Canadian Injured Workers Society - Workers compensation articles. WCB.

Vancouver (23 June 2008) - A new study of farm work in British Columbia reveals systematic violations of employment standards and health and safety regulations, poor and often dangerous working conditions and dismal enforcement by B.C. government agencies.

The study’s authors propose comprehensive policy changes to ensure that farm workers – most of them immigrants and temporary migrants – are no longer relegated to second-class status.

“Farm workers are at the mercy of a complex and confusing system that exploits, threatens and silences them while putting their lives in danger,” says Arlene McLaren, a sociology professor at Simon Fraser University and one of the study's authors.

The study draws from numerous sources, including interviews with informants in government and the farm industry; interviews with 53 Indo-Canadian immigrant and Mexican migrant farm workers; a survey of 87 Mexican migrants and a review of better practices in other jurisdictions. It is part of the Economic Security Project, a joint initiative of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and Simon Fraser University.

Among the key findings:

- Farm workers are routinely exposed to pesticides, gases used for ripening in greenhouses and other chemicals without appropriate protective gear or training.
- Immigrant farm workers are regularly transported by farm labour contractors in vans that violate safety regulations. Participants worried about their safety but depend on contractors’ vans to get to and from work. They did not report vehicle or other safety violations for fear of losing their jobs.
- Health and safety standards are routinely violated. For example, nearly one in four survey respondents had little or no access to a washroom on the work site, and one in three had little or no access to water for hand washing.
- Since 2001, inspection reports by Worksafe B.C. in the agricultural sector plummeted by 62% and prevention orders dropped by 73%. Not a single participant recalled any visit to a work site by Worksafe B.C.
- Farm workers’ average earnings are just over $8 per hour with no overtime pay. Many piece rate workers make less than minimum wage. Yet participants reported working 10-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week.
- The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a federal-provincial program that B.C. joined in 2004, brings a growing number of primarily Mexican migrant workers to Canada under conditions that amount to indentured servitude. Migrant workers are often housed in substandard conditions, are not allowed to choose who they will work for, and cannot stand up for their basic rights without fear of being sent home.

“These aren’t exceptions or a few frightening anecdotes,” says Mark Thompson of UBC’s Sauder School of Business, also an author of the study. “These are common, everyday situations in which farm workers’ basic human rights are abused,” he notes. Thompson headed a commission on employment standards in the 1990s.

Charan Gill of the Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society says the industry should not be subsidized on the backs of such vulnerable workers. “It’s time for the province to step up and ensure decent conditions for farm workers,” he says.

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, says the province should restore basic employment standards for farm workers, which were rolled back by the Campbell Liberals in 2002 and 2003.

“Farm workers should have the same rights as the rest of us," Sinclair says. "The government also needs to beef up inspections at farm sites and restore proactive monitoring teams like the Agricultural Compliance Team.”

David Fairey, another co-author and also a labour economist, says the government should scrap the province's private farm labour contracting system in favour of a non-profit hiring hall model. “Having an exclusive, regulated and dependable supplier of labour would be a win-win for farmers and farm workers. It would also provide safe transportation and avoid another tragic van crash.”

Christina Hanson, who also helped write the study, says the hiring hall system should be extended to SAWP migrant workers. “Right now, migrant workers come to Canada tied to a specific employer, which creates an impossible power imbalance," she notes.

“The federal government needs to restructure the SAWP so that employers can no longer arbitrarily send workers home, and to allow migrant workers to apply for permanent resident status,” adds Adriana Paz, an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers. “It should also coordinate with other levels of government to establish and enforce decent working and living conditions.”

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. NUPGE has worked as a Canadian labour movement partner with United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) over many years to win union rights for migrant farm workers. NUPGE

More information:
- Cultivating Farmworker Rights - Download 77-page report - pdf
- Cultivating Farmworker Rights - Download 8-page summary - pdf

"Dismal Enforcement" by Worksafe B.C.

Farm workers relegated to second-class status: CCPA study