Ontario farm workers are given the right to unionize.
It’s a headline grabbing victory for the labour movement in Canada, but most HR departments need not lose any sleep over it.
In an 8-1 decision presented just before Christmas, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled farm workers in Ontario have the right to unionize. The court ruled that the exclusion of agricultural workers from collective bargaining under Ontario labour legislation violated the right to freedom of association guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, commended the decision to allow farm workers in Ontario to unionize.
“I think the Supreme Court was incredibly courageous,” he said.
In the past, other groups in Canada excluded from collective bargaining have challenged their exclusion based on the notion that it violates constitutional rights, but failed. This is the first time the country’s top court has ruled the guarantee of freedom of association should be extended to collective bargaining, said John Evans, the lawyer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada. “It clearly shows a changing of the guard on the view of freedom of association (within the Supreme Court of Canada),” he said.
Under legislation introduced by the former NDP government in the early ’90s, the UFCW had been certified to act as the bargaining agent for a group of workers at Highline Mushrooms in Leamington, Ont. But that enabling legislation was quickly replaced when the Mike Harris Conservative government came to power, effectively banning agricultural workers from unionizing. The Supreme Court declared the labour legislation introduced under Harris to be unconstitutional and has given Ontario 18 months to re-write it, and workers were given the immediate right to form and maintain associations.
Ramifications of the decision aren’t immediately clear but labour groups were encouraged and say it opens the door to organize other groups, such as domestic workers or certain groups of professionals like lawyers or school principals, who have been prevented from forming unions.
“Everyone that I have talked to from the legal profession is saying this is a major change and it will be significant,” said Mike Fraser, director of the UFCW. Estimates on the numbers of agricultural workers in Ontario that could be effected range from 50,000 to 200,000. Alberta is the only other province with similar labour legislation in place that prevents farm workers from organizing.
Fraser also dismissed suggestions by the Ontario government that the decision would hurt small, family farms in the province. “There is simply no credible evidence from any jurisdiction, in Canada or elsewhere, that giving agricultural workers this fundamental human right harms family farms,” said Fraser. He also said the UFCW has no interest in small family operations anyway. “It is not our intention and I don’t believe it is the intention of any labour organization to go out and organize the family farm.” He also called it “an abuse of language” to describe 200-worker industrial-style operations like Highline Mushrooms as a “family farm.”
While the decision was a victory for the trade union movement in Canada, most HR departments won’t feel an immediate effect, said Thomas Schiller, a partner with the B.C. law firm, Schiller, Coutts, Weiler, Gibson.
“I’m not very convinced that this case has major ramifications for HR practitioners.”
Generally it is a win for the unions as political institutions. The court continues to view workers as a “vulnerable” group that need assistance and a collective voice and this decision reinforces the union’s stature as an important representative voice for workers.
CHRR Subscribers can view the original Web version of this article by clicking on the headline in "Related Articles," below.
In an 8-1 decision presented just before Christmas, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled farm workers in Ontario have the right to unionize. The court ruled that the exclusion of agricultural workers from collective bargaining under Ontario labour legislation violated the right to freedom of association guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, commended the decision to allow farm workers in Ontario to unionize.
“I think the Supreme Court was incredibly courageous,” he said.
In the past, other groups in Canada excluded from collective bargaining have challenged their exclusion based on the notion that it violates constitutional rights, but failed. This is the first time the country’s top court has ruled the guarantee of freedom of association should be extended to collective bargaining, said John Evans, the lawyer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada. “It clearly shows a changing of the guard on the view of freedom of association (within the Supreme Court of Canada),” he said.
Under legislation introduced by the former NDP government in the early ’90s, the UFCW had been certified to act as the bargaining agent for a group of workers at Highline Mushrooms in Leamington, Ont. But that enabling legislation was quickly replaced when the Mike Harris Conservative government came to power, effectively banning agricultural workers from unionizing. The Supreme Court declared the labour legislation introduced under Harris to be unconstitutional and has given Ontario 18 months to re-write it, and workers were given the immediate right to form and maintain associations.
Ramifications of the decision aren’t immediately clear but labour groups were encouraged and say it opens the door to organize other groups, such as domestic workers or certain groups of professionals like lawyers or school principals, who have been prevented from forming unions.
“Everyone that I have talked to from the legal profession is saying this is a major change and it will be significant,” said Mike Fraser, director of the UFCW. Estimates on the numbers of agricultural workers in Ontario that could be effected range from 50,000 to 200,000. Alberta is the only other province with similar labour legislation in place that prevents farm workers from organizing.
Fraser also dismissed suggestions by the Ontario government that the decision would hurt small, family farms in the province. “There is simply no credible evidence from any jurisdiction, in Canada or elsewhere, that giving agricultural workers this fundamental human right harms family farms,” said Fraser. He also said the UFCW has no interest in small family operations anyway. “It is not our intention and I don’t believe it is the intention of any labour organization to go out and organize the family farm.” He also called it “an abuse of language” to describe 200-worker industrial-style operations like Highline Mushrooms as a “family farm.”
While the decision was a victory for the trade union movement in Canada, most HR departments won’t feel an immediate effect, said Thomas Schiller, a partner with the B.C. law firm, Schiller, Coutts, Weiler, Gibson.
“I’m not very convinced that this case has major ramifications for HR practitioners.”
Generally it is a win for the unions as political institutions. The court continues to view workers as a “vulnerable” group that need assistance and a collective voice and this decision reinforces the union’s stature as an important representative voice for workers.
CHRR Subscribers can view the original Web version of this article by clicking on the headline in "Related Articles," below.
