Winnipeg – May 16, 2013 – Canada’s leading voice for agriculture workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada), is applauding the Manitoba government in response to its decision to extend public health care coverage to migrant farm workers: the people who make the country’s food supply and production system possible.

“As Canada’s strongest voice for migrant workers, UFCW Canada is very pleased to join Manitobans, and all Canadians, in commending the Greg Selinger NDP government for extending public health coverage to migrant farm workers in the province,” says Wayne Hanley, national president of UFCW Canada.

For the past several years, UFCW Canada has a led a wide-spread and popular campaign throughout the province, and across the country, dedicated to informing the public about the urgent need to grant provincial healthcare to migrant farm workers.

“We also applaud the Manitoba government for recognizing the essential role that migrant workers play in the province’s economy, and for acknowledging the difficult and dangerous conditions that migrant farm workers endure in producing our food, thereby, making full access to public healthcare all the more essential,” adds Hanley.

Effective this summer, seasonal agricultural workers will become eligible for Manitoba Health coverage while they work in the province, waiving wait times for eligibility which is consistent with the approach used in Saskatchewan. Currently, migrant agriculture workers are required to have health insurance through a private insurer and pay out of pocket for it.

"Seasonal agricultural workers work hard to grow the food that Manitoba families enjoy and as taxpaying residents of Manitoba, they deserve the same public health care that other taxpayers already receive," says Jeff Traeger, president of the UFCW Canada Local 832. "On behalf of these workers, UFCW thanks the Manitoba government for extending provincial health coverage."

Migrant farm workers inhabit precarious working world | Toronto Star

A UFCW Canada Human Rights Department Release

Montreal – April 19, 2013 – In the wake of a historic victory at the Quebec Superior Court, UFCW Canada Local 501 has welcomed the announcement by the Quebec government that it will not appeal the March 11, 2013 decision. The legal fight, to uphold the rights of seasonal agriculture workers to unionize, was commenced almost five years ago.

The successful outcome, and the government’s decision not to appeal, means that seasonal agricultural workers in Quebec will have the same rights to unionize as all other workers in Quebec. In its ruling, the Superior Court gave the Quebec government twelve months to amend its legislation to conform to the court’s March 2013 decision.

“We are very pleased to finally close an important chapter in the legal battle,” says Louis Bolduc, Executive Assistant to the National President of UFCW Canada. “The government’s decision not to appeal is of particular importance since it opens the door to discuss and address what has been a discriminatory situation faced by all seasonal agricultural workers.”

To this end, a meeting was held on April 12, with Quebec Minister of Labour Agnès Maltais. At the meeting, Brother Bolduc and UFCW Canada Local 501 Secretary-Treasurer Mario Délisle had a positive discussion with the Minister regarding issues and priorities in the wake of the ruling. “By initiating this new chapter of dialogue with the government,” says Bolduc, “we have moved one step further in ensuring the rights of agriculture workers in Quebec.”

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UNE NOUVELLE ÉTAPE DE FRANCHIE POUR LE RESPECT DES DROITS DES TRAVAILLEURS AGRICOLES

Un communiqué du Service des droits de la personne des TUAC Canada

Montréal – 19 avril 2013 – À la suite de la victoire historique de la section locale 501 des TUAC Canada en Cour supérieure du Québec le 11 mars dernier, le syndicat qui milite pour le respect et la reconnaissance des droits des travailleurs agricoles depuis près de cinq ans déjà, accueille favorablement la décision du gouvernement de ne pas faire appel.

Le syndicat a d’ailleurs entrepris des démarches auprès du gouvernement afin de s’assurer que les travailleurs agricoles saisonniers obtiennent les mêmes droits que tous les travailleurs au Québec, notamment celui d’adhérer à un syndicat. Rappelons que le tribunal a laissé une période de douze mois au législateur pour intervenir et modifier la loi.

« Nous sommes très heureux d’enfin clore un chapitre important de cette lutte judiciaire. La décision du gouvernement de ne pas interjeter appel revêt une importance particulière puisqu’elle ouvre la voie aux discussions qui permettront de régulariser une situation discriminatoire à l’encontre de tous les travailleurs agricoles saisonniers », d’expliquer Louis Bolduc, adjoint exécutif au président national des TUAC Canada.

À cet effet, une rencontre a déjà eu lieu le vendredi 12 avril dernier entre Louis Bolduc des TUAC Canada, Mario Délisle de la section locale 501 des TUAC et la ministre du Travail, madame Agnès Maltais. Lors de cet échange des plus positifs, les représentants syndicaux ont fait part à la ministre de leurs préoccupations et de leurs priorités. « En amorçant un dialogue avec le gouvernement, nous avons franchi une étape de plus vers le respect des droits des travailleurs agricoles », de conclure Louis Bolduc.

