British Columbia Federation of Labour

Vancouver - family members of killed and injured farmworkers, alongside Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour and Charan Gill of the Canadian Farmworkers Union, delivered a letter today to Labour Minister Iain Black calling for improved employment standards for farmworkers in the province. “These families understand all too well the dangerous working conditions on industrial farms in the province,” says Jim Sinclair. "The Liberals have refused to take action to punish those guilty, to improve the safety of farmworkers and to end the discrimination the government introduced when they gutted Employment Standards for farmworkers." “Farmworkers are being killed and injured, and we know there are systemic safety issues on farms all across the province,” Sinclair stated. “Iain Black, the Minister of Labour, knows this too and has decided to do nothing about it. On September 5, 2008, three men were killed and three men were injured, two of them critically, in an incident at Farmers' Fresh Mushrooms in Langley. On March 7, 2007, three women farmworkers were killed when the overloaded van and poorly maintained vehicle in which they were passengers crashed on Highway 1 in Abbotsford. The agricultural sector continues to have high workplace injury and fatality rates. For more information: Evan Stewart, Director of Communications (604) 220-3095. To read the letter presented to Minister Iain Black by the Federation and victims’ families click here.