Global food workers' unions demand urgent action

Geneva – October 16, 2020 – To mark World Food Day, which is recognized every October 16, food workers’ unions around the globe are voicing the need for food systems that fully respect labour rights and put workers at the centre of urgently needed reforms.

For this year’s World Food Day, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) has issued a statement that demands a trade union and human rights approach as the basis of global food security policies.

“There can be no food security without rights for food and agricultural workers,” declares the IUF World Food Day statement.  

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, food workers and their families have paid, and continue to pay, a high price in providing food supplies to consumers. Tens of thousands of workers in meat and food processing plants and on farms and plantations around the world have been infected with coronavirus. Many have died.

Yet, in many instances, agricultural and food workers – who work to feed the world everyday – do not earn enough to properly feed themselves and their families and endure chronic food insecurity.

Domestic and international food security policies must recognize the critical role that food workers serve in food production by ensuring that agricultural and food workers, including migrant workers, must have the same labour and human rights as workers in industry/commerce.

For more, read the IUF World Food Day statement.

And here in Canada, TAKE ACTION to Protect Farm Workers and Canada’s Food Supply!

To find out more about the IUF and UFCW Canada’s international alliances and solidarity efforts, check out the UFCW Canada global solidarity page.