AWA efforts bring justice to Ghesquiere farm workers

TORONTO - Thanks to the efforts of the Agriculture Workers Alliance/UFCW Canada, the door has been opened for about 130 migrant and domestic farm workers to get the back pay they were owed when the Ontario farm they worked at declared bankruptcy last fall.

(L-R) Fanny Belcoski, coordinator AWA Simcoe centre; Stan Raper (centre), national coordinator AWA; and Carolina Ramirez, whose successful test claim filed by the AWA has opened the way for other Ghesquiere workers.

Carolina Ramirez, a landed immigrant from Colombia who worked at the farm, recently received a cheque for more than $1,400 after the staff at the AWA centre in Simcoe, Ontario filed a test claim on her behalf under the Wage Earner Protection Act (WEPA).

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Statement by UFCW Canada President Wayne Hanley on World Day of Social Justice – February 20

The World Day of Social Justice – first observed in 2009 and every year since on February 20 – traces its roots back to the United Nations World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1995. At the summit, Canada and 117 other nations made a social justice pledge to reduce poverty; to create jobs and full employment; and to respect equity, justice, human rights, and a safe and healthy community as fundamental to public policy.

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UFCW Canada leads training session in Tapachula, Mexico

UFCW Canada’s outstanding commitment to empowering workers through training and education recently went global with its participation in the first-ever Global Workers Defenders Network Forum, held in Tapachula, Mexico from January 24 to 28.

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2010-2011 Migrant farm workers report published

Report finds federal government complicit in Canada’s abuse of migrant farm workers.

Canada’s most comprehensive annual report on the challenges facing migrant farm workers has been released. It confirms that abuse and exploitation of migrant farm workers are rampant in Canada’s agriculture industry.

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