TORONTO – A tragic crash that killed 11 people – including 10 migrant farm workers – in Hampstead, Ontario is raising concerns about labour rights and safety among migrant workers in Ontario.
The farmers who worked on a chicken farm were reportedly on their way from a farm at which they had spent their time inoculating thousands of chicken. As mobile workers, they moved from farm to farm doing various jobs. It is unclear if the workers were on their way to a job, or on their way home, at the time of the accident.
Stan Raper of the Agriculture Workers Alliance said migrant workers on Ontario's farms face long shifts and quite often work in difficult conditions. “Under the current standards of employment in Ontario, hours of work are covered under the act so farm workers can work 24 hours a day if they have too. There’s no regulation under the employment standards act for any farm worker, whether they are a farm worker or resident of Ontario,” he said.
Though it has yet to be clarified whether the tragic vehicle accident in Hampstead is being considered a workplace accident, according to some studies, migrant workers often will not refuse work out of fear. “When we asked the roughly 600 migrant farm workers we spoke to, many indicated that yes, indeed they would accept work that was unsafe, because of a fear of loss of employment,” said Jenna Hennebry, a researcher for the Institute for Research in Public Policy. “Many also indicated they would work when injured or ill because of, again, the same reason. A significant number indicated that they knew their colleagues would work when sick or injured.”
Raper also said that labour laws governing farm workers offer little protection, specifically when the person is a temporary foreign worker. "They would have minimal protections under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, because there is an act dealing specifically with farm workers which has no regulations per se," he said.
Ontario currently bars agricultural workers from forming unions and collective bargaining, a decision upheld last year by the Supreme Court.
With files from The Canadian Press
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