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Seasonal Agricultural Workers at BC farm go union with UFCW Canada
The BC Labour Relations Board has certified a bargaining unit of more than 70 migrant agriculture workers after a majority of the workers voted to join UFCW Canada Local 1518.
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A Year of Government Delay Adds to Alberta's Harvest of Death
January 28, 2010 — UFCW Canada, the union that has led the campaign for the rights of agriculture workers, is calling on the Alberta government to act without further delay to implement the recommendations of a public inquiry conducted by Justice Peter Barley to include farm workers under provincial workplace health and safety legislation
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Springhill Farms UFCW Canada Local 832 members ratify new agreement
WINNIPEG, MAN. - Feb. 9/2010 - UFCW local 832 members working at Springhill Farms in Neepawa, Manitoba have ratified a new five-year agreement that will see stabilization to their pension plan, increases to their wages, shift premiums, and important language for members working under the Foreign Worker Nominee Program.
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UFCW Canada Local 832 negotiates landmark protections for migrant worker union members
UFCW Canada Local 832 members at Maple Leaf in Brandon have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with substantially increased monetary benefits for all members, and groundbreaking new language for Migrant Worker members working under the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
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Farmworkers' quest for human rights arrives at the Supreme Court
OTTAWA — On December 17, a decades-long quest by Ontario farm workers to regain their human rights arrived at the Supreme Court of Canada.
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Auditor General Report Confirms Abuses in Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Toronto – The Report of the Auditor General released on November 3, strongly supports advocates’ concerns over the massive shortcomings of the Federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Auditor General Sheila Fraser exposed the realities of a program that makes migrant workers exceptionally vulnerable to abuses.
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Real Protection for Temporary Foreign Workers requires Real Solutions, not unenforced paper protocols
TORONTO - New measures to be undertaken by the government of Canada, which it asserts work towards greater protection of Temporary Foreign Workers, fall significantly short of any meaningful protections
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Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada, 2008-2009 Report issued
Initial copies of UFCW Canada’s much-anticipated The Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada, 2008-2009 are off the press and have been sent to Canadian and Mexican government officials as well as activists in recent weeks.
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Historic victory for migrant farm workers
A breakthrough collective agreement was reached September 21 between UFCW Canada and Floralia Growers of Abbotsford, BC. The new UFCW Canada Local 1518 contract provides wage improvements, but is particularly noteworthy for the protections it establishes for the rights of seasonal migrant farmworkers to return to Canada under the federal government’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).
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More workers arrested in another immigration raid in SW Ontario
TORONTO - June 25/09 - On Wednesday, June 24, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents raided the Sea Cliff Farms Limited greenhouse in Leamington, Ontario and arrested three migrant workers. This is the third set of CBSA raids carried out in Leamington and other Ontario centres since early April, including a May 27 raid where nine female migrant workers at another Leamington greenhouse were arrested.
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Reign of immigration raids in Southern Ontario continues
Leamington, ON – May 28, 2009 - In the early morning of Wednesday, May 27, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers agents raided Lakeside Greenhouse in Leamington, Ontario and arrested nine female migrant workers. One of the women arrested and detained is pregnant.
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Mexico state and UFCW Canada sign migrant worker protection pact
MORELIA, MICHOACÁN, MEXICO, February 24, 2009 - Migrant workers from the Mexico state of Michoacán will have enhanced protections when they arrive in Canada this season, thanks to a new historic agreement. Under the pact, workers from Michoacán will be assisted in Canada by UFCW Canada in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA).
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UFCW Canada and allies call to end Canada’s shameful secret
TORONTO, May 7, 2009 – UFCW Canada, along with three other of Canada’s largest labour organizations, is calling on the Harper government to ratify three international Conventions that protect workers’ rights.
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Over 50 additional foreign farm workers fired during Christmas season
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Dec. 23, 2008 — More than 50 Guatemalan farm workers, the majority of them women, have been issued notices of termination by Rol-Land Farms. The workers were told that they are scheduled to be evicted and repatriated on December 28, 29 and 30 during the Christmas season.
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UFCW Canada Speaks Out Against U.S. Style Immigration Raids in Southern Ontario
April 5, 2009 - Toronto - Dozens of migrant workers in Bradford, Markham, Leamington, and East Toronto have been arrested, detained and are likely slated for deportation
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Human rights violation of Ontario agworkers continues
Ottawa, Ont. - April 2, 2009 - The basic labour and human rights of Ontario agriculture workers will be in front of the Supreme Court of Canada again, after the highest court in the land agreed to review a recent Ontario lower court decision that ruled the province’s current prohibition on farm unions is unconstitutional.
