Jose Pratas and Southwestern Ontario Fish Processing Company

Presteve Foods: The case was originally filed with the tribunal in April 2009 by the CAW-Canada union, now known as Unifor, on behalf of 39 workers employed by a southwestern Ontario fish processing company called Presteve Foods, according to Canadian HR Reporter. Following a criminal proceeding, and after the disputes between the other applicants and the company were resolved, only the two sisters, who can't be named, remained in the human rights case against the company and its former owner, Jose Pratas. Several migrant worker advocates said the ruling shows that the temporary foreign worker program creates conditions that allow for worker exploitation to go unchecked. One of the women, known as O.P.T, alleged that between 2007 and 2008 Pratas repeatedly threatened to send her back to Mexico if she didn't comply with his sexual demands which included fellatio and intercourse. In his ruling, adjudicator Mark Hart noted that O.P.T rights violations were particularly significant. ``I find that the personal respondent engaged in a persistent and ongoing pattern of sexual solicitations and advances towards O.P.T. during the period of her employment with Presteve,'' he wrote. ``It is my view that the seriousness of this conduct is unprecedented in terms of this tribunal previous decisions.'' Hart noted that as temporary foreign workers, both women were reliant upon their employers and had to live under the ``ever-present threat'' of having their employer decide to terminate their position. The other woman, known as M.P.T., alleged Pratas, who was married at the time, ``sexually propositioned'' her on multiple occasions and also threatened to send her back to Mexico. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.