MARCH 2014
CELEBRATING 134 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
VOLUME 64 NUMBER 03
THE FOUR SEASONS OF SEASONAL LABOUR
Ontario’s increase to an $11 minimum wage will take $30 million out of grower margins
Horticulture requires minimum-wage workers to prune, sort and harvest in every season. Ontario’s new minimum wage of $11 per hour is set for June 1, in the middle of this year’s most labour-intense time. Photos by Denis Cahill, Glenn Lowson and Linda Williams. KAREN DAVIDSON
INSIDE Canadian Horticultural Council meets in Kelowna Page 10 Potato nation
Page 18
Focus: Crop protection and spraying Section B
www.thegrower.org P.M. 40012319 $3.00 CDN
When Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced last month that the minimum wage would increase from $10.25 to $11 per hour as of June 1, Ken Forth called home. The broccoli grower and president of Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS) told his 35-year-old son, “Don’t plan to be in this business by the time you’re 40.” Growers are dispirited to say the least. Despite a pledge to support local food production, the provincial government has rejected the economic reality that fruit and vegetable producers don’t compete locally but instead operate within a global marketplace. Ontario apple pricing, for example, must compete with apples from Washington state or Chile even though both of those regions have significantly lower wage rates. Along with Nunavut,
Ontario’s minimum wage will become the highest in North America and 20 per cent higher than the $9 per hour in California, and a whopping 34 per cent higher than the $7.25 minimum wage in other border states. This data was presented to the Minimum Wage Advisory Panel last fall, but “We were ignored out of hand,” says Forth. In its findings, the panel identified that agriculture, along with retail and hospitality service sectors, are the three industries most dependent on minimumwage labour (See Chart 1) and together, account for approximately two-thirds of the province’s minimum-wage workers. What’s particularly troubling is that the provincial government appears to have dismissed the counsel of its own panel which predicted an adverse impact on employment, especially youth employment, from minimum wage increases. If the govern-
ment’s objective is to reduce poverty, then all the research shows that minimum wage is a blunt instrument to wield. Although the panel did not comment on the issue of an immediate increase, it’s important to note that its mandate was specifically limited to recommendations on how the minimum wage increases should be assessed in the future. It made four primary recommendations: 1) that the minimum wage should be revised annually by an amount equivalent to the per cent change in the Ontario consumer price index (CPI); 2) that a minimum notice of four months be given for each increase and the effective date for such increase be set at April 1 each year; 3) that the provincial government review the process every five years; 4) that ongoing labour research be conducted as is currently done in the United Kingdom.
In addition, the panel reported that business is better able to absorb increases that are small and incremental. It further noted that “Ontario’s minimum wage should be in line with other Canadian provinces, the U.S. and other jurisdictions of relevance to the Canadian economy.” Forth couldn’t agree more, but that advice was ignored. “Production efficiency will have to change,” predicts Ken Linington, policy advisor to the Labour Issues Coordinating Committee (LICC). “That means each worker has to perform at $11 through piece work and probably a more mature, more focused workforce will be required. A seasonal worker has to be a seasoned worker.” It’s no secret that Americans are actively recruiting Canadian businesses to relocate and build in Michigan, Ohio and New York states. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3