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UFCW Canada files complaint against Ontario with United Nations agency
UFCW Canada has filed a formal complaint with the International Labour Organization, charging Ontario’s ban on agriculture unions violates the human rights of Ontario farm workers.
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UFCW Canada counters Ontario appeal application to Canada's Supreme Court
UFCW Canada has challanged Ontario's request to the Supreme Court of Canada that it hear the province's appeal of a November 2008 lower court decision that ruled Ontario's prohibition on agriculture workers forming unions is unconstitutional.
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End the Harvest of Death - An open letter to Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach from Wayne Hanley, National President
"As leader of the largest private-sector union in Canada, and on behalf of 35,000-plus food workers in Alberta, I urge you to take a proactive role in preventing future industry deaths by immediately accepting and implementing the recommendations put forward by Justice Barley’s inquiry."
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McGuinty flip-flop ignores Charter Rights, again.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has reversed his position regarding workers rights and decided to recall the provincial parliament to pass legislation that will force striking faculty at York University back to work. “By forcing through this legislation, Dalton McGuinty will be denying two groups – agriculture workers and the contract teaching faculty at York University – their Constitutional rights," said UFCW Canada President Wayne Hanley.
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McGuinty no better than Harris Tories days UFCW Canada President
TORONTO, January 14, 2009 — The McGuinty government’s decision to appeal a landmark November 2008 ruling that upheld the collective bargaining rights of Ontario farm workers “is cynical politics, played out on the backs of these workers to protect the privileges and special interests of the agriculture lobby,” says Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada.
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Season of justice for Ontario farm workers must be now
As the deadline approaches for the McGuinty government to answer to a recent landmark Ontario court decision, “Ontario agriculture workers expect the Premier will honour the decision and do the right thing without further delay,” says Wayne Hanley, the president of UFCW Canada.
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UFCW Canada takes ban on Ontario agriculture unions back to court
The rights of Ontario’s more than 100,000 agricultural workers were front and centre as a landmark appeal filed by UFCW Canada was heard May 20 and 21, 2008 by the Ontario Court of Appeal. The application was brought on behalf of three Ontario agricultural workers who worked at the Rol-Land Farms mushroom grow house facility in Kingsville, Ontario who in 2003, along with a majority of the workers at Rol-Land, had voted to form a UFCW Canada unit.
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Fired foreign agriculture workers at Rol-Land Farms speak out
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Dec. 11, 2008 — Seven foreign agriculture workers recently fired and evicted by Canada’s largest mushroom producer, Rol-Land Farms, joined members of UFCW Canada, Justicia for Migrant workers, and academics to speak about the problems of the Temporary Foreign Workers program and its impact on workers.
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Scores of Temporary Foreign Workers deported by Ontario agri-complex
More than 70 Mexican and Jamaican agriculture workers at a mushroom grow house facility were fired without notice December 6 by Rol-Land Farms. No reason was given for the firings. "We cannot tolerate such treatment of workers in this country," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. "We can't allow the expansion of programs that create second class residents and workers."
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Ontario court ruling opens the gate to farm unions
TORONTO, Nov.17 — The Ontario Court of Appeal has told the Ontario government to drop its ban on farm unions because it violates the Charter rights of Ontario's more than 100,000 agriculture workers. The court has given the McGuinty government until November 17, 2009 to provide farm workers with sufficient legislative protections to enable them to bargain collectively as other workers in the province.
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UFCW Local 501 applies at another Quebec farm
MONTRÉAL, October 28, 2008 – UFCW Canada Local 501 has applied for certification at another farm in Quebec.
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Another B.C. farm goes union with UFCW Canada
VANCOUVER, B.C.-- Oct. 10, 2008 - Agriculture workers at Floralia Plant Growers Limited in Abbotsford, B.C., have formed the second UFCW Canada bargaining unit at a B.C. agricultural operation, after a majority of the workers voted to join UFCW Canada Local 1518.
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Manitoba farm workers gain Employment Standards cover: Hanley calls on Ontario to follow
WINNIPEG, MB - The Manitoba government's announcement that this June agricultural workers across the province will have the same workplace protections and standards that have covered most other Manitoba workers since 1957, "is very good news and the Manitoba government should be commended," said Wayne Hanley, the national president of UFCW Canada (United Food and Commercial Workers Canada.
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Farm workers repatriated after exercising human rights
The B.C. Labour Relations Board will conduct a union certification vote September 15, for a greenhouse in Abbotsford despite the fact that half the workers will not be able to participate in the process – because they have been removed from their jobs and sent to Mexico.
