A resolution at the Alberta Federation of Labour convention to include farm workers under provincial labour legislation may not have reached the floor on the weekend.
An AFL spokesperson said resolution data from the April 16-18 convention in Calgary was still being tallied April 20, but time constraints limited the number of resolutions voted upon by the delegate body.
Resolution number 621, if passed, would position the AFL to lobby for farm worker inclusion under the Alberta Employment Standards Code, the Alberta Labour Code, Alberta Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
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Alberta farm workers are “exempt from most of the basic employment protections that other Albertans take for granted,” said the resolution.
It also said farm workers should have the right to refuse unsafe work, unionize and receive overtime, statutory holiday pay and mandatory workers compensation coverage.
Farm employers can now voluntarily provide workers compensation coverage and insurance, but they are not required to do so by legislation. An estimate calculated by labour relations researcher Bob Barnetson said seven percent provide such coverage.
Darlene Dunlop of the Farmworkers Union of Alberta, which is a union in name only, said she is hoping the AFL will take up the cause.
“We really are on the radar now,” she said.
The Alberta Liberal Party’s interim leader, Dr. David Swann, has spoken about the need for farm worker coverage in the past, but the issue hasn’t been part of the current provincial election campaign.
FUA president Eric Musekamp filed papers April 16 as the Liberal candidate for Cypress Medicine Hat so that he could give a higher profile to the matter, said Dunlop.
Alberta’s New Democrats also support mandatory farm worker coverage.
Dunlop said several AFL resolutions could have a bearing, among them a directive to research the North American Free Trade Agreement for its provisions on labour standards, one to lobby all MLAs to include farm workers in workplace legislation and another to create a small fund to help farm workers who are injured on the job.
Results from AFL votes on these resolutions were not available at press time.
Preliminary data from last year, which was provided by Alberta’s chief medical examiner’s office, said 25 farm-related deaths were investigated last year.
Twenty-two of them were men and the average age was 59. Two of those killed were younger than 18.
Nine were machinery related, which includes being caught, crushed or struck by equipment, rollovers, falls and collisions.
Three incidents involved animals, another three were falls and three were crushed by bales.
April to June was the deadliest period, during which nine people died in farm-related accidents.
In 15 of the 25 deaths, the deceased was the owner-operator of the farm or a family member working on the farm. Five were employees or contractors, three were visitors to the farm and two were not involved with the farm.
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