Hog barn workers and barn owners in Saskatchewan will be governed by
new labour laws sometime this summer.
The province is launching its final round of consultations for a bill
it hopes will bring a consistent application of workplace regulations
to the industry, said labour minister Deborah Higgins.
She said changes to the Labour Standards Act for hog workers will be
introduced and passed in the legislature this session. A six-person
committee, representing workers and employers, will study the
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regulations and their effects on the industry, and present a report by
May 17.
“It’s very important for recruitment and retention in that area to have
consistent regulations and workplace conditions across the industry,”
Higgins said.
She said the government supports the growth of large hog barns, but
regards them as industrial operations requiring regulation.
“I wonder, why the difference between rural and urban workers in what
really is an industrial setting?”
The bill would only affect industrial, commercial hog enterprises, she
added, and not traditional family farms.
Formal consultations began in January with unionized and non-unionized
workers and employers, but informal talks have taken place for more
than a year, she said.
Joan Steckhan of Sask Pork feels more discussion is necessary, saying
the new committee does not represent non-unionized workers and is
targeting large hog operations.
She said the government is moving too quickly, noting this year’s
consultations consisted of “subjective interviews with hog producers”
and two meetings with Sask Pork.
“We have another farce process; a consultation not reflective of the
agricultural industry,” she said.
“It doesn’t include a proper analysis to make legislation proper for
the industry, and the whole process has a predetermined conclusion.”
New legislation must be applied consistently, be fair and make sense,
she added.
“Our concern is pork is the thin edge of the wedge.”
Steckhan called the process a “discriminatory segregation of the pork
industry within agriculture.”
She said legislative changes could also affect smaller mixed family
farms, who employ workers. She also expressed concern how changes would
affect the unique operating structure of Hutterite barns.
Steckhan said the pork industry is not afraid of labour standards, but
feels larger operators already comply with the Labour Standards Act.
The hog industry has a long history of developing labour standards, she
added.
If that’s the case, wondered Larry Hubich of Grain Services Union, then
why oppose the legislative changes?
“In my opinion, it’s a not very honest attempt to obscure what’s really
going on here.”
Hubich, whose union represents workers at Saskatchewan’s only unionized
hog operation, is one of six members of the new government committee.
It also includes the father of a hog barn worker, a unionized hog
worker and three Sask Pork representatives, including two
vice-presidents.
Hubich questioned why large operators, not family farms, are leading
the charge against legislation that Sask Pork feels could affect all
agricultural businesses.
“Large corporate hog operations will do more damage to small family
farms than any labour standards will,” Hubich said, citing the smaller
operations’ inability to compete with the larger ones.
