Union blames lax rules for deaths of 3 B.C. farmworkers

March 7, 2007
Canoe.ca

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. (CP) - Lax safety standards are at play in the deaths of three women as a van loaded with agricultural workers crashed and flipped over on a rain-slicked Trans-Canada Highway, a farmworkers union spokesman says.

The van carrying 17 women between 20 and 50 years of agoe hit two trucks truck east of Vancouver early Wednesday and 14 occupants were injured. The van rolled and came to rest impaled on a concrete median, crushing the middle of the vehicle.

Several people were ejected and some victims had to be airlifted to hospitals in the region.

RCMP Const. Dave Babineau said were sorting out the sequence of events but “we do know the van did collide with both vehicles before coming to rest on the centre median divider.”

There were reports that the seats in the van had been removed and replaced by benches that had no seatbelts. Babineau could not confirm it but said it would be against the law to make such alterations.

He suggested seatbelts were a factor in the crash but could not say whether the vehicle was carrying more people than it should have. He did not know who was the registered owner of the van.

The crash victims were headed to work at a greenhouse in Chilliwack, B.C., in the Fraser Valley, said Charan Gill, head of the Canadian Farmworkers Union.

They had all departed from Abbotsford, about 15 minutes west of Chilliwack.

“The government doesn’t even care about the poorly paid farmworkers,” said Gill.

In 2003, the B.C. government lifted regulations that enforced inspections of farms and farm vehicles and protected workers’ basic rights to minimum-wage pay, overtime and statutory holidays.

“Their working conditions are horrible,” Gill said. “They’re forced into these kind of terrible conditions because they have nowhere to go. They really want to work and get their wages paid.”

Gill said he’s “tired of offering condolences to farmworkers’ families every year.

“Farmworkers die on the roads and sometimes on the farms.”

The B.C. Federation of Labour called on the provincial government to step up inspection and enforcement.

“We’ve seen too many accidents like today’s,” federation president Jim Sinclair said in a news release. “Again and again, we learn we need more inspections and better enforcement of safety laws.”

In question period at the B.C. legislature, Burnaby New Democrat Raj Chouhan, a past president of the Canadian Farmworkers’ Union, accused the Liberals of “gutting” employment standards for farmworkers.

He said the government disbanded an integrated agriculture compliance team that conducted comprehensive field visits to B.C. farms.

“During these inspections the team could determine if the motor vehicle transporting workers was complying with regulations,” Chouhan said.

“Can the minister of labour commit today to reinstate the full agriculture compliance team so farmworkers can get protection they deserve?”

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said the circumstances around the crash are being fully investigated.

Outside the house, Labour Minister Olga Ilich said her ministry conducted 82 site visits on B.C. farms last year.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said his ministry is investigating the crash, saying there are clear regulations about how many people can be in such a vehicle.

Agriculture Minister Pat Bell said the transportation of farmworkers is not exempt from any provincial regulations.

Several accidents in recent years have raised the issue of safety regulations for farmworkers.

A woman died and several people were injured in July 2003 when the crowded minibus she was riding in blew a tire and crashed. They were headed out to pick fruit in the Fraser Valley.

In November that year, 10 farmworkers were injured when a five-tonne truck crashed into their van in Abbotsford.

There were a couple of similar accidents in the early 1990s.