• Français
FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagram
Find Your Local Union
Subscribe to E-news
 
Login
Contact

UFCW Canada - Union Logo

Canada's Private Sector Union

  • About Our Union
  • Media & News
  • Resources
  • Issues
  • Action Centre
  • Join the Union

UFCW calls for further action for TFWs in wake of fire at Pioneer Flower Farms

St. Catharines, Ont. – August 21, 2019 – UFCW Canada is calling for additional protections for migrant agrifood workers following a fire at Pioneer Flower Farms in St. Catharines, Ontario that has destroyed employees’ housing accommodations and resulted in further precarity for one of Canada’s most vulnerable worker populations.

While the fire at the flower farm was contained, and no injuries or deaths have been reported, the blaze destroyed multiple residential buildings that housed migrant workers labouring at the farm. The fire was in a structure that houses a series of greenhouses and outbuildings and the cause is still unknown.

Troublingly, workers at Pioneer are now reporting that they are being told that they will be sent back to their home countries, without the opportunity to continue working in Canada, where the agrifood sector is in desperate need of workers.

While the federal government has made significant and welcomed progress in reforming the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), following decades of UFCW activism, by introducing open work permits for migrant workers experiencing abuse, events like this tragic fire highlight the need for additional protections – including access to the Employment Insurance (EI) system that migrant workers pay into, and the ability to permanently reside in Canada.

UFCW Canada is also calling for greater mobility for migrant workers, which would lessen vulnerability and incidents of exploitation and result in better, safer workplace standards for everyone – migrant and domestic.

To learn more about this important work, visit UFCW Canada’s Agriculture Workers website

  • Media & News
    • News
      • All News
      • Agriculture
      • By the Numbers
      • Campaigns
      • Directions Newsletter
      • Infographics
      • Politics
      • Social Justice
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Young Workers
      • Health & Safety
    • Media
      • Videos
      • Photo Gallery
      • Posters
    • Subscribe to E-news
  • Join the Union
  • About Our Union
    • About Our Union
      • Find Your Local Union
      • National President
      • National Council
      • Constitution
      • Union History
      • Mission Statement
      • Annual Reports
      • Join UFCW Canada
  • Media & News
    • Media & News
      • News
      • Media
      • Subscribe to E-news
  • Resources
    • Resources
      • Migrant Members
      • Union Training & Scholarships
      • Health & Safety
      • The National Defence Fund
      • Member Discounts
      • Great Canadian Food Products
      • UFCW Canada Equity Grant Program
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Leukemia Fundraising
      • Political Action
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Social Justice
      • The Union for Agriculture Workers
      • UFCW Pride – Union Pride!
      • Young Workers
      • Food Justice
      • Global Solidarity
      • Uber Drivers United
      • Conscious Cannabis
  • Action Centre
    • Action Centre
      • #GBV is NOT part of the job!
      • Demand That the Canadian Government Endorse the Spirit Bear Plan
      • Demand that the Government of Canada #Act4QueerSafety and Tackle Rising Hate
      • Urge the Canadian government to legislate Anti-Scab Laws now!
      • Take Action to Protect Farm Workers and Canada’s Food Supply
      • Make Child Care Accessible for all and Protect the Child Care Workforce
      • Support the expansion of EI benefits
      • Tell Sobeys to protect workers and ditch toxic receipts
      • Save The Beer Store
      • Help close the Gender Wage Gap today
      • End the Heritage Inn Lockout Now
      • Make Truth and Reconciliation a paid day of recognition and remembrance
      • Provinces must act on the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence
      • We Need a National Action Plan on Combatting Hate
  • Join the Union
    • Join the Union
      • Why UFCW Canada
      • Union Advantage
      • Union Facts
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Everything About Unions
      • Industries We Represent
      • Workplaces We Represent
      • How to Join a Union
      • Join Now

Login

FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagram

Copyright © 2023 UFCW Canada. All Rights Reserved
United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada's private sector union