The Quebec Labour Relations Board has ruled that a provision of the province’s Labour Code which effectively precludes the acquisition of collective bargaining rights by seasonal farm workers is a breach of the freedom of association

guaranteed in s.2 (d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  The provision at issue, according to which a minimum of three workers must be “continuously” employed at a farm if collective bargaining rights are sought, works against employees, mainly migrants from Latin America, who are hired on a seasonal and hence non-continuous basis, the Board found.  Declaring the impugned provision inoperative, the Board granted certification for a bargaining unit of six Mexican migrant workers at a vegetable farm near Mirabel.

The rest of this report is available at: http://www.lancasterhouse.com/


To read the full text of the Quebec Labour Relations Board’s decision (in French only), please click on the following link:
http://onlinedb.lancasterhouse.com/images/up-CRT_Quebec.pdf