B.C.
farm employers launch legal attack on migrant workers
Two
agricultural employer groups go to labour board in effort to prevent
migrant farm workers from unionizing
VANCOUVER,
October 1, 2008 – Two agricultural employer groups claiming to represent
farm employers are going to the British Columbia Labour Relations Board (BCLRB)
in an effort to prevent migrant farm workers from having the same
protections that apply to Canadian workers.
UFCW
Canada Local 1518 received a copy of a submission the B.C. Agriculture
Council and Western Agricultural Labour Initiative made to the B.C. Labour
Relations Board, in which they claim the province's Labour Relations Code,
"...cannot constitutionally apply to foreign nationals working in
British Columbia under the Federal Government's Seasonal Agricultural
Workers Program (SAWP)."
"One
would think that with the abuses of migrant workers we continue to hear
about, these employers would have the basic decency to address those
serious problems," said Ivan Limpright, President of UFCW Canada
Local 1518. "Instead, they are trying to find ways to duck behind the
constitution so they can carry on as if nothing was wrong," he said.
"That's just not right," said Limpright. "The
Labour Relations Code and Employment Standards and Workers Compensation
are there for every person working in British Columbia. But these
employers are trying to hide behind the law and avoid responsibility, and
we do not believe they should get away with this, and will be fighting to
see that they don't.
"Migrant
workers deserve to be protected from employers who abuse them, as does
every other worker," Limpright said, "and we would much rather
see these employer lobby groups spend their energy on ensuring that no
abuses take place by farm employers, rather than paying lawyers to
perpetuate a system that allows for easy exploitation of these workers by
unprincipled employers."
"The
B.C. Minister of Labour stated earlier this year that migrant farm workers
are covered by the Employment Standards Act, the Labour Relations Code and
the Workers Compensation Act that we have in British Columbia, and we are
going to fight to make sure these basic rights are upheld," said
Limpright.
UFCW
Canada Local 1518 is currently awaiting the outcome of a BCLRB hearing
into the fate of 14 migrant farm workers from Floralia Farms, a greenhouse
operation in Abbotsford. The 14 workers were repatriated to Mexico after
they had applied to join the union. Local 1518 lodged a formal complaint
with the BCLRB that charges Floralia with breaching the province's labour
relations code.
Hearings
into the case concluded on September 29, with a ruling from the BCLRB
expected early next week.
In
August, workers at Greenway Farms joined UFCW Canada Local 1518, becoming
the first migrant agriculture workers in B.C. to successfully join the
union.
That
unit followed the successful organizing by UFCW Canada of two other
bargaining units comprised of migrant and temporary agricultural workers:
one in Manitoba, and another in Quebec.
"Both
the federal ministry department that administers the SAWP, as well as the
federal Attorney-General's office have agreed that these workers fall
under provincial labour statutes," says Wayne Hanley, the National
President of UFCW Canada.
"As
for a constitutional argument, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled
definitively in June 2007, on a case that came from British Columbia in
fact, that Freedom of Association under the Charter protects the right to
collective bargaining for of all those working in Canada."
UFCW
Canada is one of Canada's largest private sector unions with more than
240,000 members across the country working in almost every sector of the
food industry from field to table. UFCW Canada in association with the
Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) also operates eight agriculture workers
support and advocacy centres across Canada, which have provided assistance
to thousands of workers since the first centre opened its doors in 2002.
For
further information please contact:
Andy
Neufeld, Director of Communications, UFCW Canada Local 1518
Primary
Phone: 604-434-3101
E-mail:
ANeufeld@ufcw1518.com
