UFCW 1518 President elected to IUF Agricultural Workers Group

Toronto – October 2, 2026 – At its conference last week, the IUF Agricultural Workers Group elected a new IUF Agricultural Workers Group Board, with UFCW 1518 President Patrick Johnson becoming the new North American Representative.

The Agricultural Workers Trade Group Conference of the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations) met September 21-26, bringing together agricultural workers and organizers from around the world, to advance collective action to strengthen organizing and bargaining power across the sector.

Agricultural workers continue to face severe decent work deficits, including child and forced labour, unsafe working conditions, poverty wages, precarious employment and the denial of fundamental trade union rights. These challenges are compounded by political and environmental crises and the growing concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a small number of multinational corporations dominating global food systems.

In 2024, UFCW 1518 organized the largest group of farm workers in Canadian history, when over 400 workers at Highline Mushrooms in British Columbia joined the union. Highline Mushrooms is a subsidiary of the Japanese transnational corporation, Sumitomo, and the organizing win would not have been possible without the IUF and the sector group work being done by the IUF Agricultural Workers Group.

“Our UFCW 1518 members at Highline Mushrooms made history by asserting their rights and demanding their voices be heard: joining a union allows migrant agricultural workers to have a voice at table,” says President Johnson. “Farm workers across the globe are fighting for their rights, while facing enormous risks and threats to their lives.  The message is clear: when workers organize and stand together, we can build a stronger future for everyone.⁠"

L to R: Derek Johnstone, UFCW Canada; Andrea Coinu,FLAI-CGIL; Kristjan Bragason, IUF; Svetlana Boincean, IUF; Patrick Johnson, UFCW Canada Local 1518.

Other elections to the IUF Agricultural Workers Group Board included Andrea Coinu (FLAI-CGIL, Italy) who was elected as President of the Board and Monique Mosley from Unite the Union in the UK who was elected VP.  Coinu said, “It is unthinkable to resolve the current contradictions in the agricultural development model by fragmenting the strength and power of a broad, representative and united trade union.”

At the conference, affiliates committed to expanding organizing across plantations, large-scale commercial agriculture, agricultural supply chains and the informal economy. This includes developing inclusive strategies that reach seasonal and migrant workers, address increasingly interconnected global supply chains and extend organizing to workers excluded from traditional employment relationships.

Strengthening organizing also requires challenging precarious employment, securing permanent jobs and expanding collective bargaining, including at sectoral level and within transnational companies. As corporate operations and decision-making increasingly cross national borders, international organizing and solidarity are essential to building workers’ power across the global food chain.

Learn more about the IUF Agricultural Workers Group Conference: Building workers’ power through organizing and collective bargaining.