Farmworkers in British Columbia are treated like second-class citizens who live and work in unsafe conditions and are paid inadequate wages, according to a recent study.
But a B.C. Labour Ministry spokesperson says that by interviewing only about 100 farmworkers, the study "doesn't represent the full picture."
A joint initiative between the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and Simon Fraser University, the researchers found that workers toil long hours but receive no overtime pay and rarely or never have access to a washroom or hand-washing facilities on the worksite.
The study also says workers are routinely exposed to pesticides, ripening gases and other chemicals without appropriate protective gear or training.
The workers, most of whom are migrants from Mexico or Indo-Canadian immigrants, pick fruit and vegetables on farms in B.C. and across Canada.
While immigrant workers are landed immigrants or Canadian citizens, migrant workers are brought in under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).
SAWP was designed to allow temporary workers from Mexico and the Caribbean into Canada to meet the seasonal needs of farmers when Canadian workers are not readily available.
Although a federal program, the majority of workers are provincially regulated, meaning employment and labour standards — including monitoring and enforcement — are the responsibility of the provinces, according to Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).
B.C. signed on to SAWP in 2004 and has been increasing the number of workers brought in each year. It is estimated that 3,000 migrant workers will be needed for the 2008 season.
Migrant workers are paid the minimum wage, but immigrant workers — mostly women in their 50s and 60s who are not fluent in English — are usually paid piece rate and earn far less, says Christine Hanson, one of the authors of the report.
Although B.C. has an inspection policy, Hanson says the workers they interviewed reported never having seen an inspector and had never talked to anyone in authority about their situation.
However Labour Ministry spokesperson Rob Duffus says that last year, the Employment Standards Branch conducted over 100 site visits and spoke to about 3,000 farmworkers. Any complaints would have been investigated, and workers are allowed to complain anonymously.
Staff on the Agricultural Enforcement Team has been increased from four to six, and WorkSafeBC has four "prevention officers" solely dedicated to agriculture, Duffus adds.
The ministry also provides translators for those who don't speak English, and in the past year aired 29 interviews in three different languages on ethnic media explaining farm worker rights and employment standards.
"Our focus is enforcement and outreach," says Duffus. "We're really making a concerted effort to make sure that farm workers get the information they need."
In 1994, the Thompson Report commissioned by the provincial government uncovered widespread corruption in B.C.'s fruit farm industry. With an increase in inspections and enforcement in the years following the report, the situation improved.
But a 2004 report by the B.C. Federation of Labour (BCFL) found that farmworkers were again being exploited, with a large amount of labour violations occurring in the $100 million industry.
The CCPA study says the B.C. Liberals have steadily eroded employment protections and safety enforcement since coming to power in 2001, including making substantial changes to the Employment Standards Act.
While farmworkers have their problems in other provinces as well, Hanson says B.C. has a particularly bad reputation.
"A lot of workers in B.C. have also worked in other provinces under the SAWP, and the workers we spoke with all said that B.C. was by far the worst when it came to living and working conditions."
Adriana Paz, organizer and co-founder of the advocacy group Justicia for Migrant Workers, says that in order to make up for the lack of overtime pay, migrant workers put in extremely long hours.
"Workers can work up to 14 to 16 hours a day, with no overtime, no holidays, no vacation pay, no sick pay," says Paz. "Wages for farmworkers haven't increased in 14 years."
The CCPA report says SAWP brings migrant workers to Canada "under conditions that amount to indentured servitude," tying them to a specific employer and often housing them in sub-standard conditions.
Paz says the program gives employers "extraordinary powers" over the workers.
"It's really a business-controlled, employer-driven program and there are no human rights in place, no consideration for the needs of the workers," says Paz.
The Epoch Times was unable to speak with a farmworker by press time as most do not have access to phones while at work.
A spokesperson for HRDC says if there is a breakdown of the employer-employee relationship, workers can in fact get transferred to another employer, but they have to go through their consular liaison officer in Canada.
"Temporary foreign workers have the same rights as Canadian workers," the spokesperson says. "These workers are not 'indentured.'"
Duffus points out that workers in a number other sectors also don't receive overtime pay, such as those in the silviculture and logging industries, the technology sector, and teachers.
While migrant workers are housed by their employers, immigrant workers travel from home to worksite in vans supplied by farm labour contractors. Including traveling time of up to two hours each way, an immigrant worker's day can be as long as 18 hours.
Farm owners use contractors to supply workers for peak periods or sometimes for the whole season. If workers complain or want a day off, the contractor will often refuse to give them a ride to work for a week or so, cutting off their income, says Hanson.
The 15-passenger vans used to transport some of the workers have been called "death traps" by the BCFL.
In March 2007 three Indo-Canadian women were killed and 14 others injured, some seriously, when a 15-pasenger van crashed in Abbotsford on its way to farms in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. A similar 15-pasenger van crashed in New Brunswick in January, killing eight people.
Although B.C. implemented new safety regulations earlier this year, the vans are still in use and are particularly dangerous when full or overloaded, say news reports. According to the BCFL, the vans are subject to a number of lawsuits and are banned or restricted in some provinces and U.S. states.
Among the CCPA's recommendations are that the B.C. government establish piece rates that are equivalent to the minimum wage; restore overtime pay, statutory holidays and annual vacations; strengthen farm-site inspections; and adopt comprehensive regulations for migrant worker housing.
The recommendations, 12 in all, would "address the situation for farm workers without jeopardizing the sustainability of the agricultural sector," says Hanson.
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