No one knows what rights farm workers now have, including the farmers
who employ them.
The Supreme Court of Canada recently declared that farm workers have
the right to join unions, but didn’t
answer many key questions that worry farmers.
But even if the situation is unclear, an Ontario farmer who has spent
years working on farm labour rules is encouraging other farmers to
protect themselves by offering better workplaces.
“If I was a farmer running a sloppy operation, I’d be very careful to
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clean it up and make it a safe workplace,” said Hector Delanghe, a
Guelph, Ont., fruit and vegetable grower who heads the Labour Issues
Co-ordinating Committee for 35 farm groups.
The Supreme Court ruled in December that the Ontario government did not
have the right to stop farm workers from joining unions.
Delanghe said farmers like him aren’t bothered by farm workers having
that right.
“We never ever said farm workers didn’t have the right to form
associations,” Delanghe said.
“How can we say that the people working for us can’t associate, when
all farmers belong to associations and federations?”
But farmers are worried that giving farm workers the right to strike
could jeopardize their operations, since farm products can’t sit in the
field if there is a dispute.
“There’s only so much money in farming,” he said.
“You can’t get blood out of a stone.”
But it may be easier for farmers to improve workplace conditions for
their employees.
Delanghe said he expects the first farmers to face labour strife will
be those who do not offer safe workplaces.
The court did not determine if agricultural workers have the right to
collective bargaining, or the right to strike. Delanghe said the ruling
was complex and detailed, so his committee has asked its lawyers to
analyze and simplify it.
“I really don’t think we know what it means yet.”
Meanwhile, a Grain Services Union official said his organization may
challenge provincial laws across Canada that strip agricultural workers
of basic workplace rules.
“It certainly does provide the opportunity to advance the argument on
other fronts,” said Larry Hubich.
Hubich negotiated the first collective agreement for the only unionized
hog barn on the Prairies.
Like Ontario, Alberta also bans farm workers from forming unions.
British Columbia gives farm workers some labour standards protection,
but Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba exempt farm workers from labour
standards protections.
“It’s arguable that the exemption of a whole class of workers from the
protections that virtually all other workers receive just because of
what (farm workers) do is unconstitutional,” Hubich said.
