The majority of B.C. households are stressed because of debt and inflation. It’s even worse for one group of farm workers who, legally, may earn less than minimum wage.

In their new op-ed in The Tyee, Coalition member Anelyse Weiler and Co-Chair David Fairey call for the BC Ministry of Labour to finally ensure basic minimum wage protections for the hardworking men and women who harvest fruits, vegetables and flowers in BC. Their piece was also published on Policynote with the BC Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

For years, the BC Employment Standards Coalition has been actively advocating for the same recommendation put forward by the BC government’s own Fair Wages Commission: the hourly minimum wage should be for the floor for all agricultural workers, and piece rates could remain as an optional incentive. David Fairey recently published a journal article in BC Studies on this issue: Legislated Wage Suppression: Farm Worker Piece Rate Wage System Needs to End in the BC Blueberry Industry.

Labour Minister Harry Bains has not provided a reasonable explanation for maintaining this discriminatory minimum wage legislation, and it needs to end.