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

UFCW Canada - Union Logo

Canada's Private Sector Union

  • About Our Union
  • Media & News
  • Resources
  • Issues
  • Action Centre
  • Join the Union
  • Marc Perrone announces retirement: Milton Jones elected UFCW International President, Shawn Haggerty elected International Secretary-Treasurer

  • Great Canadian Food Products – Stand up for Canada

  • Affordability for All: Taking Action on Canada’s Affordability Crisis

  • Respect Frontline Workers

  • Decadent chocolate layer cake: A sweet treat made by UFCW members

  • FreshCo workers join union – UFCW 175

  • Join the call for #PaidSickDaysNow!

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • Find Your Local Uinion

    Find Your Local Union

  • Union Member Resources

    Union Member Resources

  • Campaigns

    Campaigns

  • How to Join a Union

    How to Join a Union

  • 1

Harvest of Death

Premier Ed Stelmach: 14 months and
13 deaths later and still no action

It’s been 14 months since Justice Peter Barley told Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach that farm workers in Alberta should be granted the same health and safety rights as everyone else. 

Despite asking Justice Barley for his advice, the Premier doesn’t want to hear it, and farm workers are paying the price.

After being asked by the Premier to investigate the workplace death of farm worker Kevan Chandler, Justice Barley found that farm workers must be included in Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) to prevent future workplace injuries and deaths.

To date, Premier Stelmach has ignored that advice, and since then 13 more people have been killed on Alberta farms in work-related accidents.

Since Kevan Chandler died at work on Father’s Day nearly four years ago, an additional 59 people have been killed in agriculture-related accidents.

As the leader of a majority government, Premier Stelmach is the “decider”. He has the power to save lives with stroke of a pen by granting basic health and safety rights to farm workers – they’re the same rights that most of us already have.

Tell Premier Stelmach to do the right thing by ending the deadly discrimination against Alberta farm workers.

Click here to tell Premier Stelmach: End the Harvest of Death!

 

 

  Learn more:

2010:

Letter from
National President Hanley to Premier Ed Stelmach


Alberta Workers Call for
OHS Coverage

Canadian Occupational Safety, 
April 1, 2010

Farm Fatalities 13 in 2009
Calgary Herald
March 23, 2010

Alberta Continues to Stall
on Farm Safety

www.ufcw.ca
2009:

Kevin Chandler's story

Public Fatality Inquiry Report
of Jutice Peter Barley


Letter to Premier Stelmach
February 4, 2009

 
click to enlarge
click to enlarge

Fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada

In 1985, our UFCW Canada family of members and Local Unions made a pledge to work together to support the efforts of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC).

Since then, your tremendous fundraising has raised more than $50 million for the LLSC. Combining all efforts across Canada, UFCW Canada members and Local Unions are a tower of hope and financial support for the work of the LLSC to find a cure, provide better therapies and patient support, and raise public awareness that blood cancer is a battle that can be won.

Advancing together, our LLSC fundraising has made a vital difference. Today, many kids and adults with leukemia and other blood cancers are living longer or are in remission because of new therapies that have led to higher survival rates and a better quality of life.

About the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC)

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC) is the single largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancers in Canada. LLSC funds life-saving blood cancer research across the country, and provides information and support services free of charge to people affected by blood cancers. The LLSC's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of Canadians impacted by blood cancers.

Visit llscanada.org for more information. 


Agricultural Workers

Agriculture workers grow strong with UFCW Canada

UFCW Canada has been an ally, advocate and champion for agriculture workers in Canada since 1980 —successfully leading the campaign for justice,  enhanced rights, safety, and a voice in the workplace for some of Canada’s most exploited workers.

Today, UFCW Canada is also the union for both domestic and migrant agriculture workers with collective agreements in place at locations in British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec. They are strong contracts that protect the right of both temporary and domestic workers to return to work the next year based on years of service.

In association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance, UFCW Canada also operatesCanada’s largest association for agriculture workers, with a network of 10 help centres across Canada where the rights of all farm workers come first — no matter where they come from.

Since opening the first centre in 1992, UFCW Canada and the AWA have assisted literally tens of thousands of farm workers regarding abusive employers, unsafe workplace and housing conditions, medical treatment and Workers Compensation claims, parental leave benefits, health and safety training, as well as supporting the rights of agriculture workers to form a union.

UFCW Canada and AWA actions have also led to:

  • Health and Safety coverage and training for farm workers in Ontario
  • The right for farm workers in Ontario to unionize (the McGuinty Ontario government has appealed)
  • Rent reduction to migrant farm workers in Quebec due to AWA Human Rights complaint
  • Compensation to some migrant workers unjustly repatriated
  • Official partnerships with Mexican states to advocate for the fair treatment and rights of workers
  • Millions of dollars in Parental Leave Benefits for seasonal and temporary migrant workers Concerted pressure on the Alberta government to end its deadly discrimination of excluding farm workers from Health and Safety coverage
  • Charges filed  with the International Labour Organization (ILO) that Ontario’s ban on farm unions is a violation of      human and labour rights under United Nations conventions

 

“Agriculture workers have the same rights as every other worker in Canada, “says Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada. “We have stood with these workers from the beginning, and we will continue to fight for them until their rights are upheld, their workplace is safe, and the hard and dangerous work they do is respected and rewarded fairly.”

