VCRT Labour Backgrounder including Agriculture and Agri-Food Labour Task Force Input

Transcription

1 VCRT Labour Backgrounder including Agriculture and Agri-Food Labour Task Force Input Background Labour shortages in primary agriculture and primary agriculture processing continues to escalate as a serious issue threatening the viability of food production in Canada. In 2014, the agriculture and agri-food system employed over 2.3 million Canadians and accounted for one in eight jobs in the Canadian economy (12% of total employment). The agriculture and agri-food system includes primary agriculture, aquaculture, food and beverage processing, input and service suppliers, food distribution, retail, wholesale, and foodservice industries. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) reports that ten years ago the agriculture industry was 30,000 workers short, and today that figure has doubled to 59,000 workers with clear expectations that it will double again in ten years to 114,000 workers. On-farm job vacancies are exceptionally high (7%), the national average is 1.8%, and these vacancies are costing the farming industry $1.5B each year. Agriculture has unique labour challenges such as large seasonal fluctuations, wages, long work hours at peak periods, the work is located in rural areas when most of the population lives in urban areas, and the work involves handling live plants and animals. The horticulture and seafood sectors, both production and primary processing, are highly seasonal. As a result, it is difficult for agri-food employers to find enough workers to fill all its labour requirements. These vacancies are occurring despite primary agriculture bringing in approximately 45,000 temporary foreign workers each year (35,000 Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program workers and 10,000 Agricultural Stream workers), which represented 12% of the AgriWorkforce in These are the jobs that cannot be filled by Canadians after producers and processors participate in vigorous recruitment efforts; many of these recruitment efforts are regulated and tracked within current programming. Foreign labour has become an important part of the sector with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) Primary Agriculture Streams making up over 60% of the overall program. In 2016, temporary foreign workers accounted for 15.5% of the primary agriculture workforce (up from 13.5% in 2015) and 0.7% of the food and beverage manufacturing sector. Temporary foreign workers are common in horticulture, and meat and seafood processing. CAHRC 2017 research reports that rural meat processing plants and mushroom farm job vacancy rates are approaching 10%: o rural meat processing vacancies at 9.3% (CAHRC Report) 1 ; o mushroom growers vacancy rate is at 9.7% (CAHRC Report) 2 ; o seafood plants are reporting a 20-30% labour shortage in late fall season 3. The University of Guelph reports that there are currently four jobs for every graduate of the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College. [4] 1 LabourShortageinRuralAbattoirs-Final-En.pdf Source: Atlantic Seafood Sector report based on 2017 Nova Scotia lobster industry late fall season survey [4] University of Guelph OAC Planning for Tomorrow career report Sept

2 Current Context When Canadians cannot be found, and a job vacancy is proven by an employer, the TFWP allows vacancies to be filled for all sectors including agriculture and agri-food employers. The program is jointly administered by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) (including Service Canada, Integrity Services), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). Employers can apply to the TFWP through the following streams: 1) High-wage; 2) Lowwage; 3) Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and 4) Agricultural Stream (High-skill / Low-skill). While there are several federal programming options available to high-skilled workers seeking permanent residence, e.g. agriculture and food processing managers and supervisors, fewer options exist for low-skilled workers, e.g. industrial butchers and general farm labourers. o For example, Workers can apply for immigration through the Provincial Nominee Programs such as Manitoba and Saskatchewan that allow immigration access for farm and food workers. Higher-skilled workers such as managers and supervisors have some options through IRCC s Express Entry Program. There are currently very few immigration options for farm and food workers either federally or through the PNPs. Reforms to the Program have made it more difficult for food processors to fill their labour needs. For example, the TFWP currently has a cap of 20% for the allowable proportion of TFWs per worksite which applies to meat, seafood and recently fruit and vegetable processing. (Primary agriculture is exempt from the cap.) For primary agriculture, many, but not all, commodities are represented on the TFWP s National Commodities List (NCL) which allows access to the SAWP and the Agricultural Stream. However, seafood, grain and oilseed, seed other than canola, and maple syrup are not listed on the NCL and do not have access to the primary agriculture streams. Budget 2018 announced support of expanded audits and unannounced on-site inspections that will include primary agriculture and build on 2017 changes that introduced risk-based inspections and increased on-site inspections. Unannounced audits have taken place and have been reported to have caused business disruptions due to the lengthy process. In addition, the manner in which some investigators have conducted the random unannounced integrity audits have been reportedly overly aggressive and intrusive. Audit durations of four to six months reported by producers are not conducive to farms remaining operational with the handling of live plants and animals. Unannounced farm inspections also started before the rules were posted publicly, without standards or communications materials available to agricultural employers using the program. Background Agriculture and Agri-Food Labour Task Force The Labour Task Force (LTF) was initiated by the Value Chain Roundtable All Chairs in 2012 to collaborate and find solutions to labour shortages and to develop a strategy for the sector. Answering the call, the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-food Workforce Action Plan (WAP) 4 was developed by the LTF including clear short, medium and long-term solutions to ensure the 4 2

