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EL CONTRATO

The View From Here
Wednesday April 27 at 10:00 p.m. EST, repeated
Sunday May 1st at 10:00 p.m.
50 minutes
A NFB production, directed by Min Sook Lee and produced by Karen King-Chigbo

Teodoro Bello Martinez, father of four, is one of 4,000 Mexican workers who makes the annual migration to Leamington, Ontario, the “tomato capital” of Canada, to harvest the fruit that makes its way to our markets and dinner tables. Forced to leave villages that cannot offer them a livelihood, the workers are brought to Canada by the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). While the program’s intentions are well meaning, life on the farm for Teodoro and his countrymen feels like legalized abuse.
El Contrato, a new documentary directed by Min Sook Lee, tells their story. The facts are disturbing. The guest workers spend up to eight months of the year in the fields, thousands of miles away from their families, friends, and culture. Their wages are low and their living conditions appalling. They work long hours, they’re confined, subjected to racism, and are exposed to harmful pesticides without protection. At the risk of retribution, they voice their desire as much for dignity and respect as for better working conditions, but their grievances are deflected by a long line of others back home willing to take their place.

Are they at the mercy of a greedy system? Are we doing enough to protect the rights of our guest workers? El Contrato offers a healthy dose of food for thought, Wednesday April 27 at 10:00 p.m. on The View From Here.

For more information, including course connections and educational resources for the classroom, viewers can visit The View From Here’s website: http://www.tvo.org/documentaries


EL CONTRATO

Una visión desde acá. (A View From Here)

Miércoles a las 10:00 P.M. EST del día Abril el 27, repetido Domingo Mayo 1 a las 10:00 P.M..

50 minutos

Una producción de NFB, dirigida por Min Sook y Producida por Karen Rey-Chigbo

Teodoro Bello Martínez, padre de cuatro niños, es uno de 4.000 trabajadores mexicanos que hace su migración
anual a Leamington, Ontario, la "capital del tomate" en Canadá, para recoger la cosecha que llega a
nuestros mercados y mesas de cenar. Forzados a salir de sus aldeas las cuales no pueden ofrecerles un
sustento, los trabajadores son traídos a Canadá por un programa agrícola estacional que se llama (SAWP).
Mientras que las intenciones del programa son bien intencionadas, la vida en la granja se hace sentir
para Teodoro y sus paisanos como un abuso legalizado.

El Contrato, un reportaje documentario nuevo dirigido por Min Sook, donde cuenta la historia de hechos
disturbantes. Los trabajadores son contratados a trabajar hasta ocho meses del año en estos campos,
alejados por millares de millas lejos de sus familias, de amigos, y de cultura. Sus salarios son, así como
las condiciones de vida muy bajas y no deseables. Trabajan largas horas, confinados, sujetos al racismo,
y se exponen sin protección a pesticidas dañinos. Aun con el riesgo de ser reprimidos, elevan su vos para
que los respeten, los traten con dignidad y les proporcionen mejores condiciones de trabajo, pero sus
agravios son desviados por una línea larga de trabajadores que pueden venir desde México a tomar su
lugar.

¿Están ellos a la merced de un sistema miserable y codicioso? ¿Estamos haciendo nosotros bastantes para
proteger las derechos de los trabajadores que traemos a trabajar en nuestros campos?

El Contrato ofrece una dosis sana en la materia para poder pensar, miércoles abril 27 a las 10:00 P.M.

Para más información, incluyendo conexiones de curso y recursos educativos para la sala de clase, los
espectadores pueden visitar; The View From Here’s website at http://www.tvo.org/documentaries

6th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award Dinner

May 4th 2005

Hosted by Canadian Labour Congress - Global Justice CareVan Project

Master of Ceremony: Jean Claude Parrot, Past Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress

An evening to recognize the outstanding contribution to the Farmworker Movement by four awards to activists who have lead the struggle for farmworkers and the Canadian labour movement.

The award recipients this year are:

Leo Gerrard, International President United Steelworkers of America;

Min Sook Lee, Producer of National Film Board documentary "El Contracto";

Rodger and Tracey Goetheyn, farmworkers and Right to Refuse Health & Safety activists;

Xin Yuan Liu, farmworker and legal challenger for Health & Safety and the right to bargain collectively in Ontario.

Come out and show your support for the farmworkers struggles to join a union and bargain collectively. To secure health and safety rights for
farmworkers. We are proud of these individuals for stepping forward! Will you stand with them?

Steel Workers Hall 25 Cecil St. Toronto

Latin American cuisine

Reception 5:30 P.M. - Dinner 6:00 P.M. (cash bar)

Tickets $ 50 each / sponsor tables also available

Ticket are available from the CLC office 416-441-3710 (800 387-3500)
or from Stan Raper 416-674-8218 email ufw-eh@sympatico.ca
(Last year we sold out early so call to get your tickets soon)

Proceeds to: Global Justice Care Van Project -to assist the UFCW's Migrant Workers Support Centers in Canada.

FREE MOVIE SCREENING!

It's Farmworker Awareness Week - come join us for the Ottawa premiere of EL CONTRATO
Thursday April 7 A NFB production
Directed by Min Sook Lee Produced by Karen King-Chigbo

EL CONTRATO follows a poverty-stricken father of four living in Central Mexico and several of his countrymen as they make an annual migration to southern Ontario. For eight months of the year, 4000 Mexican migrant labourers pick tomatoes for conditions and wages no local will accept. Under a government program that allows growers to monitor themselves, the opportunity to exploit workers is as ripe as the fruit they pick. Grievances are deflected by a long line of others "back home" who are willing to take their place. Despite a fear of repercussions, the workers voice their desire for dignity and respect, as much as for better working conditions. El Contrato ends as winter closes in and the Mexicans pledge, not for the first time and possibly not the last, that it's their final season in the north.

Ottawa Public Library
120 Metcalfe @ Laurier
Thursday April 7, 7pm
To be followed by Q&A.
More info: contratoottawa@gmail.com

Tuesday, April 12, 2005
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Toronto Free Gallery
660 Queen St. East (1 block west of Broadview Ave.)

Undocumented workers. Young chainstore employees. Communication freelancers. Artists with reputation but no rent. Sessional university teachers. Short-term contract holders. These evoke radically different situations but they share a quality of precariousness: non-guaranteed jobs, insecure incomes, uncertain futures. Precarity is becoming a norm in the 'flexible' economy. What are its roots? How is it lived? How is it being resisted?

Join us for a discussion of these questions. This will be followed by a screening of "Precarity" (2004), a video which creatively documents anti-precarity struggles that are flaring up around the world.

PANELISTS:
Jean McDonald - No One Is Illegal - Toronto
Sonia Singh - Toronto Organizing for Fair Employment
Kika Thorne - artist
Leah Vosko - Canada Research Chair in Feminist Political Economy, York University

SCREENING:
"PRECARITY" @ 8:30pm

We are the precariat. We are hireable on demand, available on call, exploitable at will, and fireable at whim. But we are agitating with a common strategy to share our fights!

"Precarity" (2004) is a compilation of videos documenting the rebellion of precarious flexworkers across the continents. From the occupation of abandoned factories in Argentina, to the interruption of French prime time news, to the devotion to Saint Precarious at the May Day Parade in Milan, "Precarity" is advertising a new brand of labour activism. It is a toolbox to investigate new modes of collective action and an instrument for the radical organization of the consumerized younger generation.

Sponsored by: CMCE / Centre for Media and Culture in Education at OISE/UT
http://cmce.oise.utoronto.ca