Fair trade discussion often focus on improving labour conditions of workers in developing or less developed countries, but what about workers in the fruit and vegetable industry in North America?

United Farm Workers (UFW) works to improve work conditions and just wages. The delicious fruits and vegetables enjoyed year round in N. America are a produced through exploitation of poor, non-status migrants (illegal aliens to Lou Dobbs fans).

Exploitation means: Planting, weeding, trimming, and picking; slipping, dehydrating, sickening, injuring, hiding, earning, denying wages

After the break : lots of UFW plans and projects...whereto Canada?

Just like fair trade certification, the UFW provides a list of union label products, including wines, mushrooms, fruits, flowers, and citrus.

The picture above was taken at one of the UFW's organizing / training camps. Farm workers take huge risks when considering joining the UFW and in confronting their employers, especially because of their limited financial resources, and in many cases, lack of residency or citizenship.

Canada is a little bit different: there are fewer non-status immigrants but there are laws against forming unions of farm workers in several provinces including Ontario. The legal barrier has been challenged all of the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, but the Ontario government has not changed the law to permit farm worker unions. Farm worker advocates and associations have made important strides to draw attention to problems on farms and the vulnerability of migrant farm workers, through reports like the UFCW's Report on the Status of Migrant Farm Workers in Canada (2007) . But exploitation is still real:

“If you’ve got problems keep them to yourself or you’ll be sent packing. That’s the implicit threat that many of these workers tell us they continue to face each day,” says Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada, “and what little protection the system offers them now is getting worse."

 Take action and learn more

See: Agricultural Workers Alliance - in Fair Fundamentals

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