Migrant workers at B.C. farm join union
UFCW hopes move will inspire others in agri-food industry
About 170 migrant workers at four mushroom factory farms in B.C. have joined the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, a move it called “monumental” in labour organizing because of the group’s precarious immigration status.
Representatives of UFCW are encouraged by the certification of the workers at Highline Mushrooms in Abbotsford, a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Sumitomo conglomerate.
They hope it will be an inspiration for others toiling in the ever-growing agri-food industry, who have become an indispensable part of the global food supply chain.
“We want to be treated as equals,” said Eneida Montoya, a mother of two from Guatemala, who has been coming to work in Canada since 2008 and started at Highline more than three years ago.
“We’re looking for representation to exercise our rights. We want to stop living under the fear of being terminated and sent home.”
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the whole agriculture and agri-food system employed 2.3 million people and generated $150 billion, or seven per cent of Canada’s GDP, in 2023. The sector hires more than 100,000 migrant workers under the temporary foreign worker program, with more than 40,000 others as seasonal workers under labour treaties.
Patrick Johnson, president of UFCW 1518, which represents the Highline workers, said the union has been supporting migrant workers in the community for some time and, this year, began helping them organize.
On June 12, the local was certified by the province as the bargaining agent for the Highline workers, who come from Guatemala, Mexico, India and Vietnam.
“These are the first mushroom farms in British Columbia to form a union,” said Johnson, whose local union has 28,000 members in total. There are only a handful of known farms in Canada with unionized migrant workers.
“This has been monumental in the process of organizing these workers. We’ve had others that reach out because folks are connecting with people in the community.
“There’s significantly more mushroom farms than these four.”
Johnson said the union had faced a lot of barriers, especially in communication with the workers, who didn’t speak a lot of English and had different mother tongues.
Many workers were afraid of being blacklisted and not recalled to work if they joined because their livelihood, including housing, and status all depend on the employer.
But in the end, about 60 per cent of the workers voted in favour.
Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers, a grassroots advocacy group, said the rate of unionization of all farm workers is about one per cent in North America, if not less.
Rather than having to organize workers one farm at a time, he calls for a “sectoral system,” where every worker, migrant or not, is put under one collective agreement, similar to what exists in the construction industry.
“The efforts to organize are important. Migrant workers have to be part of the decision making,” said Ramsaroop.
“I just want to ensure that the workers are not going to be tokenized and they are going to have a voice here.”
Derek Johnstone, a spokesperson for the UFCW national, said the global use of migrant workers has been on the rise. Many employers in the agriculture and agri-food sector now are transnational and own large-scale productions, yet their operations are still labour-intensive.
“Despite the structural challenges, we are noticing a growing desire for migrant workers to engage with their rights and to have the help of the union, not just to help with parental benefit claims and that sort of thing,” said Johnstone. “But it’s to help in terms of actually engaging with their labour rights. and advancing decent work.”
Johnstone said very few migrant workers go to them for help in demanding higher wages, and their main concerns are usually around housing conditions, workplace safety and being treated with respect.
The federal government is currently reviewing the temporary foreign worker program and looking to roll out new rules starting next year that would add protections for workers and simplify the current program.
Johnstone said it’s critical to grant workers the mobility rights to change employers and expand their opportunities for permanent residence because their temporary status is what makes them vulnerable.
In a statement to the Star, Highline said the company respects the employees’ decision to be part of a union and will work with them to continue to provide an “exceptional employee experience.”