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UFCW Canada National President calls for public inquiry into B.C. mushroom farm fatalities
UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley has called for an inquiry following the deaths of three workers and the hospitalization of three others after the workers were overcome on Friday, September 5, by fumes at a Langley, B.C. mushroom growing facility.
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Seasonal farm workers in B.C. go union with UFCW Canada
SURREY, B.C. - Workers at Greenway Farms Ltd. in Surrey, B.C. have gone union after a majority of ballots cast Thursday said "yes" to representation by UFCW Canada. The victory makes Greenway the first-ever B.C. agriculture bargaining unit made up of seasonal agricultural workers who travel to Canada to work each season under the federal Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).
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Hog barn members ratify first contract
Members of UFCW Canada Local 832 who work at PIC Canada Ltd., a hog-breeding operation in Malonton, Man., have overwhelmingly ratified a first collective agreement. The bargaining unit was certified in February 2008 after the workers at the hog barn and breeding facility in Manitoba’s Interlake district, about 80 kilometers north of Winnipeg, unanimously signed cards to join the local union.
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Ratification of UFCW Canada first-contract at Manitoba farm historic breakthrough for migrant workers
TORONTO, June 23, 2008 – Workers at Mayfair Farms in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba have made history by overwhelmingly ratifying the first-ever contract to cover migrant agriculture workers employed seasonally at a farm operation in Canada.
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UFCW Canada protests changes to Immigration Act
UFCW Canada activists and community allies converged on MP Bob Rae's Toronto constituency office April 16, to deliver a giant ballot to remind the newly elected MP and his fellow Liberal members to back a motion by the NDP to stop the Harper government's proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). "Communities across Canada are profoundly disappointed and concerned with the proposed changes," says UFCW Canada's national president Wayne Hanley.
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Manitoba leads the way – again
The Manitoba NDP government of Premier Gary Doer has announced that it will become the first province to regulate recruiters of temporary foreign workers working in Canada, as well as the province’s businesses that hire them. “This is a good move, and it should be followed by all other jurisdictions,” says Wayne Hanley, the national president of UFCW Canada.
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Canada continues to exploit migrant workers says annual report: Report on the Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada raises concerns lax rules to protect migrants are about to get even weaker
As Canada expands its use of migrant workers, the already weak rules to protect them from abuse are getting even weaker according to the latest Report on the Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada. “If you’ve got problems keep them to yourself or you’ll be sent packing. That’s the implicit threat that many of these workers tell us they continue to face each day,” says Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada, “and what little protection the system offers them now is getting worse."
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Mexico discusses migrant workers with UFCW Canada during Calderon visit
OTTAWA - The National President of UFCW Canada, the union that represents Mexican migrant workers at a Manitoba farm and has union applications pending on behalf of Mexican migrant workers at three other farms in Quebec has met with a senior official of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's government to discuss the challenges facing Mexican migrant workers in Canada.
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Supreme Court ruling opens the way to Ontario farm worker unions
OTTAWA, ON, June 8, 2007 – The campaign to allow Ontario farm workers to form unions for the purposes of collective bargaining has been given a huge boost by a decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada upholding collective bargaining as an inherent constitutional right under the Freedom of Association provisions of the Charter of Rights of Freedoms.
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Prosperity and the free trade in exploited workers
OTTAWA- While Canadian and Mexican officials continue to discuss the expansion of the Mexican migrant labour force in Canada, the workers themselves continue to be shut out from the conversation.
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Hanley and Bloc leader meet about migrant workers
Montréal, March 12, 2007 - Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada, and Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Québécois have met to discuss the condition of tens of thousands of migrant agricultural workers brought temporarily to Canada each season.
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Solberg and Hanley meet to discuss migrant workers
TORONTO, March 8, 2007 - The issue of temporary foreign workers in Canada was front and centre at a meeting Thursday in Toronto between the Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSDC), and Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada.
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Mexican migrant workers apply to join Canadian union UFCW/TUAC: Workers seek say in contract imposed by Mexican and Canadian governments
TORONTO, September 20, 2006 - In a historical breakthrough that could eventually impact thousands of migrant agricultural workers brought each season to Canada, Mexican migrant workers at three farms in Québec and one farm in Manitoba have applied to go union with UFCW Canada (known as TUAC Canada in Québec).
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UFCW Canada gains health and safety coverage for Ontario farm workers
TORONTO, June 29, 2006 – As of June 30th, Ontario farm workers will be covered under the Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The new health and safety coverage for farm workers comes in the wake of a 3-year public awareness campaign and legal battle led by UFCW Canada.
