We are not taking jobs from Canadians: Temporary foreign worker on her life in N.B. [Video]

A woman from Jamaica is speaking out on the harsh working conditions she says she’s faced as a temporary foreign worker in New Brunswick.

Stacey Plummer is calling on the federal government to grant permanent residency to workers like her, as a way to reduce the leverage employers have over them.

Plummer, who spoke at a news conference Wednesday hosted by the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, began working in seafood plants in southeastern New Brunswick in 2013.

She detailed discrimination, harassment and poor living conditions with her first employer.

“There were 12 of us workers in the house and we didn’t have enough appliances. I had to wake up 3 a.m. in the morning to prepare a meal for that night after work. I had to wait sometimes until 11 at night to prepare dinner, and even when I bought groceries I had nowhere to store them,” she said.

She left to work with a …