Dynamic season ahead for the Agriculture Workers Alliance

Toronto – April 18, 2016 – Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) staff and officers from across the country recently convened in Toronto to lay the groundwork for the year ahead. Over the next few weeks, AWA centres across Canada will re-open for another season. The centres and their multilingual staff provide advocacy and support services to the tens of thousands of migrant and domestic agriculture workers in Canada’s busiest growing regions.

Since the launch of the first agriculture workers support centre in 2002, the AWA has grown into North America’s largest farm workers’ organization, with more than 13,000 members.

“UFCW Canada’s AWA program has proven itself as a leading voice and force of justice in representing the interest of migrant and domestic agriculture workers, and that works continues” says Paul Meinema, the national president of UFCW Canada, and the president of the AWA.

“UFCW Canada’s agriculture workers program also includes providing exemplary service to members at agriculture location where UFCW Canada collective agreements are already in place,” says Brother Meinema, “as well as our ongoing campaign for legislative change to advance the labour and workplace rights for some of the most vulnerable workers in Canada.”

You can find out more about the AWA and UFCW Canada’s agriculture workers program in the Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada 2015 report.