WERC supports Ecojustice campaign to reverse claw back of protections for agricultural workers

Pesticide regulation is not only an important form of environmental protection; it is also a crucial health and safety protection for agricultural workers, many of whom are migrant workers with precarious living conditions and immigration status.

Health Canada recently rolled back important protections for these vulnerable workers. Under the Pest Control Products Act, agricultural workers were entitled to safety data sheets on pesticide products, which include safety information such as the ingredients and toxic properties contained in the pesticide products, as well as first aid information. This month, the Federal Government approved changes that now make it voluntary for employers to provide this safety information to workers.

This change was made less than three weeks before a hearing of a legal challenge to Health Canada's failure to enforce the safety data sheet requirements, brought by UFCW Canada, represented by Ecojustice. It also comes in the context of sweeping rollbacks of pesticide protections contained in Budget Bills C-30 and C-31, which will weaken protections of the environment as well as human health.

WERC echoes Ecojustice and UFCW's disappointment in the Government's move to claw back the requirement to provide agircultural workers access to pesticide safety information (read more about this issue here). WERC encourages workers, unions, and others in the labour movement to support Ecojustice's campaign to stop the gutting of Canada's pesticide regulations - learn more and add your voice here.