3 industry can get ahead of workforce shortages, so that it can thrive and grow into the future. It is a strategic roadmap forward, well researched and documented to help the sector tackle these pervasive labour challenges. The majority of the recommendations in this briefing note are sourced from the Workforce Action Plan. The industry supports a balanced approach with two overarching priorities: 1. Increase the supply of labour both domestic and international. 2. Improve the knowledge and skills of workers and employers. The LTF currently includes 30 active members, made up of HR experts and agricultural leaders who are appointed by all of the Value Chain Roundtables. Implementation of the WAP is supported by 86 agriculture associations, the VCRT industry chairs, and municipal leaders across Canada. The LTF meets three times a year and is now a committee of the Canadian Agricultural HR Council. At a recent March 29, 2018 meeting, the LTF requested that it be reported to the VCRT All Chairs that since labour was prioritized as an issue in 2012 by the All Chairs, the TFWP issues for agricultural users of the program are not improving, but rather getting worse. Emerging AgriWorkforce Issues Identified by the Sector Agricultural employers report they are not receiving fair, efficient or transparent service delivery of their TFWP applications. Impacts being reported by producers in a recent survey include 5 : suicidal thoughts major financial losses to employers major financial losses to farm workers loss of Canadian jobs loss of crops at harvest cancellation of expansion plans reduction of farm size See Addendum 1 for examples of current issues and economic impacts creating agriworkforce instability The following administrative issues should be actioned immediately by ESDC, Service Canada and IRCC: 1. Issue: Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications are held-up due to farm audits and farm audit processes. For example, farm employers report 11% of LMIAs are held due to audits. Additionally, some farmers report that the unannounced integrity audits are unnecessarily aggressive and disruptive to the business. Solution: Do not hold-up applications during an audit and timelines for audits should be clearly benchmarked. Solution: Improve the manner in which Integrity Services Investigators interact and communicate with farm owners. 2. Issue: Authority and process of farm inspections. Unannounced inspections have already begun, yet public information will not be available on the website until May. Solution: Address concerns about unannounced inspections: o Ensure biosecurity protocols are included in Service Canada training; o Respect that farm businesses are located in homes and private residences. See Addendum 2 example of biosafety protocols developed by the Canadian Pork Council 5 3

