This seminar will be presented by Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, professor at the Department of Legal Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Room: University of Sherbrooke Faculty of Law, room A9-162.

In Canada, the framework programs for the hiring of temporary foreign workers have constituted the object of numerous studies. The temporary migration programs (TMP) constitute a manifestation of the international division of labour that is not materialized by the delocalization of companies or the transnational organization of productive activities. Such TMPs allow employers to have recourse to a temporary working force, who does not hold political citizenship and is hired on a sporadic or recurrent basis, but whose contract duration is necessarily limited and predetermined.

Nevertheless, from a formal standpoint, these workers benefit from the protections afforded by labour law notwithstanding their migratory status. However, numerous studies have demonstrated that many of these workers are not inclined to denounce the violations of theirs labour rights. Therefore, does labour law constitute, for these workers, a useful rampart? This seminar will present the results of a fieldwork research that documented the obstacles that temporary foreign workers are likely to face when they wish to mobilize the protections afforded by labour law. We will also consider the strategies mobilized by different actors, including the workers, in order to circumvent these obstacles. This presentation will also constitute an opportunity to discuss the analytical framework to favour when one seeks to better understand the relation that recipients entertain with law.