Justice for Migrant Workers: June 20th is the official start of the summer season. The province must enact emergency measures for heat stress faced by agricultural workers

TORONTO, June 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the first day of summer, Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is demanding immediate emergency protections for the tens of thousands of agricultural workers employed in Ontario. Workers have been on the frontline of the ongoing heat wave and are enduring dangerous and deadly conditions while the province ignores their demand for workplace protections.

Farm workers have been reaching out to our hotline raising concerns regarding the impact of the current heat dome on their well being. Every year, workers and worker advocates sound the alarm about the dangers of work during heat waves. Last year the provincial government stated its intention to implement a heat specific regulation to protect Ontario workers. Where are the protections?

The Ford government claims employers have a responsibility to protect workers from heat stress. Yet workers regularly report long working hours in 30+ degree weather, no access to shade or adequate breaks, all while doing the backbreaking labour that Canadians don't want to do.

It is imperative that this government materially address occupational health and safety hazards such as heat stress, poor air quality, and chemical and pesticide exposure. Ontario provides no industry-specific regulations for agricultural workers, exacerbating an already crisis-level situation. This week farm workers endured sweltering conditions both greenhouses and outside field work.

Ontario can no longer ignore the voices of farm workers.

Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is demanding the implementation of emergency measures including:

• Shutting down farms and paying workers in extreme crisis events;
• Paying workers when they are not employed as a result of climate-related issues such as forest fires, extreme heat, major thunderstorms and heavy rain;
• Enacting heat stress protections for workers;
• Strengthening anti-reprisal measures and proactive inspections;
• Implementing paid breaks and providing permanent paid sick days for agricultural workers;
• Providing sufficient shelters, functioning bathrooms and drinking water for workers at the expense of the employer;
• Providing first aid, hydration stations, and on-site medical support (RN or RPNs);
• Permitting third party complaints at the Ontario Labour Relations Board;
• Ending agricultural exclusions under the Employment Standards Act;
• Incorporating race and gender analysis in both occupational health and safety and employment standards;
• Ensuring that agricultural harvesters are being paid holiday pay;
• Implementing clear trigger temperatures for extreme heat and humidity, including indoor temperatures (e.g., greenhouses); and
• Preventive measures to avoid overheating including: specific requirements for shade, acclimatization for new and returning workers, mandatory cool-down rest periods during high temperatures, along with access to preventive cool-down measures as needed.
• Expand the occupational health and safety act to include farm worker accommodations.
• Extend heat stress protections to be agricultural dwellings.
• Implement extreme weather protections to address not only heat but cold weather temperatures.
  
  

Ford has the necessary tools to address long standing issues raised by farm workers. These are not new issues. It's time to act. Immediate and urgent measures are required to end the structural violence farm workers endure as a result of legal exclusions that exist within Ontario’s legislative framework.

J4MW also reiterates our longstanding demands for: permanent status on arrival for migrant farm workers, an end to unilateral repatriations and disbarment, and equal access to entitlements such as EI and CPP.

Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is an all-volunteer collective that consists of current and former workers, labour and community activists and scholars who advocate for fairness, dignity and respect for agricultural workers.

Justicia for Migrant Workers (519) 903-7376 Tel / Email: j4mw.on@gmail.com