The guys from Mexico arrive in 2 weeks. The snow is finally melting enough to get to their house to clean and prepare it for them. The Public Health inspector should be coming next week to check the house for violations. This is a required step to be involved in the program, and a necessary step to ensure the housing is up to standard.
We will be going to the import food store to buy them mole and pepper sauces, and stock the kitchen with basics for their arrival as they usually come with little money to buy food. We get them little welcome packages too. I will do a run through the house and see if there is anything we need to replace like new towels or maybe a griddle.
We are not unaware of the controversy around this program. There is an organization in Quebec who has been actively promoting mis-information about the program. Some of the things they imply are that workers are not paid Canadian wages, workers are housed in dirty shacks, workers are forced to work longer hours than Canadian’s, workers don’t have protection under the labour laws etc. All of these things are not true. Aside from providing misinformation to the public these groups also interfere with the well being of the workers; making suggestions to them about how to stay in Canada illegally, promising them things such as better wages that the organization has no jurisdiction over, and in at least one case interfering with the health of in injured worker in order to make a case against the program.
Agricultural workers in Canada, migrant or Canadian fall under the same seasonal employment labour law. As agriculture is not guided by a 9-5 work schedule like an office job, ALL agricultural workers may work up to 12 hrs a day. This is because the harvest is time sensitive. If the produce is ready to be picked and weather has the potential to impede that, we have to work as long as needed to get the harvest off the field, or risk loosing our product, our investment, our livelihood. We work along side the Mexican staff, as do our Canadian staff. Actually, most nights, the mexican guys finish work an hour before I do.
As I stated before the housing is inspected each year before the workers arrive. The inspection looks to ensure that things such as plumbing are up to code, the building is clean and complies with Canadian housing standards, that the water is potable, that the kitchen is stocked with all the necessary implements, that bedding and towels in good supply and condition, that the number of bathrooms complies with the number of occupants, that the building is rodent proof (important on a farm) and that there are no physical dangers. If rental houses in Regina had to comply with this inspection most would fail.
I am not saying that migrant workers don’t face hardships. But those hardships are not a direct result of the program. It is very unfortunate that they cannot find gainful employment in their own regions of Mexico. And it really sucks that we cannot find Canadians willing to work on a farm. I have worked overseas and I know how lonely and homesick you can get. But there are regulations employers must follow in order to stay in this program and the treatment of employees is monitored by the MX consulate.
The migrant workers in Canada send millions of dollars back to Mexico. The employers pay for the worker’s airfare and visas. And I will point out here that the airfare from Mexico City direct to Vancouver and then on to Regina is 3 times more expensive than the ticket to Cancun you bought for spring break. So the workers have no financial investment to get here to work. They do not pay for their accommodation, and get free vegetables so their expenses while here are minimal. They send most of their cheques back to MX each payday to pay for things their families need. They also buy a lot of consumer goods that are unavailable or unaffordable at home. We have heard of guys shipping fridges and stoves back to MX. Our guys bought video cameras to take home. These products are welcome gifts to their families who are living in areas with mass poverty (these guys are not coming from resort areas of MX).
Some farms (not in this program) do pay workers by the piece or pound, not unlike tree planters, the workers are paid by productivity and this is legal. As for the wages paid to SAWP workers, these are agreed upon by the Federal Government. We pay our guys above the minimum wage, all farms are required by law to pay the federally set wages or can choose to pay above that wage. We are required to post the job and the wage each year in order to participate in the program. Our guys will be getting a raise this year, like all of the full-time employees who return each season.
I know that our guys liked working for us. Their big question at the end of last season was whether or not we would ‘name’ them, ie. bring them back to our farm this year. We are. We like working with them. The other farm in the valley that employs workers from MX also brings the same guys back each year. It is easier on them to know where they will live, to know the city and the town they will live in and to know what they will be doing at work. Our guys have worked in Canada for up to 15 or so yrs already, so they know the conditions on many of the farms and have relatives working in Quebec, BC and MB. They have worked in each of these provinces too and have not reported any of the abuses that are commonly sited when criticizing this program.
So, this week will be spent getting their house ready. We welcome anyone who has concerns about the employees from MX to come to the farm and see for themselves. Actually, I will post some pictures of their house too.