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Farm deaths and injuries mount while Ontario backtracks on safety regulations:Extension of Occupational Health and Safety Act to cover farm workers exempts farms from most of the OHSA regulations
TORONTO, March 10, 2006 – The recent accidental death of another Ontario agricultural worker is one more tragic reason agricultural workers need the fullest protection of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), not the watered-down version the government is planning to extend to the sector in June 2006.
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Agricultural workers’ right to unionize likely grounds for appeal
TORONTO, January 13, 2006 – The campaign to allow Ontario farm workers to form unions is likely heading back to the Ontario Court of Appeal after a ruling handed down this week by Ontario Superior Court Justice James Farley.
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UFCW Canada wins right to represent migrant agricultural workers in Charter challenge
The United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW Canada) has made legal history by becoming the first union ever to win the right to challenge the government on behalf of unorganized workers whose rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are being violated but who do not have the means or the opportunity to seek redress through the courts.
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Farm workers campaign grows
Justice for Alberta agricultural workers has moved one step closer with the signing of a new organizing protocol between the Farmworkers Union of Alberta and UFCW Canada.
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End the Drought! Legal Protection for Farm Workers Now!
The Alberta Federation of Labour has announced a campaign to pressure the Alberta government to extend to farm workers the same basic employment protections now provided to other Alberta workers.
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Labour Relations Act continues to discriminate against Ontario agriculture workers
Changes to the Ontario Labour Relations Act (OLRA) announced by the McGuinty government do nothing to end the discriminatory exclusion of Ontario agriculture workers from coverage under the Act.
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Layton raises plight of Mexican migrant workers in Canada with Mexico's President Fox
The substandard housing, safety, and working conditions in Canada for the more than 10,000 seasonal migrant farm workers who come here from Mexico each year were on the agenda when Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, conferred with Vicente Fox at a private Ottawa meeting following the Mexican president's address to Parliament.
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Agricultural workers take Ontario government to court
Ontario agricultural workers continue to be denied the right to unionize in spite of a 2001 Supreme Court of Canada decision which ruled that denying these rights to agricultural workers violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Ontario greenhouse workers apply to go union
The UFCW has applied to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to certify it as the bargaining agent for employees of a tomato hothouse factory farm in Chatham, Ontario.
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Agricultural workers closer to unionization with UFCW Canada
UFCW Canada has hailed an Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) decision as a "major victory" as the board announced today that they will proceed on September 19, 2003 with the counting of the ballots from the UFCW Canada organizing campaign at Rol-Land Farms in Kingsville Ontario.
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Mushroom boycott campaign to launch on Labour Day
UFCW Canada is calling on consumers to boycott fresh mushrooms from Rol-Land Farms. UFCW Canada will officially launch the Rol-Land Farms consumer boycott campaign at Labour Day parades in Toronto, London, Windsor, Kingston and other centres across Ontario next Monday.
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UFCW Canada organizes Kingsville mushroom factory employees working under "appalling" conditions
UFCW Canada has asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board to certify it as the bargaining agent for employees of a mushroom factory near Windsor. An overwhelming majority of the 270 production workers at Rol-Land Farms Inc. in Kingsville recently signed UFCW Canada membership cards.
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UFCW Canada opens third migrant agricultural workers support centre in Simcoe
The third support centre for migrant agricultural workers is opening June 29, 2003 in Simcoe, Ontario. The community-based centre will provide services to almost 5,000 seasonal migrant workers.
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Eves government faces Charter challenge over exclusion of agricultural workers from health and safety act
UFCW Canada filed a legal application today to Ontario's Supreme Court charging that the Eves government's exclusion of agricultural workers from the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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UFCW Canada meets with Jane Stewart Federal HRDC Minister
Human Resources Development Canada Minister Jane Stewart contacted UFCW Canada officials last week about the federal government's response to workers affected by layoffs due to the mad cow crisis. Michael J. Fraser, national director of UFCW Canada, met with Stewart this morning to explore ways to aid workers in the beef industry.
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UFCW Canada launches postcard campaign in support of Ontario's agricultural workers
In response to the Ontario government's continuing refusal to grant agricultural workers the same rights as other workers in the province, UFCW Canada has launched a post card campaign to heighten public awareness of the basic rights that the 100,000 agricultural workers in Ontario are denied.
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UFCW Canada slams agricultural workers Bill
Bill 187 introduced in the legislature on October 7 by Agricultural Minister Helen Johns gives agricultural workers the right to join or form an association but not collective bargaining. Agricultural workers will not have the same union rights as other workers in the province.
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