CELEBRATING 136 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
OCTOBER 2015
VOLUME 65 NUMBER 10
LABOUR
Six Canadian provinces to raise minimum wage Oct. 1
Rod Wheeler (right) and foreman Artemio Zarate-Garcia, inspect a freshly cut cabbage at Procyk Farms, Wilsonville, Ontario. Behind this hard-working contingent are another 300 Mexican workers who have finished the tomato, zucchini, pepper and sweet corn harvest. As of October 1, their minimum wages rise to $11.25 per hour. Productivity counts. No wonder they handle two cabbages at a time. Photos by Glenn Lowson.
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KAREN DAVIDSON Wilsonville, Ontario –During peak harvest season, there are 306 offshore workers at Procyk Farms. On October 1, they’ll receive a boost when the Ontario minimum wage moves from $11 to $11.25 per hour. For this farm, that’s $3442 per hour in labour costs to pick the humble cruciferous vegetable: cabbage. Five other Canadian provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland -- will raise their respective rates this month, making this country uncompetitive to the U.S. and Mexico. The Procyk Farm owners of Rod Wheeler and the Procyk brothers Paul, Michael and Danny, plan to move forward based on volume of tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, sweet corn and cabbage from their 1150-acre farm. But the future is on ever slimmer margins. None of them begrudge the wages to their
Mexican workers. In fact, they built a new housing facility for 60 workers in 2014. “We need the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program,” says Paul Procyk. “If we didn’t have this program, our farm would be gone.” The conundrum is that there is no way to mitigate these labour increases along with higher costs of fertilizer and crop protection products priced in U.S. dollars. Not only are minimum wage rates rising, but labour legislation has come to the fore as well. In Ontario, for example, the ministry of labour has taken the unprecedented move of opening all pieces of legislation for scrutiny. The Changing Workplace Review looks specifically at the Labour Relations Act 1995 and the Employment Standards Act 2000. The intent is to examine workplace trends such as temporary jobs, globalization and trade liberalization, accelerating technological change and
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We need the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. If we didn’t have this program, our farm would be gone.” ~Paul Procyk
greater workplace diversity. All of those issues are relevant to horticulture. In addition, the Ontario government is fleshing out details of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan to be launched in 2017. Employees and employers are to contribute an equal amount, capped at 1.9 per cent each on an employee’s annual earnings up to $90,000. At present, it’s unknown whether this plan will include those who come from Mexico and the Caribbean as part of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). The Labour Issues Coordinating Committee, helmed by Ken Linington, is watching these developments closely. To date, provincial legislation has honoured the reality that all workforces are not the same. How to implement noise protection, for example, is just as important as the regulation itself.
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