The Saskatchewan government will introduce legislation to impose labour standards on large-scale hog barns in spring 2002, says the minister responsible.
It’s a move the province’s labour movement applauds as necessary.
But it’s one the Saskatchewan Party says will hamper expansion of the hog industry.
“It’s certainly a welcome announcement for us and for all employees in industrial hog barns in Saskatchewan,” said Grain Services Union general secretary Hugh Wagner.
The GSU has lobbied the Saskatchewan government to extend Labour Standards Act protections to hog barn workers since the late 1990s. The union represents workers at one hog barn west of Saskatoon.
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“Entering the second full year of the 21st century, you’d think we could come up with 20th century working conditions,” said Wagner.
But Bill Boyd, of the opposition Saskatchewan Party, thinks the move will discourage people hoping to build new hog barns.
“It creates one more barrier to investing in rural Saskatchewan.”
The labour standards act details the minimum working conditions in most provincially regulated workplaces. These include minimum wages, maximum hours of work per week and guaranteed days off.
Farms in Saskatchewan have always been exempt from the regulations because of a special provision in the law.
However, since the introduction of large scale hog barns in Saskatchewan, some people have argued that labour standards should apply since these barns are little different from other industrial workplaces.
“You can tell it’s not a farm. You can tell it’s a factory,” said Wagner. “There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind what these are.”
But Boyd said the exemption should continue to apply since farms are unique workplaces.
He said Saskatchewan’s hog barn operators already treat their employees well, so there’s no need for more bureaucracy to tie them up.
Saskatchewan labour minister Deb Higgins said she accepted that most hog barn owners already meet or exceed the standards that the law will enforce. But she said minimum standards have to be legally enacted to be fair to rural workers.
“I believe rural Saskatchewan deserves the same coverage as urban Saskatchewan,” said Higgins. “I think rural people deserve the same rights and protections that urban workers do.
“If we want to maintain our youth in rural Saskatchewan, good jobs is the way to do it. The hog industry is one way to grow those jobs and I think this will make it even better.”
Higgins said the law will not affect family farms.
