The chair of Alberta’s labour code review says the province must quickly act to satisfy a Supreme Court ruling, while also respecting the unique working conditions on farms.
Alberta and Ontario are the only provinces that don’t extend collective bargaining rights to agricultural workers.
In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada said it is unconstitutional for governments to deny farm workers the right to freedom of association. It gave Ontario 18 months to remedy the exclusion of agriculture workers from that province’s labour laws, after the United Food and Commercial Workers took the battle to court on behalf of 200 mushroom workers in Leamington, Ont.
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Last fall Ontario’s agriculture minister introduced legislation that allowed farm workers to join associations but not to have a union or collective bargaining rights.
The Alberta review committee, chaired by MLA Richard Marz, has recommended that the province conduct a more agricultural-specific review of its labour code – and do it soon – because it may face the same issue that resulted from the Supreme Court ruling.
Marz said the committee was not asked to come up with solutions, but to look for “hot spots” in the labour code that could become a problem.
“I don’t have the answer. We haven’t come up with a solution,” said Marz, a farmer from the Olds area.
“We recommend that any proposed legislation respect the unique character of Alberta’s agricultural industry and in particular the central role of the family farm within the sector,” wrote Marz, who said he’s concerned that putting agriculture workers under the labour code could add a financial burden.
Marz said a strike during the busy spring or harvest season would be “devastating” to farmers or animals in intensive livestock operations.
Bryan Neats, special assistant to the UFCW national director, said the union isn’t interested in putting farmers out of business by encouraging workers to strike during the busy harvest season.
“We understand there is a period of time that is absolutely critical. Who does that benefit, to disrupt that? Not the worker or the employer,” Neats said.
“We’re not out to destroy the family farm.”
An example where farm workers could form a union is a mushroom factory where there can be as many as 600 workers in a plant who are far removed from the family farm.
In its submission to the Alberta review, the UFCW said the increase in farm injuries and deaths is a sign that monitoring of farms by Alberta Agriculture’s farm safety program is not working.
There were 24 farm fatalities in the province in 2002, up from 18 in 2001 and 22 in 2000. In 2001, there were 1,660 farm injuries reported, about half caused by livestock.
Farmers’ death rate is 55 per 100,000, compared to 11 per 100,000 in all other industries combined, including construction and mining.
Despite the large number of accidents and deaths on Alberta farms, Marz feels there is more awareness of farm safety today.
“The youth are generally more aware and don’t take needless chances. They don’t get off the combine when it’s running or stick their hand in to remove a wad of grain,” he said.
Marz said it’s now up to labour minister Cliff Dunford to come up with the next step.
