UFCW participates in Food Secure Canada’s “Cultivating Change” conference

Montreal – November 24, 2020 – UFCW activists recently attended Food Secure Canada’s “Cultivating Change” conference to talk about the challenges that food workers are facing during COVID-19, and the steps that our union is taking to protect workers from the coronavirus.

Held virtually from November 12 to 18, the conference featured a series of online conversations and workshops that explored the intersections between food systems, anti-racism, and environmental justice movements, as well as a range of topics affecting food security and food workers’ rights in Canada.   

As part of the event, UFCW Canada National Representative Santiago Escobar participated in the Labour Rights and Decent Work panel, where he spoke about the grueling working conditions that many migrant farm workers face, the challenges that COVID-19 has presented for the agricultural sector and its workforce, and the urgent need for migrant workers to be able to unionize.

Brother Escobar also talked about the premium pay and enhanced safety measures that UFCW Canada and its Local Unions have achieved for frontline workers in the food retail and manufacturing sectors and the meat processing industry.

“Protecting food workers – whether they work in agricultural operations, grocery stores, or meatpacking plants – is not only the humane and just thing to do, it is also essential to sustaining Canada’s food supply, particularly in this time of crisis,” Escobar told the conference attendees.    

In addition to participating in and speaking at the conference, UFCW Canada was also a primary sponsor of the six-day event. To read more about the Food Secure Canada Cultivating Change conference, visit the event website.

As the union for food workers, UFCW Canada is committed to advancing the principles and goals of the food justice movement. To learn more about our union’s work on issues surrounding food security, food policy, and food workers’ rights, visit the UFCW Canada Food Justice website.