In an 8-1 ruling December 20, the federal Supreme Court declared that agricultural workers have the right to unionize without fear of reprisals. The ruling stated that at an absolute minimum farm workers must be permitted to assemble, organize, and take political positions "free from interference, coercion, and discrimination in the exercise of these freedoms."

Steven Barrett, a lawyer who acted for the Canadian Labor Congress in the case, responded, "For the first time the court is recognizing that trade union activities are in and of themselves entitled to constitutional protection. The court has shown a willingness to expand freedom of association to include trade union activity."

The court ruling struck down an Ontario provincial law enacted in 1995 by the newly elected Conservative government. The law stripped Ontario's 100,000 farm workers of the right to join unions.

The previous New Democratic Party (NDP) government--a social democratic government supported by the union officialdom--passed a law for the first time in Ontario codifying the right of farm workers to organize into unions, although the law did not recognize their right to strike. During the election campaign in which the NDP was ousted, one of the planks of the Conservative Party was to junk the law, demagogically claiming it would destroy the "family farm."

In the 18 months that the old 1994 NDP law was in effect, the Leamington mushroom farm workers joined the UFCW and began contract negotiations. The UFCW also moved to become certified as the bargaining agent for workers at Kingsville Mushroom Farm Inc., and Fleming Chicks, a factory poultry production operation. The UFCW launched the court challenge after the Conservative government outlawed union organizing for farm workers. Two lower courts rejected the UFCW challenge before it went to the Supreme Court.

"The Ontario government's feeble justification for its demeaning treatment of agricultural workers--that giving them the right to organize would somehow endanger the family farm--was rightfully discarded by the court," stated Michael Fraser, director of the UFCW in Canada. "There is simply no credible evidence from any jurisdiction in Canada or elsewhere, that giving agricultural workers this fundamental right harms family farms," Fraser continued.

"Moreover," he said, "it was an abuse of language to call a 200-worker industrial-style operation like Highland Mushrooms, the subject of this case, a 'family farm'.... UFCW Canada agricultural organizing will pick up after where it left off in 1995.... We expect a surge of interest from workers who have been freed from modern-day serfdom by this enlightened decision."

The December 20 legal victory may yet be challenged by the Ontario government. Ontario premier Michael Harris stated that his government "is extremely disappointed" with the Supreme Court decision and that the "timely harvesting of crops should not be compromised by disruptions such as strikes and lockouts." Harris said the government will review the court's ruling and work with "farmers, farm groups, and other stakeholders" to find a solution.

Any "solution" for the "stakeholders" worked out by the Harris government will be in the interests of the wealthy families that own the agribusiness and food distribution corporations and the big capitalist farmers that hire farm workers--and not in the interests of workers, farm workers, or working farmers.

The denial of union rights for farm workers was only the first in a series of antiunion amendments to Ontario Labor laws by the Harris government. The measures made it harder for all workers to unionize and fight against the slashing of wages and the worsening of working conditions, such as the imposition of the legal 60-hour workweek.

Today, 1.5 million or 26 percent of Ontario's workers are unionized, down from 30 percent a decade ago. In the private sector 19 percent are unionized. In 2000 19,763 workers joined unions, well below the 30,000 level needed to keep pace with the growth of the workforce.

John Steele is a meat packer and a member of the UFCW in Toronto. Al Cappe and Gabriel Charbin, also meat packers in Montreal and Vancouver respectively, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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