Union says lawsuit over federal pesticide safety rules aims to protect agricultural workers
Health Canada says it will not comment on matter as litigation is pending
A union representing agricultural workers across the country says the information workers get when handling pesticides is insufficient. It is suing the federal government with the aim of forcing it to enforce rules, it says, already exist.
"It's high time for the federal government to do what it's already committed to do and that's what this case is about," Derek Johnstone of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) said.
"It's also another opportunity for us as Canadians to look at something as basic a food worker knowing what he or she or they are handling and not having that information, so how did we get here?"
The union held an information session about safety sheets in Leamington, Ont., on Sunday. Thousands of workers come from countries such as Mexico and Guatemala to work in greenhouses in the southwestern Ontario community each year.
The UFCW launched its lawsuit against the federal government in federal court last week. It argues that safety information including "material safety data sheets" are a condition of registering pest control products and that those sheets must be provided to workplaces that use the products.
The application by the union states that the government has taken the "unreasonable position that the provision of material safety data sheets to workplaces is voluntary" and that by not enforcing the requirement, it is failing to protect agricultural workers.
"It's unfortunate that the government has taken to using the term voluntary when it comes to providing basic information about chemicals and pesticides that workers handle," Johnstone said.
"This is not a choice. This is not a recommendation by government. This is a right enshrined in health and safety law. The right to know is the first step when it comes to a worker's health and safety rights."
"We need it," a worker said about information that could be provided on data sheets.
CBC has agreed to a request to withhold her name because she fears reprisals from her employer.
She says she has used pesticides at a company she worked for but didn't get any information about how to handle it.
"Because sometimes you don't know what is it that you're using. Then sometimes we have accidents, but we don't know how to act because there isn't that information."
Health Canada refused comment to the CBC on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation.
Sean O'Shea of Ecojustice, an environmental law charity whose lawyers are listed on the application, says data sheets provide information about possible risks of pest control products and protective measures one should take when using them.
"It might require you to wear (personal protective equipment) to discard of any clothes you're wearing before you return to your home," he said.
"It might say that it shouldn't be mixed with another chemical or another pesticide because it's not just the use of one pesticide. The problem is the use of several pesticides can have cumulative effects when chemicals are mixed together."
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