Migrant Farm Workers Win Right to Organize in Manitoba
Jul 03, 2007
Winnipeg (28 June 2007) - The Manitoba Labour Board has given migrant farm workers the right to unionize and bargain collectively, the first such decision since the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark ruling that collective bargaining is guaranteed by the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"This is a great day," says Wayne Hanley, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada). "It also confirms what the Supreme Court ruled earlier this June – that labour rights are human rights guaranteed under the Charter for all people working in Canada, and that includes farm workers from here or abroad."
MGEU’s parent union, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) played a lead role in the fight to have labour rights recognized as human rights and to force governments at all levels to stop violating international treaties and conventions signed by Canada with the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
In particular, NUPGE has worked as a Canadian labour movement partner with UFCW Canada over many years to win union rights for migrant farm workers.
Message to all provinces
The Manitoba decision is restricted to employees at Mayfair Farms in Portage La Prairie, including migrant workers. However, it is expected to open the door to a number of similar decisions by labour boards across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
UFCW Canada has already called on the Ontario government to voluntarily drop its prohibition against agricultural workers forming unions.
"Today we have a clear decision ruling from Manitoba," Hanley said.
"A few weeks ago it was the Supreme Court of Canada itself that ruled ... collective bargaining was a guaranteed right for all people working in Canada. That right to unionize certainly extends to include agricultural workers in Ontario, domestic and migrant, if that’s what the workers want," he added.
"We shouldn’t have to go back to court to enforce that but we are prepared to unless the McGuinty government (in Ontario) rescinds their ban on farm unions, which is discriminatory and ultimately an affront to the Supreme Court and particularly to these workers."
UFCW Canada has three other farm union applications pending in Quebec. Approximately 18,000 migrant workers are brought to Canada each year to work on Canadian farms.
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I am from Portage and the way we have heard about this going down is a lot different than the above. I belong to a union, CUPE, on our local executive for the past 7 years and believe in the union movement but I hate to say this one sounds and smells fishy. I have heard that b/c a few of the workers got in trouble with the law, they needed lawyers and UFCW came a calling with a lawyer if they would sign cards. The language barrie, the fact that most make good money, the fact that they do a job most Canadians would not do and at MayFair, I can honestly say that they are treated very well, this is a black eye to the movement not a victory. I am not saying that these kinds of jobs/workers should not be unionized, I just think that UFCW was very sneaky in getting this one done and should be more up front about how they went about this card signing.
Rod - 2007-07-03 20:18