New op-ed: Unjust treatment of farm workers should end

BC Employment Standards Coalition members Gurpreet Pabla and David Fairey published an opinion piece in the online version of The Province on the minimum piece-rate system for farm workers (separate wage rules apply to migrant farm workers hired under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program). You can read it here: Unjust treatment of farm workers should end. Their article was also published in the Georgia Straight. Thanks to the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives for assisting with the publication process.

New article: Policy tools needed to improve livelihoods for farmers and farm workers in BC

While the BC Jobs Plan has focused on increasing the number of jobs in the province, many have raised concerns about quality of those jobs. For instance, how effectively does the province’s job-creation plan promote job security, enforced occupational health and safety protections, remuneration that is fair and liveable, and opportunities for workers to participate in workplace decisions that affect their lives? In particular, how does the BC Jobs Plan affect workers who are already at a high risk of poverty and precarious work, including racialized newcomers, migrant workers, and Indigenous peoples in BC?

In response to these concerns, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives hosted a conference in November to gather ideas for creative policy tools to create good jobs in BC. As part of the conference, BC Employment Standards Coalition member Anelyse Weiler, along with UBC researchers Dennis J. and Hannah Wittman, contributed a paper focused on farmers, farm workers and food security in British Columbia. Growing Good Agricultural Jobs in British Columbia considers the tensions within the current political-economic context between advancing dignified livelihoods for farm employers and hired workers. However, the authors argue that this tension is not inevitable, and that key policy changes can help to advance livelihood self-determination and better job quality for both farmers and farm workers.

Recently, the Vancouver Sun published an op-ed highlighting some of the ideas proposed in the longer paper by Weiler, Dennis and Wittman: In growing good jobs for B.C.’s economy, we’ve been neglecting a key ingredient.

 

Coalition membered interviewed for article in the South Delta Leader

In a recent article for the South Delta Leader, Coalition member Jeremy Bryant was interviewed about his advocacy volunteer work alongside farmworkers in Delta. He discusses the lack of fairness in Canada’s “guest” farmworker programs, and points out the need for those who are employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) or the agricultural stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) to be offered a route to citizenship.

Read the article here: Critics say the temporary foreign worker program is replacing immigration.

Government Sanctioning of Farm Worker Exploitation Must End

Please see the following link for an article by Coalition members Jonathan Hanvelt, David Fairey and Gurpreet Pabla. This piece, which was circulated to the media earlier this spring, describes the systemic exploitation of farm workers in BC, most of whom are temporary foreign workers or recent immigrants:

Government Sanctioning of Farm Worker Exploitation Must End