Migrant workers bail on union

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

For years, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union of Canada (UFCW) has waged a fierce campaign in the courts to establish migrant workers' rights to unionize. But it appears the union needs to pay greater attention to those it wants to represent to see if collective bargaining is what they really want.

Last summer, 26 Mexican migrant farm workers on a Manitoba fruit and vegetable farm voted unanimously to opt out of the union. They signed their union cards in 2007 and received their first collective agreement about a year ago. "The workers recognized that there is nothing the union could do for them," says Mark Wales, Ontario Federation of Agriculture vice-president.

As Ontario's government gears up to defend its law prohibiting farm workers from bargaining collectively before the Supreme Court of Canada in December, the workers' decision shows "unions really have no place on the farm, especially for the off-shore workers," Wales says.

It also means the union won't be able to argue in court that they have signed up off-shore workers in Manitoba.

The province is appealing a 2008 Ontario Court of Appeal decision to strike down the Agricultural Employees Protection Act. The law prohibits collective bargaining and strikes.

UFCW Canada spokesman Stan Raper says the union plans to argue that collective bargaining for all workers is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It will also argue that agricultural workers should be treated equally to other workers in Ontario, who can bargain collectively.

Ultimately, though, both Raper and Wales agree the Manitoba workers' situation won't affect the case because it deals only with Ontario's Agricultural Employees Protection Act. BF