Farm worker's rights - a step in the right direction

[ChinaVoodoo]

I had no idea how bad farm worker's rights were in Alberta. Thankfully, our new government took the first steps toward making Alberta a safer place to farm.

Highlight- It proves Alberta can fix a glaring, unfair and probably unconstitutional social inequity in less than a century.

http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/co...orkers-win-the-long-struggle-for-basic-rights

 

[ProfessorPangloss]

Good on 'em. I was flabbergasted by the detail that the workers' basic right to organize was unrecognized. Without "wildcat" action on the workers' part, this would never​ have changed.

 

[Chicken]

i guess they need some equality... here all i see is mexicans doing all the work... from bailing pine straw. [ who would have guessed they'd be a market on buying pine straw ] to picking / planting everything these big farms do.. and trust me i visit '' ALL THE BIG FARMS .. in florida and south georgia,

i like the way she refered to them as '' militants'' i wonder why she choose that word to describe them..????

 

[juan carlos]

for y'all... i live in rural alberta *most* alberta farms are staffed by families, whose members drive around in 2016 f-350 diesel platinum edition fords. they cry the blues when it rains too much, and the next year cry the blues when it doesn't rain enough.
OMG! the price of hay is up we can't feed our cows! (tip: sell your overpriced beef at the market for a HUGE profit and you don't have to buy the expensive hay to feed them!)
farming happens here in 700K combines that have more ammenities than a 5 star hilton.
I really get tired of the rhetoric of the oppressed farmers here.

it's about time the legislation caught up with these people, to ensure hired workers are given a fighting chance...but i'd also say most alberta farmers are far too greedy to actually hire an outside worker.

From the article- "Nobody says this was in any way typical, or that Alberta farm owners are abusive. But that dreadful case became a symbol of what some workers see as a profound imbalance of power and rights."

 

[FmGrowit]

Same here in the States. For every person who has worked hard to accumulate wealth or possessions, there are five dead-beats who think they deserve the stuff you own....AND we have a government who believes that too.

 

[juan carlos]

Same here in the States. For every person who has worked hard to accumulate wealth or possessions, there are five dead-beats who think they deserve the stuff you own....AND we have a government who believes that too.

+1

we now have installed 2 levels of communists to make sure the paying field gets leveled out. I guess things were just going too good under the semi-free market we have enjoyed for a long time.

 

[juan carlos]

i got beyond the edit time limit on this rant:

it should also be noted that you won't get a 15 year old kid to do labour on a farm here for less than 20 bucks an hour. an adult wouldn't show up for less than 25, and migrant/immigrant workers are few and far between (but i agree they should have access to worker's compensation and a reasonable level of safety... and i cannot see a reason that a farmer is not subjected to the same level of "safety insanity" that construction industry is subjected to by the department of justifying our existance department, falling under the jurisdiction of the department of redundancy department.)

we just updated our building codes to include smoke detectors in every bedroom of a domicile... this is in addition to the smoke / CO gas sensors on every level of a home, in addition to within 10 feet of every bedroom. (that is a total of 7 detectors in an average 3 bedroom house) in january... Radon gas detection and venting coming to a building code near you.

This is great stuff! until you figuire it costs about 3000 per overpriced home to install it...pricing more and more young people out of the market.

saftey first!!! after all, you can't get hurt on the job if you don't have one, and you'll never die in a house fire if you can't live in one.

genius!

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Regardless of how wealthy and entitled many farmers may be, the employees on whom they rely to make them wealthy, deserve workers compensation if they get injured, just like any other Albertan.

 

[juan carlos]

i have WCB available to me but i decline the coverage; firstly the coverage only covers you "on the job" secondly, the system will decline a "benefit payable" under one of the myriad of weasel wordings in the contract.
this exists only as taxation, and the hoard of snivvel servants that suckles at it's teat. it is government mandated insurance skimming the cream off of...through levels of minister, departments, managers, commitees and let's not forget the patronage appointments of the "consultant"

Personally i pay for my DI with after tax dollars, on a private contract of insurance i need a lawyer decipher. i'm covered 24 hrs a day, and i pay extra for the privledge of having to fight with an insurance company...instead of the government...on the weasel words in the policy. But maybe the goverment courts will likely stand up for me!

i believe the only people this new legislation will benefit...is the same people that all legislation benefits. the workers will get less wages because the employers have to pay WCB premiums and your steak will cost you more because this taxation is passed onto the consumer.

but the department of redundancy department will have more budget to justify their existence. and farmers are treated the same as other taxpayer-makers, so this is good!

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I honestly didn't see this topic being so controversial.

 

[webmost]

Regardless of how wealthy and entitled many farmers may be, the employees on whom they rely to make them wealthy, deserve workers compensation if they get injured, just like any other Albertan.

Wealthy? Entitled? FARMERS ?!!!???

Holy crap. I never expected to see those words in the same sentence.

 

[Chicken]

20 - 25 bucks a hour for working in the fields....

canada needs to import some il-legal immigrants...

 

[DIY Pete]

I honestly didn't see this topic being so controversial.

Of course it's controversial. Its about labor and labor rights, which means its politics and that is always divisive. As I am not fully informed on the topic I will not comment the article linked in the OP.

 

[juan carlos]

Wealthy? Entitled? FARMERS ?!!!???

Holy crap. I never expected to see those words in the same sentence.

you missed a keyword- wealthy entitled ALBERTA farmers. i'm not so sure it's the same across Canada. -again- don't get me wrong, Most farmers are very hardworking and have earned their wealth generationally, but there is a lot of governmental interference in the agricultural markets here.
The whole thing is disfunctional (IMHO) because of government. The Nanny state forces WCB (worker's compensation) because people cannot step away from their habits long enough to take care of themselves. here is my point:

In my industry the cost of WCB is 1.13% of the wage. this is VERY low, since we thankfully don't get a lot of injuries. a roofer, for examle would be much higher.

this coverage is only in force while you work. let's say 8 hours a day. (multiply by 3 to get full coverage if you worked 3 eight hour shifts a day, 3.39%)

My private DI policy covers 24/7 and cost 0.73% of my wage it covers me if i slip in the shower (#1 cause of injury) or on a ski hill, or whatever stupid idea i can come up with.

so what does the government do with the othe 2.62% of the money they collect??? administration, the big denial of benefits department, pensions, patronage.

While i absolutely agree that these employers should be held to the same standard as all other Alberta employers, and the workers do absolutely need some kind of coverage as there has been a huge imbalance.

all's i was saying is the gooberment is doing themselves a favour, not the workers....and your steak now costs more.


on to the other half of the rant> the government declared a state of emergency based on the media hype of a hay shortage this spring (we had a very dry spring) then it rained. there was no shortage of hay. the price of hay went from 60-70/ 1500lb bale to 200-300 per bale, this year. the government issued bale-out (pun intended) money.
some farmers cut half their hay and gouged 3x the money, then stuck their hand out for assistance. some just left it in the field, since they could get money for doing nothing. and a few honest ones did the work and sold the crop at a fair price to their neighbours that needed it...and didn't ask nobody for nothing they had not earned.


it takes all kinds.