Document Details

2007-06-27

Winnipeg Free Press

999 (CITY)

Info Media

Winnipeg

Migrant workers at Mayfair Farms in Portage la Prairie won the right to join the union of their choice in a potentially critical ruling issued Tuesday by the Manitoba Labour Relations Board. The ruling is the first of four to be made involving migrant workers in Canada. The others involve migrant farm workers at three Quebec farms and together, they could change the lot of migrant workers everywhere by triggering similar votes on farms in other provinces.

The vote was hailed as an historic breakthrough by union leaders for its potential impact.

Every year, nearly 18,000 workers from Mexico and Caribbean countries are brought to Canada to help plant and harvest crops. It's estimated close to 1,000 work in Manitoba.

The Manitoba ruling is expected to have its first impact on the three Quebec cases. The Quebec workers and the Manitoba workers all voted last fall in a successive votes to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

"The three rulings in Quebec are still pending," said Robert Ziegler, the president of Manitoba local 832.

This may help them in Quebec," he said.

The Manitoba ruling dates from a hearing last October after 60 migrant workers applied to the labour board to approve their certification.

The application was necessary after the Mayfair Farms in Portage la Prairie argued against migrant workers joining a union. In a submission to the board, Mayfair said the workers couldn't join a union because theyr are not Canadian citizens.

All but three of the workers are Spanish-speaking migrant workers from Mexico who work between eight and 10 months of the year in Manitoba.

The ruling clears the way to bargain for improved wages and working conditions for the first time. Up to now, they have been set by the Mexican and Canadian governments under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.

Union, temporary migrant workers

Agriculture and horticulture workers

Support initiatives

Manitoba and Quebec

English