4 3. Issue: Service delivery practices leading to LMIA refusals. Agricultural Stream employers report 30% refusal rate in recent survey. Solution: Provide consistent forms and requirements including notification to users when forms and wage rates change. 4. Issue: Service delivery timelines for LMIAs are increasing. SAWP timelines have increased from 14 days to 18 days since January, and Agricultural Stream and primary processing timelines are not tracked. Solution: Prioritize and benchmark LMIA service delivery with clear service standards for all agricultural and food processing users of the program. 5. Issue: Work permits in Mexico this year were not processed in time for arrival on Canadian farms especially for British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. There were 4,000 work permits outstanding as of February 15, 2018 some of which have still not been resolved. Solution: Have IRCC conduct a formal review so this does not happen next season, with actionable recommendations that include improving processing times for LMIAs and work permits, and to set benchmarks that prioritize agricultural applications in both departments. 6. Issue: Reduce the cumbersome processes for workers already in Canada (LMIA renewal process and TFW transfer & replacement worker process). Trained TFW staff already in Canada involved in critical production and primary processing activities are not able to be fully utilized and could have LMIAs refused. Solution: Streamline processes by removing advertising requirement for TFWs already employed in farms and plants. o SAWP Replacement Worker and Transfer Process o Ag Stream and Meat Processing LMIA Renewals 7. Issue: Insufficient communication on TFWP policies, guidelines, operations and program changes. Evolving rules, form and wage rate changes are not distributed to agricultural producers and processors. Solution: Develop and implement a communications plan leveraging producer groups and other associations for information sharing through: o a List Serve to report changes to stakeholders for advertising, forms, wage rates, etc.; o check list of program requirements; o Service Canada Liaison Officers for each regional office with a dedicated agriculture and agri-food employer phone and ; o Online LMIA system with tracking mechanism; o Annual meeting and report for Ag Stream and Agri-Food Processors. TFWP Consultations for Agriculture and Agri-Food Employers The TFWP review of meat and seafood processing has been ongoing for close to two years reviewing the two-year work permit and the TFWP cap for meat processing and seasonal needs of seafood processing related to the cap. 4

5 The TFWP Primary Agriculture Streams (Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program and Agricultural Streams) consultation includes the following: 1. Malatest survey and interviews, literature review now complete. 2. National Home Inspector Certification Council (NHICC) now complete. 3. Hill+Knowlton consultation with producers in May and June. Industry concerns with the TFWP Primary Agriculture Review includes the following: The producer focus groups are taking place in May during the busiest time of year for farmers; Unions and migrant worker groups are participating as stakeholders in the producer meetings and have participated in the other parts of the consultation in spite of the sector not being unionized; Producers were not considered key informants for the first part of the consultation and at least one participant was declined for this reason; Industry was informed that the housing portion of the consultation received very sparse participation; The unannounced farm inspections are not part of the Primary Agriculture consultation; In Ontario, seasonal fruit and vegetable processors have been moved to the Low Wage Stream this spring before the Primary Agriculture review is complete and at the same time the National Commodity List and the expansion of Primary Agriculture is one of the topics under review. Service delivery has continued to decline during the consultation and producers would like administrative issues corrected to ensure these issues do not re-occur next season. Agriculture and Agri-Food Employers Access to Temporary Foreign Workers Increased access to the TFWP is needed to ensure that the agri-food sector can continue to operate at the current production level and start to capture opportunities for growth: o Issue: To meet the increasing gap in the labour force, increasing the TFWP base Cap of 20% is a need for many commodities including meat, seafood and aquaculture, and fruit and vegetable processing. Solution: Increased the cap from 20% to 25% or an exemption for primary agricultural and seafood processing businesses o Create a streamlined pathway to permanent residency for TFW workers and their families. Immigration requirements currently vary widely from province to province. It is widely felt that the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) of Manitoba is a particularly well designed. (Agriculture 2025, CAHRC.) And the Federal Atlantic Immigration Pilot is another excellent model allowing all NOC codes and avoiding criteria that creates obstacles for farm and food workers. o Encourage and support immigrants and refugees to settle in rural areas and consider agricultural jobs. Solution: Extending eligibility for the SAWP and Agricultural Stream by expanding the National Commodity List to be more complete. Solution: Add specific Seafood Labour Program could also help to address the growing labour shortage and seasonality of the sector. 5

