Content area
Abstract
The phenomenon of offshore migrant labour in Canada poses an interesting challenge to the literature dealing with unfree labour relations in capitalist societies. This thesis uses in-depth interviews with Jamaican migrant labourers in Ontario, along with supporting statistical data to further our understanding of the subjective domain of labour relations in agriculture. According to the literature The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program constitutes a system of unfree labour, and many employers in the Ontario agricultural sector benefit from this system. Jamaican migrant workers do not necessarily share this view of unfreedom. While recognising the definite restrictions as defined in the contract, these migrants accept the conditions of employment as a trade off for the opportunity of material advancement not available to them in Jamaica. This discrepancy over the definition of unfree labour reflects the disparities between the North and the South, and needs to be addressed.