April 17^th is the first day of an historic hearing at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. The tribunal will examine evidence regarding the workplace death of Jamaican migrant worker Ned Livingston Peart. Mr. Peart was crushed to death while working on a tobacco farm near Brantford, Ontario on August 22, 2002. Mr. Peart was one of over 30,000 migrant workers that toil under the auspices of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, a government program that brings farm workers from Mexico and the Caribbean to farms across Canada.

The Peart family sought to have a coroner’s inquest held into the death because their communications with Mr. Peart led them to have concerns over dangerous working conditions on the farm. The Office of Chief Coroner denied the request. Working with Justicia for Migrant Workers’ organizers, the family then brought a complaint to the Human Rights Commission in the summer of 2005 claiming that the Coroners Act, which provides mandatory inquests for certain types of workers while excluding others, violates the Ontario Human Rights Code by causing adverse impacts not only on Mr. Peart but all migrant farm workers in Ontario.

This case is of historical importance because it seeks to ensure a safer working environment for all migrant workers in the province by requesting an inquest into Mr. Peart’s death as well as wider systemic reforms in how the Office of Chief Coroner investigates the death of migrant agricultural workers. There has never been a coroner’s inquest into the death of a migrant worker.

“For over ten years, the Peart family has sought answers into the death of Ned. Ned was a brother, father, son and community leader. His death devastated a community. It is our responsibility to implement changes so occupational deaths like Mr. Peart never happen again,” says Tzazna Miranda Leal, organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW).

Miranda Leal continues, “Whether it was the accident that claimed the lives of two migrant workers near Ayton, Ontario or the accident near Hampstead Ontario, migrant workers continue to be employed under dangerous conditions. As temporary foreign worker programs expand, it is imperative that steps are taken to protect precarious communities such as migrant workers.”

Who: Family of Ned Livingston Peart, Migrant Workers, Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) and community allies.

What: Hearing at the Human Rights Tribunal regarding the death of migrant worker Ned Livingston Peart.

Where: Ontario Human Rights Tribunal 655 Bay at Elm. St. (between Dundas St. and Gerrard St.) 14th Floor.

When: April 17th, 18th, 24^th, 25th and 26th; 9:00-5:00pm.

Historic Rights Tribunal to Examine Workplace Deaths of Temporary Foreign Workers

Alberta town would be ‘shut down’ without foreign workers | CTV News

http://www.lautjournal.info/default.aspx?page=3&NewsId=4564

Toronto, Ont. — April 10, 2013 — UFCW Canada, the country’s largest private-sector union and Canada’s leading national voice for migrant and temporary foreign workers, is joining the groundswell of Canadians in expressing frustration and outrage over the federal government’s latest failure to protect the well-being of Canadian workers, while further victimizing Canada’s most precarious workforce.

“This shameful deceit is just another example of how the Harper government’s temporary foreign worker programs were designed to benefit a handful of wealthy companies and Harper’s super-rich corporate friends," says Wayne Hanley, the national president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada), representing more than a quarter of a million workers from coast to coast.

"For RBC to claim that this was a supplier’s decision displays their lack of corporate governance and is the same kind of toxic, anti-worker environment the Harper government constantly holds up as their formula for a ‘successful’ Canada. In this Conservative scheme everyone is victimized."

For more than two decades, UFCW Canada has been the leading national advocate for the reform of migrant and temporary foreign worker programs. The union is also the author a leading Canadian report on the Status of Migrant Workers in Canada (http://www.ufcw.ca/templates/ufcwcanada/images/Report-on-The-Status-of-Migrant-Workers-in-Canada-2011.pdf ).

"Given what we know now, the RBC case is more than just a case of migrant workers being hired to do the work of Canadians," says Hanley. "The workers couldn’t have been hired without the employer proving they didn’t have Canadians to do the job. That is the case in some sectors, but clearly not here. Either the government turned a blind eye, or the job search data supplied by the employer to show it couldn’t find qualified Canadians was bogus. Which is it?"

Recently, Diane Finley, the federal Minister of Human Resources, met with advocacy and labour groups to review foreign worker programs administered by her department, "where we made it clear that the system has been broken for decades," says Naveen Mehta, UFCW Canada’s general counsel, and director of human rights. "The RBC case is just the latest example of a shameless system without controls, where corporations only do what is right for them."

In 2012, the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada exceeded the number of landed immigrants. "In some sectors, there may be shortages of Canadian workers able to fill positions but typically, unless they are working in a union environment, the workers brought in to do the work are grossly exploited and often treated like indentured servants," says Mehta.

"Any talk by Harper and his government to fix this has been just talk. The reality is they have engineered a program that leads to a low wage economy, where the rights of both domestic and foreign workers are trashed to bolster the corporate bottom line."

RBC chief apologizes for foreign workers controversy – Canada – CBC News

Enfin, une victoire confirmée pour les travailleuses et travailleurs agricoles au Québec

(Lettre adressée au gouvernement du Parti Québécois)

Mesdames et messieurs,

Par la présente, nous désirons saluer les conclusions de la Cour supérieure confirmant la décision d’avril 2010 de la Commission des relations du travail (CRT). Le jugement très étoffé de la CRT déclarait déjà le caractère inconstitutionnel (et inopérant) du cinquième alinéa de l’article 21 du Code du travail québécois (2010 QcCRT 0191, p. 84). Depuis près de 50 ans, cet alinéa limitait considérablement la syndicalisation des salarié-e-s des entreprises agricoles du Québec.

