises in plain view of co-workers.
The incident took place in July 2006, when a group of 40 employees werecalled into a meeting with Calego International’s president, StephenRapps. The workers testified to the Commission that Rapps yelled atthem, saying, “You Chinese eat like pigs!”
He Yong Han, a former employee and Chinese immigrant now residing inMontreal, reported to The Daily that Rapps told the workers to washthemselves daily, and that they were no longer in China.
He said that Rapps chastised the workers for unsanitary workconditions, warning them not to get urine on the floor when using thetoilet.
Of all the employees at Calego International, the Chinese workers were the only ones who were called to the meeting.
He reported further that workers walked out immediately after,returning the next day to demand a written apology from Rapps, acleaner work environment (workers say that at the time, there were nojanitorial staff working), and compensation for what they saw asdiscriminatory actions. The demands were turned down, leading many ofthe workers to quit their jobs.
The workers then filed a complaint through the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR).
Calego International is a Montreal-based children’s backpack andaccessories manufacturer. Rapps, a supervisor, and Agence Vincent, theplacement agency through which the Chinese workers were hired, willshare the payment of damages.
Julius Grey, the lawyer who represents Calego International, has denied that the incident took place.
Despite the fact that the fine is the largest sum that the Quebec HumanRights Commission has recommended in a racism case, Fo Niemi of CRARR,who helped these workers file their complaint, stated that the amountis less significant when the amount of damages awarded to eachindividual worker is considered.
“This may be why discrimination still goes on, because if we had thekind of damages awarded as in the United States, where we’re talkingabout hundreds of thousands of dollars, many people would think twicebefore committing racial discrimination,” Niemi said.
The former Calego employees have received support from the MontrealChinese community, in the form of encouragement, assistance, andmonetary aid. The Montreal Chinese Cultural Centre helped the workersfind lawyers and gather information for their case.
Niemi notes that very few complaints are filed from people of Asianbackgrounds, although Asian workers are a large number of the immigrantworkers who are often forced to work in substandard conditions.
(亚洲人, 包括中国人, 都需要学会保障自己的权益. )
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发表于 2008-8-21 12:52:33
很徼动人心！