New program could help to give better protection to Canada’s migrant farm workers
Just as the Canadian government is boosting the power of migrant farm workers, a new project aims to help reward employers who treat their workers right.
A team of university researchers is launching a tool kit to create an alternative to improve the living and working conditions of migrant farm workers in Canada.
The proposed fair farmwork certification is designed to complement authorities’ enforcement of employment standards, a stick that’s imperfect at best. The certification is meant to be the carrot, rewarding operators who treat their employees well and helping them attract and retain workers in an industry with chronic labour shortages.
Although such voluntary programs by non-governmental organizations already exist in other jurisdictions, they need buy-in from grocery retailers and even consumers. Advocates and experts say this initiative can help address issues of food security, food processing quality standards and labour exploitation.
“What we eat matters. There are so many other human beings involved who do not have the same rights as we do, and they deserve to have better conditions,” said University of Windsor Prof. Tanya Basok. Basok led the project with Anna Triandafyllidou, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“A lot of businesses nowadays have social responsibility statements and that’s how they buy their customer loyalty.”
The launch comes just as Ottawa is about to give these workers the freedom to change employers within the agricultural sector.
Researchers examined current social certification projects for food production and explored how best to introduce such a program in Canada. This month, the Fair Farmwork Toolkit will be released as a step-by-step guide.
Basok, whose research focuses on migrant rights, said a lot of Canadians started to recognize the role of migrant farm workers in the food supply chain and their precariousness and working conditions during the pandemic.
Despite government attempts to improve labour protection, she said many migrant workers remain silent because they are afraid to be sent home and denied work by employers if they speak out.
“The working conditions have to improve,” Basok explained. “Inspections would be one way. But there has to be something more. What would encourage growers to provide better conditions for the worker? So that’s where we’ll bring some kind of market mechanisms to improve working conditions.”
Researcher Erika Borrelli said the fair-farmwork certification could highlight the work of good growers and help improve their competitiveness in attracting and retaining high-quality workers, especially as changes are underway by Ottawa to introduce sector-wide work permits for migrant farm workers. The research was supported by The WES Mariam Assefa Fund.
What different certification models have in common, she noted, is they all provide a way for workers to express their needs and concerns.
The Equitable Food Initiative, for instance, started in the U.S. as a coalition by Oxfam America, Costco Wholesale and United Farm Workers. It was launched as an independent non-profit social enterprise in 2015 that offers a comprehensive certification audit, covering labour conditions, food safety and pest management.
An Equitable Food Initiative label signifies that the food comes from a grower that meets the standards in compensating and treating the workers fairly.
“Let’s say Costco has a few big farms in Ontario or B.C., and they say, ‘We now want all of our suppliers to abide by social certification standards and otherwise we’re not buying your product,’” said Borrelli, who prepared the tool kit.
“So what’s the grower going to do? When Costco, Walmart, Target and all these retailers demand more from their suppliers, there’s that level of enforcement.”
Sunrite Greenhouses, a farm in Kingsville, Ont., learned about the EFI program over a year ago after one of its U.S.-based customers requested it to complete a social responsibility audit. Two trainers provided training to 20 leadership team members at the farm, which drew from all levels of the company from worker to the CEO.
The one-time training was followed by an audit, which identified issues and gave the management an opportunity to fix them. The Equitable Food Initiative certificate was then issued upon compliance. The workers have a voice on the leadership team and there is an anonymous reporting system to let them report issues, make comments and suggestions in their native languages. The training cost $20,000 (U.S.), which is separate from the audit fee.
“We are starting to see a culture shift in the company where employees are prioritizing safety and the well-being of all workers more, and there has been a slight boost in morale,” said Amanda Sharman, food safety compliance and regulatory specialist and EFI co-ordinator for Del Fresco Produce Ltd.
“When workers are happier because they feel like they are heard, and they can see improvements being made … we see productivity, camaraderie and safety culture all increase.”
Del Fresco operates Sunrite, which hires 170 foreign workers and 20 domestic workers during the peak of the season. The 46-acre farm produces tomatoes, peppers and organic mini-cucumbers.
Migrant worker advocate Gabriel Allahdua said that when he makes presentations to university students about workers’ rights, the audience is often interested in how to buy food that is ethically sourced and what they can do as consumers to support workers.
“Consumer power can certainly create changes in the market,” said Allahdua, who first came to Canada from St. Lucia in 2012 under the seasonal agricultural worker program. “So this is filling a void for Canadians, who are increasingly raising concerns.”
Having another tool to hold growers and grocery retailers accountable is welcomed, he said, but no matter how a certification mechanism is shaped, farm workers must be actively involved in decision-making.
Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer of Justicia for Migrant Workers, said a certification process can never replace legislative protections because participation is voluntary and it fails to address what he called the indentured nature of migrant worker schemes.
“It is imperative that the necessary structural measures are undertaken so that agricultural workers can exert their rights to organize and collectively bargain,” said Ramsaroop.
“It is imperative that these type of fair food programs do not impede or become an obstacle to the advocacy and organizing that address larger structural reforms to our food system, our agricultural system and our immigration system.”
This article was first reported by The Star