Walmart Workers Canada

Workers in Canada have fundamental rights — including the right to form a union to create a better, fairer relationship with their employer.

It is a right that Walmart cannot ignore because Walmart is not above the law. That law is Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms — our constitution — which has established the Freedom to Associate as a fundamental Canadian right.

In other words, Canada’s highest court has twice ruled that the Charter ensures that workers have the right to join a union and to negotiate a collective agreement with their employer.

As one of Canada’s largest private-sector unions with a strong history of activism, UFCW Canada is committed to ensuring that the labour and human rights of Walmart workers in Canada are respected.

For decades, Walmart workers have tried to improve their lives through collective bargaining. They face tremendous challenges in trying to exercise their rights, but with the assistance of UFCW Canada – and its 250,000-plus members – Walmart Canada workers are making progress.

Since 2002, over 20 different groups of Walmart workers, in several different provinces, have applied to become UFCW Canada members. And despite Walmart’s corporate and legal tactics, some Walmart Canada workers do have a UFCW Canada collective agreement today where they work, because workers understand that by acting together and taking collective action they can improve their workplace and their lives.

If you are a Canadian Associate who wants to join the growing movement for change at Walmart, click here or call: 1-866-977-0772.

UFCW Canada will continue to answer the call every day from Walmart workers who “associate” justice with their Freedom to Associate and form a union.

Equal rights NOW for Ontario agriculture workers

  • Ontario’s denial of the rights of agriculture workers to form and join unions for the purposes of collective bargaining is a violation of those workers’ constitutional rights.

  • The Supreme Court of Canada said so in 2001 and in 2007.

  • The Court of Appeal for Ontario said so in 2008.

  • The International Labour Organization (ILO) also says that labour rights are human rights –  including the right of all workers to join and  form unions, and the right to collective bargaining.

  • Tell the McGuinty Ontario government to stop discriminating  against Ontario’s 100,000 agriculture workers by denying them the same rights that other workers in Ontario enjoy.

  • Join the campaign to bring justice to Ontario agriculture workers NOW!  No more delays. No more excuses. No more cynical politics played out on the backs of these workers to protect the privileges and special interests of the agriculture lobby.

  • Send a message to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to respect the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal of Ontario, the ILO, and above all, the human rights of Ontario agriculture workers.

 

Links

 

Send a Message to McGuinty

 
Union files complaint
against Ontario with UN
Toronto Star - 23March2009

 

 Complaints after Ont.
farmers banned from union
CTV.ca - 23March2009

 

UFCW Canada Media Release
23 March 2009



UFCW Canada
Statement of Evidence
to the International
Labour Organization (ILO)
23 March 2009



Backgrounder
to ILO Complaint



Letter to Juan Somavia,
Director General, ILO



Letter to Philip Jennings,
General Secretary
Union Network International

 

Page 6 of 6

  • Start
  • Prev
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • Next
  • End

Action Centre

  • Great Canadian Food Products – Stand up for Canada

    Read More
  • Affordability for All: Taking Action on Canada’s Affordability Crisis

    Read More
  • Respect Frontline Workers

    Read More
  • Make Truth and Reconciliation Day a Paid Day of Recognition

    Read More
  • 1
  • 2
  • Currently a Member
  • Not in a Unionized Workplace
  • Supporters and Activists

Information Centre

 
  • Find your Local Union

    Find your Local Union

  • Educational Scholarships

    Educational Scholarships

  • Great Canadian Food Products

    Great Canadian Food Products

  • Online Learning Courses

    Online Learning Courses

  • Health & Safety

    Health & Safety

  • Protection through National Defence Fund

    Protection through National Defence Fund

Information Centre

 
  • What is a Union?

  • Learn about this Union

  • FAQ About Unionization

  • Who do we represent in Canada?

  • Pros and Cons of a Union

  • Contact Us

Information Centre

 
  • UFCW Pride – Union Pride!

  • Political Action

  • Issues

  • Learn about the Young Workers Inside UFCW

  • Women inside the union

  • Social Justice Campaigns

  • About Our Union
    • About Our Union
      • Find Your Local Union
      • National President
      • National Council
      • Constitution
      • Union History
      • UFCW Canada Annual Report
      • Brand Guidelines
      • Join UFCW Canada
  • Media & News
    • Media & News
      • News
      • Media
      • Subscribe to E-news
  • Resources
    • Resources
      • Stand for Canada, Shop UFCW-made
      • The National Defence Fund
      • Migrant Members
      • Union Training & Scholarships
      • Member Discounts
      • Health & Safety
      • UFCW Canada Equity Grant Program
  • 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
      • Affordability for All
      • Violence is not part of the job: Respect Frontline Workers!
      • Make Truth and Reconciliation a paid day of recognition and remembrance
      • Paid Sick Days Now!
      • End the Heritage Inn Lockout Now
  • Join the Union
    • Join the Union
      • Why UFCW Canada
      • Union Advantage
      • Union Facts
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Everything About Unions
      • Industries We Represent
      • Workplaces We Represent
      • How to Join a Union
      • Join Now

Login

FacebookXYoutube2Instagram

Copyright © 2025 UFCW Canada. All Rights Reserved
United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada's private sector union