Canadian Labour Reporter

CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Continued from page 1 Mathieu Belanger (Reuters) After fighting at the provincial labour board, Quebec's seasonal agricultural workers were awarded the ability to join a union. While labour groups are calling it a victory for a much-maligned population of employees, farmers warn that any rise in labour costs could harm the industry. Farmers foresee trouble at bargaining table they need to unionize to make the conditions change. That is the option they (to) have that they didn't have before." Labour groups are aware of the economic pressures facing the agricultural industry and, despite stereotypical fears employers tend to have regarding certification, it is not the intention of the unions to bleed farmers dry, said Vandoorne. "The objective is only to give better work conditions while (seasonal farmers) are there," Vandoorne explained. "We don't want to cause any bankruptcy of the farm. We have to adapt our conventions to the reality of the farms, no?" That covers basic rights under labour codes, such as a cap on hours worked per week and minimum wages. Leading the list of demands for seasonal agricultural workers is recall. In Quebec, the majority of staff hail from Mexico and Guate- mala. Without an individual collective agreement, all employ- ment terms are dictated by cross-country contracts between the federal government and the government from the workers' home country. There is no guarantee a seasonal farmer who worked on a farm one summer will be able to return to the same farm the next summer. "Right now, they have absolutely no protection for the recall or for seniority. Those two things are very important to them, very important to personal familial economics. It's important to say, 'Next year, I'll be going back to this farm,'" Vandoorne explained. While salary increases and other common clauses are cer- tainly on TUAC's radar, recall and seniority provisions would take priority. But it's negotiating the former, such as overtime, that has employers on the defensive. That will spike labour costs, Plante fears. He cited the hourly cap, currently sitting at 50 hours per week, as one example. Should a collective agreement dictate seasonal agricultural workers get paid overtime rates in excess of 50 per week, labour costs will rise about eight per cent, translating to a dramatic drop in profits. Further complicating the matter is that both seasonal farmers and their farms will be treading uncharted territory when nego- tiating a collective agreement, especially because of the volatile nature of the job and short term of employment. While Vandoorne cites other seasonal occupations, such as ski operations, from which to draw precedence, employers fore- see a rocky road ahead at the bargaining table, particularly in terms of work stoppages. Should seasonal agricultural workers decide to walk off the job during negotiations, small family farms would not have any bargaining chips — essentially, according to Plante, they would be subject to the mercy of the union. "They are not in strong positions to negotiate because we grow vegetables, and if the workers put pressure and stop the harvest in the field — we've lost the product. That's why we don't have any power of negotiation," Plante said. "That's why we cannot understand how we can work with a collective agree- ment — it would put pressure to get the advantage where we don't have any control… It's a very bizarre situation." As both management and union groups opine the state of ag- ricultural labour in Quebec, perhaps what gets lost is the workers themselves, who call the labour board's decision a victory. "Workers will be happy to know that they have gained some rights in Canada, because they are not at home anywhere," Van- doorne said. "If they can grab some new rights and have some stronger — I don't want to say roots, they don't have roots in Canada because they fly back every year. But they will have a certain stability here, a link with the employer. This is very impor- tant for the wellness of the whole family, not only the worker."

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