Agricultural labour law challenge on hold

Friday, April 3, 2009

© AgMedia Inc.

by SUSAN MANN

Should Ontario farm workers have collective bargaining rights?

The two sides on this question - the Ontario government and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Canada - have another chance to argue their cases in court later this year or early next year. The Supreme Court of Canada decided Thursday it will hear the Ontario government’s appeal of a lower court decision to strike down the six-year-old provincial Agricultural Employees Protection Act.

In November the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled the Act “substantially impairs” farm workers’ ability to bargain collectively. The justices gave the provincial government 12 months to determine how “to protect the rights of agricultural workers to engage in meaningful collective bargaining.”

Union spokesman Stan Raper says now the Supreme Court has decided to hear Ontario’s appeal no changes will be made to the Act until the hearing is finished, possibly not until 2011.

Raper adds the union is disappointed the appeal is going ahead.

“At the end of the day I think we’ll finally get some justice but it’s a huge time delay,” he says. “Workers continue to have to live under a piece of legislation that is unconstitutional.”

Ken Forth, chair of the agricultural industry’s Labour Issues Coordinating Committee, says they expect the Supreme Court to decide in favour of hearing the appeal.

“We’re pleased,” Forth says. The committee asked the Ontario government to appeal the ruling on Ontario’s farm workers legislation.

The committee is applying to be an intervener at the Supreme Court. Forth says the status would allow the committee’s lawyer to make a small presentation during the hearing.

“Agriculture has to be reflected in this,” he says. BF