Something Rotten in Ontario's Greenhouse Operations -- and it Isn't the Tomatoes
Instead of affirming the rights of workers infected with the coronavirus and permitting them to recover fully and not risk infecting others, the Ontario government working directly with some of the largest greenhouse operators and without any voice for the workers, has decided to allow workers who have tested postive for COVID-19 to work in the fields and greenhouses as long as they are not displaying or reporting symptoms. In other words, workers will have to choose whether or not to report the symptoms they might be experiencing. It is equivalent to having the "choice" whether to feed your family or not since paid sick leave is not a requirement in Ontario or of the federal government's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. This program last year brought in around 25,000 workers from Mexico and smaller numbers from Jamaica and several other Caribbean countries through contracts between the Canadian government and governments of the sending countries. Then there is the issue of those who have been identified as close contacts of these workers, some of whom would have the same "choice" to make. Not a small number of workers in this industry work under the table since they are undocumented (at least 2,000 are believed to be in this category in Essex County) or for other reasons. Sometimes these precarious workers travel between workplaces, assigned by recruiters to different operations as short term "contract workers." This has likely already contributed to the spread of the virus, and to the death of 24-year-old Rogelio Muñoz Santos, one of the three Mexican migrant workers who have died in Ontario from COVID-19. To presume this practice will now disappear because it is no longer "allowed" is a fairy tale or more likely an attempt to hide what is rotting in the greenhouse operations.
Governments, instead of affirming the rights of the workers, are determined to maintain the profits of these agribusinesses at the expense of the workers using laws which prevent them from organizing. They ensure, through contracts negotiated with the governments of Mexico and 12 Caribbean countries, that seasonal agricultural workers are supplied for up to eight months a year and that wages are kept to the minimum. The fact that much of the production from this part of
Southwestern Ontario goes to U.S. markets shows a serious problem with
the direction of Canada's economy[1].
Food production is not geared towards food security for the Canadian
people, despite the industry being deemed "critical" to Canada's food
supply after growers engaged in high-level lobbying to ensure they
could get the workers they require into the country despite the border
being closed to international travel. It is all about keeping large
multi-million dollar industrial enterprises, some of them multinational
-- and certainly not family farms as some like to call them --
profitable in a highly competitive sector. One of the ways this is done
is by limiting the claims of the workers, and at the expense of the
well-being of the human beings who generate the industry's profits
turning nature into the massive bounty that comes from modern
greenhouse operations. The collaboration of various levels of governments with this inhumane setup shows that governments operate as an extension of these large enterprises and view the workers' claims as a problem. Why does the agriculture industry have to run on such an inhuman basis? Why are governments forcing infected workers to keep working? What does this tell us about the aim of Canada's food production system? Or the safety of it? What is the point of the economy when workers' lives are expendable but maximum profits are essential? The greenhouse operations in Southwestern Ontario are part of the integrated North American economy. They supply fresh produce of all kinds to the United States and produce profits for their owners on the basis of depressed wages and working conditions of local and foreign workers, access to water from the Great Lakes, and government subsidies and services of various kinds. What has been exposed through the pandemic confirms that
a new direction is needed. Food production should be organized to meet
the need of Canadians for healthy food and of workers, irrespective of
where they come from, for livelihoods at a Canadian standard. Note1. The Financial Post reported in April 2020 that according to Statistics Canada, exports accounted for 65 per cent of the total value of Canada’s greenhouse vegetable production in 2016, the last year for which numbers are reported. (With files from Windsor Star, CBC, CTV. Photos: WF, Justice for Migrant Workers. Photos: Justice for Migrant Workers)
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The
large agribusinesses operating in Essex County make their profits by
treating migrant workers as if they are expendable, preying on their
economic vulnerability as a result of the economies of their homelands,
especially the agricultural sector, being ddestroyed by neo-liberal
globalization and "free trade" agreements like NAFTA and CUSMA.