The Province is asking Albertans to provide feedback on recommended changes to controversial legislation governing agricultural labour rules.
Two of the government’s six technical working groups, formed in May 2016 after the passage of Bill 6, have submitted reports recommending new labour relations and employment standards in the agriculture industry.
Christina Gray, minister of labour said the technical groups were comprised of members of the agriculture industry, labour groups and technical experts. They worked through labour and employment laws to determine where amendments may be necessary for farm workers.
Key recommendations include non-family employees being entitled to regular wages, holiday pay, vacation, job-protected leave and a minimum of four days off every 28 days. Family workers would be exempt from these standards in most cases.
“There are recommendations from employment standards around hours or work, overtime, job-protected leave, and there are recommendations from the labour relations group around non-family waged workers accessing union membership and taking part in collective bargaining,” said Gray.
Both reports are posted to the Alberta Farm and Ranch website at www.agric.gov.ab.ca for the public to review and provide feedback until April 3. At that point all submissions will be reviewed by the Province.
Employers would also have to keep employee records for non-family workers, but not family members.
Due to the unpredictability of the agriculture industry, it is recommended no workers are entitled to overtime and farm workers would not be subject to limitations on hours or days of work. It was also recommended that all changes to legislation apply to greenhouses and nurseries as well, because they are considered to be primary producers in the same line as farms and ranches.
Gray said it’s important for Albertans to take a look at the full reports and provide insight.
“We need to read and hear what Albertans are thinking on these recommendations,” said Gray. “Then, the government needs to make some determination as to what potential changes to legislation will be made to ensure that we are making sure that waged non-family farm workers have those same rights as those in other industries.”
She said the government will continue to work with the farm and ranch community as it works to strike a balance between the needs of farm operations and the rights of their workers.
Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson said he hasn’t had a chance to fully review the recommendation reports.
“We’re still grinding through that right now for the next few weeks,” said Anderson. “We’ll have more details on Bill 6 then, but we know most people don’t like it, especially in our neck of the woods.”
