“The tireless efforts of UFCW Canada and the AWA on behalf of agriculture workers is the amazing and untold story of the Ontario labour movement,” said OFL President Wayne Samuelson in presenting the Borch Award to Wayne Hanley, who serves both organizations as national president, on the third day of the provincial labour federation’s 2009 convention.

“This is a group of workers that play a fundamental role in our lives as food producers and most Ontarians don’t even know they exist. UFCW Canada and the AWA are the organizations that are finding the resources to fight for the respect and dignity of one our province’s most important and exploited labour forces,” said Samuelson.

Of the 100,000-plus agriculture workers in Ontario, 30,000 are migrant labourers who come to Ontario every season as part of a difficult and lonely effort to earn a living for themselves and their families. Because of their precarious status, migrant farm workers often find themselves exploited by unscrupulous employers. In cooperation with the AWA, UFCW Canada operates four support centres in Ontario to help migrant workers face the enormous cultural and systemic challenges waiting for them in Canada.

“It’s an honour to accept this award on behalf of all the people who have given so much of themselves to this campaign over the past 15 years,” said Hanley, flanked by several long-time activists who have helped to make the support centre program possible.

“Because of their commitment to doing the right thing for the right reasons, health and safety protections for farm workers are now guaranteed under the law, and the days of Ontario denying the basic labour rights of agriculture workers are rapidly becoming part of a very shameful past.

“What we need are over 30,000 of these awards — one for every migrant farm worker who comes to Canada every year. They part with their loved ones each year to work in our fields and produce our food. They are the real heroes, their courage inspires our efforts, and this award belongs to all of them.”

As job losses continue to mount, and private sector workers struggle with unemployment and lost pensions, corporate leaders “are setting their sights” on the public sector.

“If they can silence us, they will have removed the first and the last lines of defense that many of our members and our community allies have,” said Byers.

She talked about the need to change the employment insurance program and pensions. Workers and communities across the country are suffering, and things are getting tougher for equity groups.

“The gains of women, workers of colour, Aboriginal workers, and workers with disabilities over the past 20 years are being wiped out by the effects of corporate greed,” she said.

The OFL executive board recommended the change. The United Nations said in 2007 that Canada’s use of the term, ‘visible minorities’ may be discriminatory.

The OFL’s 2007 convention decided to review and change the term. It formed an affiliate and community working group, which filed its report to the OFL executive board at the beginning of this year.

Constitution resolution C – 1

Submitted by the OFL Executive Board

Because the United Nations in 2007 stated that Canada’s use of the term “visible minorities” may be considered suceptible to racial discrimination when identifying certain racial groups;

Because a 2007 OFL convention resolution was passed to review and change the term “visible minority” by forming a designated affiliate and community working group to review new terminology;

Because of the report from the working group and the OFL Visible Minority Committee to the OFL Executive Board on January 26, 2009;

The OFL Executive Board recommends that the OFL Convention amend the Constitution by deleting the term “visible minority” and replacing it with “workers of colour”.

The economic crisis has hit workers of colour harder than others. Community and labour activists are examining this disproportionate effect at a forum in Toronto, Saturday, Nov. 21. The event is at the Sheraton Centre where labour delegates from across Ontario will gather at the OFL convention for the week of Nov. 23 to set direction and policy for the coming two years on many issues, including on the equity front.

“What the employment statistics from the past year tell us is that while all Ontarians are struggling, racialized workers and their families have been hit especially hard,” says OFL executive vice-president Terry Downey, who is a forum co-chair. “Racialized workers have seen disproportionately larger increases in unemployment rates and disproportionately larger decreases in employment income.”

Co-chairing with Downey is Avvy Go, Clinic Director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic.  Although racialized workers could achieve greater job security and better pay from unionization, they are less likely to be union members, according to Go.

“We need to examine why that is so, and together, develop solutions to build communication and co-operation between communities,” she says. “The forum will allow activists from unions and racialized communities to develop a common action plan that will bring about positive solutions that will benefit all workers. It will promote a green-collar, substainable economy that includes good jobs for all.”