
Tag Archives farm workers

Farmworkers in the US cultivate their own heat safety standards
Fair Food Program seeks to circumvent slow regulatory process
While regulations to protect agricultural workers from the heat have been held up by political wrangling, Gonzalo and her colleagues have spearheaded an alternate strategy. They seek to sidestep the slow and increasingly politicized government machinery and instead appeal directly to consumers and large brands.

Feds plan to ease Underused Housing Tax reporting load
New exemption also proposed for employee housing outside cities
Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s latest Fall Economic Statement offers to take some of the reporting burden off certain farmers and other Canadians when filing for exemptions from the national Underused Housing Tax (UHT). The federal finance department on Nov. 16 posted its legislative and regulatory proposals for changes to the UHT online and has […] Read more

Survey to look at farm stress from Alberta angle
Study to explore farmers' levels of resilience against stress
Researchers from the University of Alberta and AgKnow, the province’s farmer mental health network, are looking to build up Alberta-specific data on farming stress, mental health and well-being, and the ways in which farmers cope. They study team is “looking for farmers, ranchers, or anyone who works or lives on a farm” to participate, researchers […] Read more

Ontario police charge seven with trafficking, exploiting migrants
Workers provided for farms and other sites, police say
Toronto | Reuters — Ontario’s York Regional Police have charged seven people with trafficking and exploiting 64 Mexican migrants, saying the accused were part of an international labour trafficking ring operating in the Toronto region. Police in Ontario said on Friday they had obtained information in November that migrant men and women were being exploited […] Read more

Suspect in California farm worker shootings appears in court
Early evidence suggests workplace grievance, authorities say
Redwood City, Calif. | Reuters — A California farm worker accused of shooting seven people to death near San Francisco, some of them his co-workers, made his first court appearance on Wednesday after he was charged with murder in the state’s second deadly gun rampage in recent days. Chunli Zhao, 66, the lone suspect in […] Read more

Audit finds Canada failing migrant farmworkers on COVID-19, housing inspections
Toronto | Reuters — As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, federal government inspectors frequently deemed the employers of migrant workers compliant with health and safety rules despite a lack of evidence, according to an Auditor General report released Thursday. While Canadian provinces and territories set housing standards, the federal government is responsible for ensuring tens of […] Read more

Quebec to reduce onus for farm workers seeking workers’ comp for Parkinson’s
Amended rule would grant 'presumption' for pesticide exposure
Some Quebec farmers and farm workers with Parkinson’s disease may soon have an easier path to seek workers’ compensation — if they can show at least a certain amount of exposure to pesticides. Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Tuesday tabled an amendment to bill 59, draft legislation that includes updates to Quebec’s workplace health […] Read more

Peru farm protests grip country, turn deadly
'There are no harvests, there is nothing'
Lima | Reuters — Protests by farm workers demanding better wages in Peru raged on for a fourth day Thursday, spreading north into key agricultural areas of the Andean nation, derailing harvests of some crops, snarling transport of produce and leaving at least one dead. Peruvian interim President Francisco Sagasti called the death of a […] Read more

Federal program to protect farms, workers from COVID-19 underway
'Highest-risk' farming operations to get priority, Bibeau says
Applications are now open for a federally-administered $35 million emergency on-farm support fund to help limit the impacts of COVID-19 on farms and on-farm workers. Aimed at farm workplaces and employee living quarters, the fund is being managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), but cost-shared with participating producers at a 50-50 level. Money is […] Read more

Chinese researchers warn of new virus in pigs with human pandemic risk
Shanghai | Reuters — A new flu virus found in Chinese pigs has become more infectious to humans and needs to be watched closely in case it becomes a potential “pandemic virus,” a study said, although experts said there is no imminent threat. A team of Chinese researchers looked at influenza viruses found in pigs […] Read more