PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – The Mexican workers at Mayfair Farms are part of a union now, but some are not sure if that’s a good thing.
For six seasons, Juan Perez has been picking strawberries, cauliflower, cabbage and other vegetable crops at the farm, about a kilometre from Portage la Prairie’s downtown.
He and the 46 other workers live in a cluster of mobile homes shaded by large trees, surrounded by fields of rich black soil and immaculately groomed lawns. In front, a Mexican flag hangs in the cool of the evening without so much as a breath of wind to stir it.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
On July 5, Perez was busy hanging up some laundry and relaxing. A half-day holiday had been declared, and other workers were just returning on bicycles from shopping trips in the city. Mexican pop music was playing in a trailer nearby.
When asked a question in English, he shook his head.
“Trabajo aqui es bueno?” I asked, in very bad Spanish. Work here is good?
He nodded, smiling.
“Dinero es bueno?” Money is good?
He nodded again. “Eight dollars an hour. I work 12 hours a day,” he answered.
“El jefe es bueno?” Boss is good?
He nodded, this time emphatically.
“Quieres sindicato?” You want union?
He laughed and waved dismissively. “Nobody wants a sindicato,” he replied in English.
A few minutes later, Heladio Martinez arrived. Martinez, who described himself as a foreman and worker, spoke better English.
He said that conditions on the farm were good, adding that he knew of other Mexican migrant workers who have gone to Ontario to work for $8.50 an hour who now want to come back to Mayfair Farms.
“They don’t care that the salary is higher. They want to come back,” he said. “We have no idea why the union insists on us.”
Martinez explained that a man named Lincoln came to see them last summer. He spoke “pretty good” Spanish, and told the workers they could get new trailers to live in, better wages and a 40-hour week if they joined the union.
“But our trailers are pretty good,” he said. “He was talking about overtime. We don’t need it. We just want more hours. All the Mexican workers want more hours.”
The workers can choose to be paid by piecework or by the hour, he added. Many prefer piecework because they can make more money, up to $1,000 a week picking some crops.
“If we are here, we are thinking about money and work hard for many hours a day.”
The union representative did not explain the full implications to the men, said Martinez, making a pushing motion with his hands. Lincoln pushed the men to sign, he said.
“He just put a piece of paper down and said ‘sign it.’ Now we have a problem because we signed it,” he said, adding that the workers have had to hire a lawyer at $300 an hour to straighten out the mess.
“Now they are thinking about how much it costs. How is our future with the union? That is the question. Here we have a pretty good job.”
Martinez added that Mexican government officials have warned workers going abroad to avoid getting caught up in labour disputes.
“They say, ‘if you want to go to Canada, don’t make a mistake. Just go and work and that’s it,’ ” he said. “They told us, ‘we don’t want to hear that some Mexicans are being like revolutionaries. Any information like this – no more Canada for us.’ “
