Rights For Ag Workers

For more than a decade UFCW Canada has successfully led the campaign for enhanced rights, safety, and a voice in the workplace for agriculture workers in Canada. In 2002 UFCW Canada also launched what today has become the most comprehensive network of resources for all workers in the agriculture sector.

UFCW Canada is Canada’s largest private sector union with over 250,000 members working in every aspect of the food industry from field to table— including members at a number of agribusiness operations in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, and the list is growing.

UFCW Canada, in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance of Canada also operates eight agricultural worker support centers across Canada: in Kelowna and Abbotsford, BC; Portage la Prairie, MB; Leamington, Bradford, Simcoe and Virgil, ON; and in St. Remi , QC.

UFCW Canada efforts have also produced numerous victories for agriculture workers. In November 2008, Ontario agriculture workers finally won the right to join a union because of a landmark UFCW Canada legal challenge. A campaign by UFCW Canada also brought those workers under the protection of the Ontario Health and Safety Act for the first time.

In Manitoba, UFCW Canada efforts produced the first-ever collective agreement for agriculture workers from offshore working seasonally in Canada. Workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) in a number of British Columbia and Quebec locations are also represented by UFCW Canada.

Under the direction of National President Wayne Hanley, UFCW Canada has also developed an ongoing series of exchange visits and consultation with Mexico government officials, as well as officials from other countries whose workers come to Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program.

To access an archive of media releases click here.

For more, visit the Agricultural Workers Alliance