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2 LABOUR issues get more complicated


quipped Hugo Velázquez Vázquez, co-ordinator of the SAWP program at Mexico’s consulate in Vancouver, towards the end of the day, having previously congratulated growers on surviving a season that saw 5,777 workers from Mexico arrive in BC despite processing delays that left many applications unfilled. Alarm bells regarding


Canada’s plans to collect biometric data have been going off since July, when growers were still grappling with the lack of workers needed for this year’s harvest. Approximately 24,000


workers will have to be processed and the information is good for 10 years. While a commitment exists to ensure a processing capacity of 1,000 people a week, up from an original estimate of 250, the work will still take nearly half a year. It will also mean a second trip to Mexico City for participants, which could cost them hundreds of dollars. There’s a fear some workers may say it’s not worth the expense. However, workers


approved for SAWP by December 31 won’t have to provide biometric data, so long as they arrive within six months of approval. Service Canada began accepting applications on August 10. BCAC advises growers to submit completed applications by November 7. Growers have been told it could take six months from application to a worker's arrival. Approximately eight


applications had been received as of last month’s meeting, and at least one grower had already received an approval. Once an application arrives in Mexico, it can take 144 days before a worker lands in Canada. Mexico is a particular


problem because of systemic issues related to how applications are processed. A worker’s name may be typed five times prior to arriving in Canada, for example, because Canada’s confidentiality protocols require documents to be faxed or snail-mailed rather than submitted electronically. Re-typing increases the risk of misspellings and delays. This isn’t the case with


workers from Jamaica, which has collected biometric data since 2013 and after an initial hiccup has eliminated delays. Processing now takes about two months. Jamaica sent nearly 1,400 workers to BC this year, and the number is growing.


Under the table Reports this summer that


an increasing number of foreign nationals with tourist visas were working on BC farms for cash is heightening concerns regarding access to foreign workers. BCAC could not give examples, but it issued a stern warning to members that such practices could jeopardize existing labour programs, including the agriculture stream of the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program as well as work provisions of visas for


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youth exchange participants. Those programs are already coming under provincial scrutiny. The province has announced plans to establish a registry of foreign workers as part of a $3 million overhaul of how employment standards are managed and enforced.


BC labour minister Harry Bains was not available for interviews, but ministry staff confirmed that SAWP workers would be included in the registry. The registry will facilitate government audits of workplaces where employees may be ignorant of their rights or subject to abuse. “The goal is to strengthen


protections for these vulnerable workers,” Bains’ staff told Country Life in BC. Mexico removed 260


workers over safety and rights violations last year, and at least 125 this year. The latest incident regarded a farm that was paying workers a piece rate rather than the hourly wage stipulated by the program. Glen Lucas, assistant general manager of the BCAC- owned Western Agriculture Labour Initiative, says any registry should incorporate the one that exists for SAWP workers. Rather than duplicating SAWP’s registry, BCAC would like to see government channel agriculture’s portion of the new registry’s costs into SAWP education, such as last month’s workshop. A key area for education is bullying and harassment. Consular staff have been


asking to see farms’ bullying and harassment policies in personnel manuals, something required since 2013 but seldom requested prior to 2018. Vázquez said it would be a key priority in 2019, as housing issues are


resolved and harassment becomes responsible for a greater proportion of worker removals. Paul Bergin, a prevention officer with WorkSafeBC, told growers a bullying and harassment policy must be part of staff manuals. This must be in the workers’ language, and signed along with the employment contract. However, agriculture accounts for a small fraction of the 1,100 complaints WorkSafeBC has investigated over the past five years. Housing standards continue to evolve and a new standard isn’t likely to be ready until sometime in 2019. However, growers’ primary concern last month was with the furnishings required, from mattress types to appliances.


FARM rights Not surprisingly, Coral


Beach president David Geen was pleased with the decision. The 88-acre orchard came into production in 2015. But the process didn’t come without some angst. “At the end of the day, their complaints were completely dismissed but I had to go through this whole process,” he says. “I took it seriously, and it chewed up a lot of my time and my staff’s time.” Geen notes he received a lot of help dealing with the complaints from other growers and industry specialists. “We had to demonstrate that our practices are not any different from what other growers do,” he explains. “We had support from people like Hank Markgraf at BC Tree Fruits who testified that, yes, what Coral Beach is doing is not any different from what a lot of other growers are


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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • OCTOBER 2018 nfrom page 1


Growers were reminded that housing must be exclusively for workers and be equipped with a stationary stovetop or standard range and oven, as well as washing machines and dryers. A fire safety plan is also a


must. A fire in Abbotsford this spring that displaced dozens of foreign workers was a wake-up call. Vázquez told growers that if someone dies in a blaze and appropriate fire detection and suppression systems weren’t in place, it could jeopardize SAWP altogether. BCAC is working with the


provincial fire commissionaire to develop a uniform standard for worker housing, as standards currently vary by municipality.


nfrom page 1


doing.” Geen notes the trouble the complaint caused him came at relatively little expense for the complainants, something he takes doesn’t feel is right. “For the couple of retired gentlemen who were the complainants in my case, with lots of time on their hands, they can cause a lot of grief for 100 bucks,” he says. The Right to Farm Act


protects growers from frivolous lawsuits or unfair restrictions, but also establishes a forum for those who feel farmers aren’t being responsible. “It is not a fun process for


the grower but at least it is the only recourse that somebody that doesn’t like farming has,” Geen says. “A farmer can’t say, ‘Oh, I’ve got a right to farm and I’ll do whatever the hell I want.’ The grower has to be able to demonstrate that he has a minimum threshold of consideration for his neighbours. But it is not reasonable for your neighbour to say you don’t have the right to protect your crop.”


He doesn’t think growers


who are farming responsibly have anything to fear from the act or the complaints it allows people to bring forward. “If growers are farming


responsibly, the risk of a farm practices case dramatically impacting them is reduced,” he says. His own experience is a case in point and he hopes it will set a precedent for how complaints against other growers in the Okanagan are handled. “Now that we have been


through it, hopefully that will be the end of it,” he says. “[FIRB] doesn’t necessarily need to hear [similar complaints] if there are no new issues being heard.”


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