Alberta Federation of Labour pleased to see province move forward on ensuring the rights of farm and ranch workers

EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - May 20, 2016) - Today's announcement of the composition of the six diverse working groups strikes a fair balance between agricultural employers, workers, industry, labour and technical experts.

"Regardless of their workplace, all of Alberta's workers deserve the same rights," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. "Moving forward on these working groups shows the government is serious about protecting a group of workers who have been denied their basic rights for far too long."

These technical working groups are an important step to ensuring farm and ranch workers in Alberta finally experience the same workplace protections that farm and ranch workers in every other province in Canada already have.

"In the few months since the Enhanced Farm and Ranch Worker Protection Act has come in to force, we have already seen over 150 successful WCB claims from farm and ranch workers," said McGowan. "Making clear the need for this legislation."

"We look forward to participating in this consultation process as the working groups move forward on developing recommendations on how employment standards, occupational health and safety and labour relations requirements should be applied to farm and ranch workers in Alberta."