Wages

Transcription of interview with Amarjit Singh Heer discussing his immigration to Canada, his immigration status, his personal history, and his experience working in various positions at sawmills such as Nanoose Forest Products, Nanaimo Forest Products and Western Forest Products. He also discusses how he was paid low wages and how it was difficult to gain seniority at the sawmills. Heer also mentions his encounters with racism and discrimination in Canada.

Amarjit Singh Heer's narrative discusses his immigration to Canada from Punjab, India. Heer became a Canadian citizen shortly after arriving in Canada and started working in sawmills. He worked in various sawmills in British Columbia including William's Lake, Merritt, Duncan, Nanaimo, Cowichan Bay and in Chemainus. Heer also had a variety of roles in the sawmills such as the green chain position, a plainer shift, a graveyard planer shift, and a foreman. Heer concludes by discussing how during his time in Canada, he commonly faced discrimination and racism from the European White settler community.

Creator: Griffin, Sean

Photo of South Asian truckers and independent owner-operators at the protest convoy from Abbotsford to Surrey in a campaign to stop trucking companies from whipsawing drivers to push wage rates down.

The story at a glance published by the BC Lumberworker.