Stratford Chick Hatchery Workers Unionize

TORONTO - Aug 23/06 - SNS -- The Stratford Chick Hatchery continues to resist efforts by its employees to unionize, filing an objection with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB), claiming that because it is an agricultural facility, its employees should be specifically excluded from unionizing.

The company cites the controversial Agricultural Employees Protection Act (AEPA), which prohibits agricultural workers from joining unions for collective bargaining. The constitutional validity of the AEPA is currently the focus of an ongoing legal challenge by United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW).

For his part, Wayne Hanley, UFCW national director, argues, "SCH is not a farm operation. But an industrial operation located nowhere near a farm. SCH employees not only screen and process eggs, which is a job covered by UFCW Canada agreements in other plants, but SCH also operates as a rendering facility, and a warehousing and delivery service which are all industrial activities."