En quelque sorte, l’une des plus anciennes discriminations législatives à l’endroit des travailleuses et travailleurs agricoles, tant locaux que dits étrangers temporaires ou migrants, est enfin judiciairement reconnue, malgré la bataille menée par certains employeurs agricoles et leurs principales organisations professionnelles, dont l’Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) et la Fondation des entreprises en recrutement de main-d’œuvre étrangère (F.E.R.M.E.).

Dans le cadre d’un soutien continu à l’ensemble du secteur agro-alimentaire, il serait hautement approprié que l’État québécois reconnaisse finalement l’apport fondamental des plus de 50,000 personnes, non apparentées à leur employeur, qui sont embauchées, à l’année ou de façon saisonnière, dans l’industrie agricole au Québec. Rappelons qu’environ 7,500 d’entre elles sont liées, par contrat ou certificat de travail, à leur employeur respectif et restreintes à un emploi temporaire, puisque provenant pour la plupart du Mexique et du Guatemala, avec une obligation de retour dans leur pays d’origine après au maximum 8 ou 24 mois de travail, sans possibilité encore d’accès direct au statut de résident permanent au Québec.

Bien plus, en décembre 2011, la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ) avisait le précédent gouvernement qu’ « une aide à une industrie ne justifie pas la violation des droits contenus dans la Charte. » (Cf. « La discrimination systémique à l’égard des travailleuses et travailleurs migrants », par Me Marie Carpentier et al., CDPDJ, Cat. 2.120-7.29, décembre 2011, 94 p., p.70)

En somme, pour consolider votre « Politique de souveraineté alimentaire », nous vous demandons de vous différencier de vos prédécesseurs et de vous retirer immédiatement de ce dossier advenant un appel, ainsi que de toute nouvelle contestation judiciaire, en cette matière. Dans les plus brefs délais, votre gouvernement devrait plutôt formellement reconnaître aux travailleuses et travailleurs agricoles, en toute liberté, dignité et égalité, le droit de négocier collectivement leurs conditions de travail, cela comme tout autre salarié peut légitimement le faire au Québec depuis 1964 en vertu de notre Code du travail, notamment à l’aide des articles 3 et 21(4).

Information: ratam.qc@gmail.com

Réseau d’appui aux travailleuses et travailleurs agricoles migrants au Québec (RATAM-Qc)

LETTRE OUVERTE AU GOUVERNEMENT DU QUÉBEC – MigrantWorkersRights

http://www.tuac.ca/templates/ufcwcanada/images/directions13/march/1321/migrantworkers_300.jpg

March 15, 2013 – The Superior Court of Quebec has upheld a UFCW Canada challenge of a section of the Quebec Labour Code that had blocked many seasonal agriculture workers in Quebec from unionizing. The victory comes in the wake of a four-year battle at the Quebec Labour Commission and in the courts, to uphold a UFCW Canada Local 501 certification application made on behalf of migrant workers at the L’Écuyer/Locas farm in Quebec.

“This is a victory for the workers at L’Écuyer/Locas, and for all seasonal agriculture workers across Quebec,” says Louis Bolduc, executive assistant to the National President. “Moving forward, agriculture operators in Quebec will no longer be able to hide behind a section of the labour code that clearly breached the Charter rights of seasonal agriculture workers.”

The ruling, handed down March 11 by the Quebec Superior Court, upholds a UFCW Canada argument and a subsequent ruling by the labour commission that Section 21, Paragraph 5 of the Quebec Labour Code violated Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The section excluded agriculture workers from organizing at locations where less than three workers were employed continuously.

Because many agriculture locations go quiet in the winter, migrant and seasonal workers at those locations were essentially excluded from unionizing by Section 21, Paragraph 5. That was the argument the L’Écuyer/Locas operators made in challenging a certificate issued to Local 501 to represent workers there.

But in 2008, the labour commission agreed with UFCW Canada that Paragraph 5, Section 21 was unconstitutional and denied workers their Freedom of Association rights. An appeal of that ruling by L’Écuyer/Locas and the Quebec agriculture industry was struck down by this week’s Quebec Superior Court ruling, and the decision of the labour commission has been upheld.

“This is good news for Quebec agriculture workers who had been specifically stopped by this section of the labour act in exercising their rights to organize,” says Brother Bolduc. “The labour and human rights of all workers must be respected, including seasonal agriculture workers.”

UFCW Canada currently represents nine agriculture units in Quebec, with other applications currently before the labour board. In association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA), UFCW Canada also operates ten agriculture worker support centres across Canada, including AWA centres in Saint-Rémi and Saint-Eustache, Québec.