CHAPTER 4: Branching Out

While CFU strikes and certifications were getting good coverage in the local media, the union was busy operating on several other fronts. It had signed up more than 1,000 farmworkers in the Fraser Valley and was now organizing in the Okanagan region of B.C. where most of the fruit pickers were migrant workers from Quebec. In Ontario, where farmworkers did not even have the legal right to unionize, the CFU opened an office in 1981 and sent organizers into the fruit and tobacco fields. Support committees had sprung up on Vancouver Island and in several cities as far away as Montreal.

The union was also carrying the fight to the federal and provincial governments. One of the first targets was Section 16 of the Unemployment Insurance Act introduced in 1967, which set out the minimum '25-days-with-one-employer' rule for farmworkers to be eligible for benefits. The CFU pressed for the rule to be eliminated as discriminatory.

Following a brief submitted to the federal Employment & Immigration Commission in December 1981, and concerted lobbying by the trade union movement, the federal government removed the regulation. The jubilation for the farmworkers was short lived. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the Canadian Horticultural Council launched their own lobbying effort to have the regulation reinstated.

According to the CFU executive, "The farm groups argued that farmers couldn�t be expected to fulfill the paperwork requirements that all other employers in the country are expected to fulfill and which they are required to complete under Employment Standards legislation and the Income Tax Act. They argued that such responsibility to fill out records of employment and pay premiums was simply too �onerous.� In fact, it was their official position that coverage for farmworkers should only be extended to those who achieved 40 days and $1,000 in earnings from any one employer in any one calendar year.

The executive reported that "when it was clear that this position was simply untenable, the idea was advanced (whether by the Commission or the employers is unclear) that a 'new' Regulation 16, which required seven days with one employer would be a 'reasonable' compromise."

Revealing its growing frustration, the union reported to members that "despite our best efforts to appeal for a continuation of equal treatment under the Act," the Unemployment Insurance Commission insisted on equating farmworkers with "circus workers (other than performers) who are not regularly employed by that employer."

Not all the CFU's fighting was with levels of government. In the fall of 1981 the newly-formed B.C. Organization to Fight Racism (BCOFR) held two rallies in Vancouver. Both were attended by members of the break-away Vancouver chapter of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) armed with sticks. Several people were hurt and CFU organizer Sarwan Boal was arrested after the head of the CPC-ML accused Boal of hitting him. Much of the union's limited legal resources had to be turned to fighting his court case, but he still ended up spending three days in jail in July, 1982. Eventually Boal was cleared of the charges.

The fight against Unemployment Insurance regulations finally made headway on July 31, 1983. The federal government passed a new version of Section 16 which reduced the minimum 25 days with one employer to seven days. While the change was an improvement, the CFU continued to press the federal government to drop the minimum 'seven-days-for-one-employer' rule altogether. But it was another section of the U.I. Act that soon became the focus of frustration.

In March 1986, Statistics Canada reported that the official unemployment rate in the Vancouver area had fallen below 11.5%. This meant that workers would now need 16 weeks of employment before being eligible for any U.I. benefits. The union argued that not only were the official unemployment figures incorrect, but that "It is hard enough for farmworkers to find even 10 weeks of work on the farms - 16 weeks makes it impossible for the majority of farmworkers to even become eligible for benefits."

During the battle against the 16-week rule, the Tory government in Ottawa released the findings of the Forget Commission on U.I. Under those recommendations, most seasonal workers would get little or no U.I. coverage regardless of the regional unemployment rate.

The CFU spoke in the temples on this issue, walked in the fields where people were working , and collected over 8,000 signatures against the 16-week rule. The union also organized a rally at the main Unemployment Insurance office in Vancouver and a march through downtown Vancouver with over 1,000 people to denounce the findings of the Forget Commission. Bowing to public pressure, the recommendations of the report were never implemented