The BC Supreme Court will consider an application this week to prevent the BC Labour Relations Board from making any findings against the Government of Mexico, which is accused of cross-border union busting.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) alleges the Mexican government colluded with a Mission-based agribusiness – Sidhu & Sons Nursery – to prevent some migrant workers with union sympathies from coming into Canada and to discourage others from union activities.
The workers in question came to Canada under the federal government’s seasonal agricultural worker program. In 2008, they became unionized, but about a year ago, there was a vote to decertify.
The UFCW alleges pressure to decertify came from the Government of Mexico.
At a Labour Relations Board hearing last week, three former employees of the Mexican Consulate in Vancouver testified against their own government, claiming it had practised blacklisting and union busting, according to a press release from the UFCW’s Mexico bureau.
UFCW Canada claims the Mexican government, through its consulate office in Vancouver, colluded with Sidhu & Sons to prevent union sympathizers from coming to Canada to work.
According to the UFCW, consular workers were told to report back to senior Mexican officials about migrant workers in B.C. suspected of being union sympathizers. The former consular employees also testified they were instructed to tell migrant workers not to contact the Agriculture Workers Alliance.
The allegations were the subject of a Labour Relations Board hearing, which concluded March 21. However, a ruling has been suspended, pending the outcome of an application to the BC Supreme Court for an injunction against the board.
The court’s decision could have an impact on another case, which has yet to be heard, according to UFCW Canada local 1518. This alleges the Mexican Consulate office in Vancouver also colluded with another B.C. agriculture business – Abbotsford’s Floralia Growers – for similar alleged union-busting activities. A union contract is also in place at Floralia, where a majority of the workers voted to unionize in 2008.
