The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers Marketing Board is supporting critics who want an independent body to investigate workers’ complaints.
“OGVG has been calling for a number of additional tools and services to help address acute issues with employee safety and supports throughout the COVID-19 pandemic” said Joe Sbrocchi, general manager of OGVG.
“As stated earlier this month, we believe an ombudsman-like position to mediate employee-employer interactions would serve both parties and help to strengthen the reputation of the long-standing temporary foreign worker programs.”
The marketing board said it remains committed to enhancing a full suite of regulatory tools, support services and other workplace protections for agri-food employees, such as:
- Additional testing for all agri-food employees.
- Increased joint on-farm inspections with the federal government under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program framework to identify and address bad players.
- A ban on employees working at more than one operation.
- A crackdown on the use unscrupulous recruiters who operate outside of the law, asking all levels of government to work with the sector to address this issue.
- Source and distribute additional PPE for employees to use in their communities as well as distribute PPE to local businesses to ensure masks and social distancing are the norm at all commercial establishments.
OGVG and other agri-food stakeholders said they have been working with the federal and provincial governments and authorities to manage through the COVID-19 crisis.
