• Français
FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagram
Find Your Local Union
Subscribe to E-news
 
Login
Contact

UFCW Canada - Union Logo

Canada's Private Sector Union

  • About Our Union
  • Media & News
  • Resources
  • Issues
  • Action Centre
  • Join the Union

Directions Newsletter

Another migrant farm worker fatality in Ontario

  • Print
  • Email
fShare
Tweet

On August 17, Omar Graham tragically became the sixth Jamaican migrant worker over the past decade to die from an Ontario farm-related accident.

Graham, a native of Manchester, Jamaica, was fatally injured while working for an agriculture operation near Paris, Ontario. He was driving a pick-up truck towing a trailer packed with tobacco. Preliminary reports indicate the he was ejected from the pick-up truck when the rig he was hauling flipped off the road.

"We are saddened by Omar Graham's tragic death and extend our condolences to his family and community," said Wayne Hanley, the national president of UFCW Canada. For more than two decades, UFCW Canada has led the campaign for improved safety, workplace and labour rights for agriculture workers in Canada.

"Was the truck in good repair? Was the trailer overloaded? The investigation will have to answer those questions," says Hanley. "What we do know for certain is that another farm worker has died, while the government stands by with no regulations or inspection system dealing with farm worker transportation."

"It is urgent the government take action before more farm workers are injured or killed."

More than 6,000 Jamaican migrant agricultural workers come to Canada each season under federally administered temporary worker programs. In 2002, Ned Pert, a 39-year-old Jamaican migrant worker at an Ontario tobacco farm, was killed when a tobacco bin collapsed on him. In 2005, William Bell and Desmond McNeil were killed near Delhi, Ontario when a car struck them while they were bicycling to the farm they worked at. And just a year ago, two Jamaican migrant workers at an Ayton, Ontario farm died from exposure to toxic fumes while cleaning out a vat.

To date, no charges have been laid in that accident, and the Ontario Ministry of Labour continues to stonewall on releasing the findings of its investigation into the Ayton fatalities.

"The dangers and risks to farm workers should not be hushed up," says Hanley, the leader of Canada's largest private-sector union, which in association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) operates ten agriculture worker support centres across Canada.

"Migrant workers make the sacrifice of leaving home to feed their families and our families. That sacrifice should not include being the victims of preventable accidents."

  • Media & News
    • News
      • All News
      • Agriculture
      • By the Numbers
      • Campaigns
      • Directions Newsletter
      • Infographics
      • Politics
      • Social Justice
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Young Workers
      • Health & Safety
    • Media
    • Action Calendar
    • Subscribe to E-news
  • Join the Union
  • Application for Membership
  • About Our Union
    • About Our Union
      • Find Your Local Union
      • National President
      • National Council
      • Constitution
      • Union History
      • Mission Statement
      • Annual Reports
      • Join UFCW Canada
  • Media & News
    • Media & News
      • News
      • Media
      • Action Calendar
      • Subscribe to E-news
  • Resources
    • Resources
      • Union Training & Scholarships
      • Health & Safety
      • The National Defence Fund
      • Member Discounts
      • Great Canadian Food Products
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Leukemia Fundraising
      • Political Action
      • Women and Gender Equity
      • Social Justice
      • The Union for Agriculture Workers
      • UFCW Pride – Union Pride!
      • Young Workers
      • Food Justice
      • Global Solidarity
      • Uber Drivers United
      • Conscious Cannabis
  • Action Centre
    • Action Centre
      • Tell leading grocery giants across Canada to protect workers and ditch toxic receipts
      • Affordable Child Care for All
      • Support good union jobs at The Beer Store
      • Tell Mama Earth Organics to respect workers’ rights!
      • National Food Policy needs Food Workers!
      • End Discrimination Against First Nations Children NOW!
      • Paid Leave for Survivors of Domestic Violence NOW!
      • Help close the Gender Wage Gap today
      • Stop Cargill’s union-busting in Turkey
  • Join the Union
    • Join the Union
      • Why UFCW Canada
      • Union Advantage
      • Union Facts
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Workplaces We Represent
      • How to Join a Union
      • Join Now

Login

FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagram

Copyright © 2019 UFCW Canada. All Rights Reserved
United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada's private sector union