Tag Archives: BC Agriculture

New op-ed on piece rate wage for agricultural workers

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Photo by Erica Canepa /Bloomberg

As of June 1st, liquor servers have finally been guaranteed at least the hourly minimum wage in B.C. This positive, long-overdue move will benefit many workers, particularly women.

But as BC Employment Standards Coalition members Anelyse Weiler and David Fairey argue in a new op-ed published by the Vancouver Sun, the government continues to discriminate against piece-rate farm workers. Piece rate farm workers in the Lower Mainland are often racialized recent immigrants, including many older women hired through farm labour contractors. As recommended by the Fair Wages Commission, farm workers should be guaranteed at least the hourly minimum wage.

Background

The piece-rate wage for agricultural workers is a workers’ rights issue the BC Employment Standards Coalition and others have been encouraging the government to address for years. Here’s an overview of some of our advocacy.

In 2018, Coalition members met with Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, Labour Minister Harry Bains, and Green MLA Adam Olsen to discuss the provincial government’s disappointing decision to continue excluding piece-rate farm workers from the general minimum wage. As discussed in our briefing notes, we called on the provincial government to adopt the Fair Wages Commission’s recommendation of an hourly minimum wage floor, with the option of incentive rates.

As Fairey and Weiler note in their 2018 Vancouver Sun op-ed (and CCPA Policy Note), the Fair Wages Commission’s recommendation is based on rigorous research by Professor Mark Thompson, B.C.’s former employment standards review commissioner. However, the government postponed a decision on the sub-minimum piece rate wage until additional research was conducted by UBC economist and Adjunct Professor Karen Taylor.

Taylor and a co-author, Paulina Gonzalez, completed their report in January 2019. We submitted a request for a copy of the report through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, but unfortunately all but two pages of the 82-page report were redacted. Our subsequent request to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for a review of our file was not successful. We published another op-ed on the issue in 2019 in the Penticton Herald (and CCPA Policy Note). Eventually the report by Taylor and Gonzalez was publicly released in December 2019, nearly a year after its completion. We submitted a critique of the report to the Labour Minister.

After we were unable to arrange a meeting with Labour Minister Harry Bains in the summer of 2020 to ask for an update on the government’s plans, we were eventually able to secure a meeting in January 2021. Disappointingly, the Minister indicated that ensuring a baseline hourly minimum wage for all piece-rate agricultural workers was not a priority for his Ministry.

Additional Resources

How to celebrate Farm Worker Appreciation Day? Push for a minimum wage floor

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Farm workers harvesting in a field.

Photo: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Monday, August 6th is Farm Worker Appreciation Day. Beyond expressing symbolic gratitude for those who do the vital work of growing food and other agricultural goods, this day marks an occasion to amplify workers’ struggles for concrete improvements to their lives and working conditions.

Community advocates and researchers with the Coalition have long highlighted how racialized farm workers are among the lowest-paid, most vulnerable and exploited workers in BC. Their lesser rights and protections under the Employment Standards Act creates a second-class status in the labour market that is discriminatory and unethical toward workers and their families. Past research includes a 2008 CCPA report led by Coalition Co-Chair David Fairey on the rights of racialized immigrant and migrant farm workers in BC. In 2015, a report co-authored by Kerry Preibisch and Coalition member Gerardo Otero highlights how a precarious citizenship status intensifies workers’ risk of dangerous work. Many of these issues remain unchanged today; the problem of a sub-minimum piece rate has been festering for decades. In 2016, the Migrant Workers Dignity Association released the report Beyond Our Plates, which documents stories from the lives of migrant agricultural workers in BC between 2014-15.

Coalition members David Fairey and Anelyse Weiler meeting with Agriculture Minister Lana Popham on the steps of Parliament in Victoria, BC.

Coalition members David Fairey and Anelyse Weiler meeting with Agriculture Minister Lana Popham.

This past June, Coalition members David Fairey, Seth Klein and Anelyse Weiler met with Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham and Ministry of Labour representatives to discuss the provincial government’s disappointing decision to continue excluding piece-rate farm workers from the general minimum wage. As outlined in our briefing notes, we are calling on the provincial government to adopt the Fair Wages Commission’s recommendation of an hourly minimum wage floor, with the option of incentive rates. Although the most ethical decision may be controversial among employers who would like to continue paying a sub-minimum wage, it is fairer to high-road employers who are already paying at least the minimum wage.

As Fairey and Weiler note in their Vancouver Sun op-ed, the Fair Wages Commission’s recommendation is based on rigorous research by Professor Mark Thompson, B.C.’s former employment standards review commissioner.

The government has postponed a decision on the sub-minimum piece rate wage until the completion of additional research by UBC economist Karen Taylor, due 31 December, 2018. Throughout the history of the piece rate in BC, the interests of BC’s agriculture industry have been foregrounded. We urge the BC government to meaningfully involve farm workers and their representatives in any research on this issue. We also encourage the BC government to help ensure a vibrant, fair and sustainable agricultural sector by ensuring all farm workers are paid at least the minimum wage.