They're recent immigrants so desperate for money they'll work 12-hour days elbow-deep in raw chicken parts for wages so low they're illegal.
Quebec's Ministry of Revenue is preparing a crackdown on dozens of temporary agencies that avoid taxes by hiring recent immigrants and paying them in cash - as little as $6.50 an hour - to fill jobs at industrial butcher shops and produce warehouses.
Fifteen agents are investigating the practice, ministry sources say. It's estimated the agencies evade $50-million a year in taxes.
"Investigators are on the case. We have no pity for this kind of thing. We have to put all of our energy, all of out teams into this," said Quebec Revenue Minister Raymond Bachand.
Radio-Canada's investigative program Enquête sent Spanish-speaking journalists wearing hidden cameras to pose as temporary workers in Montreal and easily found black-market jobs and illegal working conditions. Several agency managers spoke openly of their indifference to the illegality of hiring undocumented immigrants and paying far below the minimum wage of $9.50 an hour.
When the two reporters got to work, they discovered gruelling conditions and a nine-hour day, often with only a single, 15-minute break. The two men made $290.83 for five days of work, according to the program, which aired on Thursday night.
"I've done a lot of hard work in my life, but this was really a marathon," said Jesus Javia Mendez, an independent TV and film producer originally from Chile who was hired by Radio-Canada for the undercover sting.
"You're not allowed to stop, not until the very last minute. Sometimes I felt like Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. The conveyor belt never stops."
The report said that workers hired by the temp agencies were picked up by van at gathering points in poor neighborhoods. The workers, mostly from Latin American countries who spoke little English or French, often had no idea where they were going or what they would be doing for the day. They later picked up their cash earnings at payday loan and money transfer shops, which temp agencies use to elude investigators.
The temp agencies close and reopen under new names without notice, often leaving workers unpaid and the provincial government with dead-end investigations. Officials from several companies that use temp agencies claimed they had no idea how little the workers were paid.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour, Harold Fortin, said the government has been working on the problem since 2008 and a number of measures have been introduced. Some charges have been laid, he said, and programs are in place to inform immigrants of their rights.
"It's not a generalized situation," Mr. Fortin said. "But we can't crack down on all of them. Unless workers file complaints, it's hard to go after these agencies."
Companies and the government have allowed the black-market temp system to flourish, said Carole Henry, the spokeswoman for a group that has long lobbied for better protection for immigrant workers. (The group's name, Au bas de l'échelle, translates as "The bottom rung of the ladder.")
"What we see here is the tip of the iceberg. Not all agencies are fraudulent, but with no framework, no permits, no rules, they can pretty well get away with anything," Ms. Henry said. "Unlike other parts of Canada, there are no rules in Quebec."
Les Perreaux