Canada's leading voice of Agriculture Workers applauds Alberta Government for consultations to enhance protections for farm and ranch workers

EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - May 20, 2016) - Canada's leading voice of agriculture workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada), is joining other community and industry leaders today in applauding the Alberta government for announcing the next phase of the consultation process to enhance protections for farm and ranch workers across the province.

"Today's announcement by the Alberta government is another example of true leadership by the Premier, and a government that is fully committed to advancing a process that will involve workers, industry leaders and all key stakeholders to put safety first, and to create a better, fairer agriculture sector for everyone," says Paul Meinema, national president of UFCW Canada.

As the leading voice of agriculture workers for more than two decades, UFCW Canada is very keen to participate in the consultations, which, as announced by the Alberta government, will be extensively comprehensive in nature involving six working groups, chaired by independent and impartial individuals with proven mediation and consensus building experience.

"We look forward to sharing our knowledge in assisting the Premier with this essential initiative, and advancing a process that will strengthen Alberta, and hopefully serve as a model for other jurisdictions and governments across Canada to follow," adds Meinema.

UFCW Canada is Canada's private-sector union, with more than 250,000 members from coast to coast to coast. In association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA), UFCW Canada also operates support centres across the country dedicated to helping migrant and domestic agriculture workers.