Could voluntary certification programs and consumer pressure improve working conditions and farmworkers’ rights in Canada?
Erika Borrelli thinks so. The PhD candidate at the University of Windsor has studied certification programs that give farm employers who agree to meet labour and social responsibility standards a stamp of approval.
They allow retailers and consumers to choose to buy from responsible suppliers.
Borrelli says the certification — and risk of losing it — incentivizes employers to follow higher standards and gives workers a new way to hold their employer to account over grievances.
That could be critical in a sector that relies on vulnerable temporary foreign workers and where advocates say abuses are common.
But a union for Canadian food workers and advocates are sceptical certification programs are anything more than a marketing tactic.
Instead, they say certification programs need to be led by employees and accompany other worker protections.
The concept isn’t new. Seafood producers and forest companies have enrolled in programs like Seafood Watch and the Forest Stewardship Council in an effort to assure consumers their products are sustainable.
Borrelli studied the Equitable Food Initiative, a social responsibility certification program that says it ensures farms treat workers fairly.
The initiative was started by Oxfam America, Costco Wholesale and American labour union United Farm Workers around 2008. In 2015, EFI spun out into an independent non-profit organization that also offers workshops and education on ethical labour practices.
“We have since expanded into other program areas to meet our mission, which is to improve the lives of farm workers,” said LeAnne Ruzzamenti, EFI director of marketing and communications.
It has certified 27 farms in the United States, 24 in Mexico, five in Canada and one in Peru.
It’s up to farms to reach out for certification. EFI requires them to undergo a third-party audit ensuring they meet standards set by a team of organizations including consumer advocates, labour unions and employer associations in the U.S.
Ruzzamenti said the audit is heavily based on interviews with workers about their working conditions.
The standards require the farms to adhere to local labour laws, not discriminate against workers who join unions and pay fair compensation.
Certification requires employer-provided housing to be clean, private and well-ventilated and provide “unimpeded, unannounced” access to the housing for EFI auditors and representatives. Housing may be inspected after complaints or during audits. Once a farm is certified, it must undergo a verification audit annually and it must be re-certified at least every three years.
There are limits on pesticide exposure and ergonomic standards their workstations must meet.
But what Ruzzamenti calls EFI’s “secret sauce” is that it sets up a team of workers and employers who get training on worker rights and regularly meet to discuss their needs and resolve conflicts.
The team must be representative and include people from each demographic in the workplace. Worker representatives on the committees are selected by workers.
″[Farms] are human systems and at some point something’s going to go wrong, but is there a system in place to deal with whatever that issue is?” Ruzzamenti said. “For us, that system is that team, as long as that team is engaging in a really healthy way.”
Windset Farms, with operations in Delta, B.C., and Santa Maria, California, is one of five farms in Canada with EFI certification.
Operations manager Tony Pacheco said the farm first became certified about a decade ago.
“It was to prove that we were doing everything by the book. We try to go above and beyond government regulations,” he said. “Having that certification lets the public know that we are practising what we preach.”
He said the initial audits were “pretty intense,” and involved giving inspectors tours of the worksite and worker housing and allowing them to examine financial documents ensuring the workers were being properly paid.
While Pacheco said the farm did not have to make many changes, he said the farm’s health and safety committee expanded and now ensures the farm meets EFI standards. The committee now includes Punjabi-speaking workers and Spanish-speaking workers and distributes meeting notes to workers in both languages.
Windset Farms now also reimburses workers for the price of getting their visa and travelling to Canada.
“EFI saw value in that, and the workers are very happy when you reimburse them,” Pacheco said. “The morale of the worker is obviously better, and that’s what we’re after.”
'Buy in from retailers is key'
Borrelli said while there is little data on certification programs’ outcomes for employees, they can be a tool for workers to exercise their rights.
The programs ensure farms are being checked regularly, instead of only after a complaint, she said. Borelli added if Canadian grocery stores required farms to get certified, employers who mistreat farm workers would face financial consequences.
“Workers technically have access to collective bargaining rights in B.C., but because of fear of deportation, you don’t see it very often,” she said. “The introduction of these grievance mechanisms makes these rights real.”
But she said these programs will only work if they’re widely adopted.
“Ideally you would want retailers pressuring as many producers or growers or farms as possible to adhere to these elevated standards,” she said. “Buy-in from retailers is quite key to this approach, whether it’s activist-driven or getting them on board.”
She added certification initiatives are not a replacement for trade unions or for offering migrant farm workers secure legal status or permanent residency status.
‘A tool for greenwashing’
Derek Johnstone, with United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, said certification programs that uphold workers’ rights — especially their right to organize — could incentivize corporations to improve working conditions.
“Any lever that can be presented to [workers] to exercise their fundamental labor rights based on international conventions that Canada has ratified is helpful,” he said. “The issue becomes when certification groups attempt to represent workers.”
He added while certification organizations may have other stakeholders, trade unions are only accountable to other workers.
“There’s always the risk that these groups are going to be co-opted by corporate interests,” he said. “We’ve seen them used by some large corporations, where they’re essentially become a tool for greenwashing.”
Johnstone isn’t alone in his concern.
“It could be another way to cheat and get credibility that [farms] are doing things properly when it is not true,” said Raul Gatica, of Dignidad Migrante Society.
Gatica said he doesn’t believe a third-party certification program chosen by a farm will hold the company accountable or place workers’ interests first.
Speaking specifically about the committee required by EFI certification, Gatica said he believes its members will be influenced by the employer.
“The good intentions of a good thing that has been written in an office or by researchers doesn’t necessarily fit with reality, because usually the employers find a way to fake it,” Gatica said.
Gatica said for a certification program to work it needs to be driven by workers, not employers. He said advocacy groups, like Dignidad Migrante, would need to be brought in to set certification guidelines and ensure audits held workers accountable.