6 Workforce Skills Development While accessing temporary foreign workers is the biggest need for the sector, there will also be benefits to training and skill development among the Canadian workforce. For example: Enhance worker knowledge and skills: o Develop skills training and learning options for workers and make them readily available both to potential workers and employers. o Align training resources with workplace needs including new technology and onthe-job training. Improve human resource (HR) management skills: o Provide HR training, tools and support available to farm employers, both managers and supervisors, to enhance their recruitment and retention of workers. Career Promotion of the Sector Increased awareness of career pathways in the agriculture, fisheries and food processing sectors is needed. Many employment agencies and post-secondary institutions know very little of agriculture and therefore do not present it as a career opportunity to students and prospective workers. Promote agriculture, fisheries and food processing as a career, clarify job requirements and career pathways available, and organize entry point information for job seekers. Increase awareness and interest in agriculture as a career for employees, youth, students, teachers, guidance counselors, new Canadians, women, First Nations, people with disabilities, low-risk offenders, etc. Technology Innovation Automation technology is a key long-term solution for the agri-food sector in terms of both increasing efficiency, productivity and to reduce the need for low skilled labour in some commodities. Robotics and new technologies are being developed, however for some crops, development of robotics able to do the job is many years away. The agricultural sector is also very specialized, so developing or adapting automation technology to meet the needs requires significant investment and risks. These new technologies will determine, and are already determining, evolving skills needed for farm and food. More research is needed in this area to help the sector s workforce adapt to evolving skills and labour requirements needed today and tomorrow. See Innovation backgrounder for more details. Discussion Questions: How can we work together, government and industry, to re-frame the need for increased access to foreign workers as a real positive for agriculture, food and for Canada? How can we work together to create more predictable and efficient systems to manage and administer the foreign worker programs for agriculture, food and seafood? 6

7 Addendum 1: Examples of issues & economic impacts creating agriworkforce instability These examples provide evidence of real economic impacts that producers are encountering, indicating that service delivery needs to be prioritized for Agriculture and Agri-Food employers and immediate steps taken towards fixing these issues. AUDITS: Farmers are reporting serious impacts including suicidal thoughts and farms going out of business due to lengthy audits that stall their access to the foreign workers they need on their farms. TFWP applications are being held up because of an increasing number of farm audits. When these audits occur, farmers are unclear why their farm is being audited (complaint or random audit) and how long the process will take, which results in extreme vulnerability for their business. Lost $80,000 due to audit: The audit took over five months to complete. We ended up having a net loss of profit of $80, due to the audit. We almost lost everything financially, even our sanity over not having workers. We had to dismiss two Canadian workers as a result and restructure our company. It took a whole year to recover financially and we are still having issues financially because of the audit. The SAWP workers we rehire every year lost around $5,000 to $10,000 each in income, but they gained $50 each in accounting inconsistency that was found in the audit process. TIMELINES: Farmers are reporting that TFWP application timelines are increasing, which is affecting the time of arrival for their workers. Impacts include closure of farm businesses, serious economic losses due to lost production and permanent loss of markets. Canadian workers to be laid off: A family owned BC nursery has been in business for 40 years; their nursery produces a gross revenue of $5 million annually. The farm employs 38 Canadian workers and 12 seasonal TFWs. The BC season starts sooner than the rest of Canada and their TFWs usually arrive in February. This year, however, their applications have not been completed in time despite getting all their paperwork done early. Furthermore, the work permits are still not approved in Mexico due to a longer Canadian embassy process. If workers are not received by early March, the economic impact will be about $1 million in lost sales, with the long-term effect of permanent lost market share. They will be forced to lay-off close to 38 higher-skilled Canadians workers in the next month. REFUSALS AND RENEWALS: Farmers and processors are reporting increased refusals of the workers they request in their TFWP applications, including arbitrary reductions of the number of workers granted for an agricultural business by Service Canada (e.g., request for 50 workers is reduced to 35). This is particularly problematic for many agricultural TFWs currently working in greenhouses, or on mushroom, cattle, hog, and sheep farms as well as meat processing plants. The workers can stay in Canada due to the positive cumulative duration change made in 2016, however, these workers need their applications renewed so they can continue to keep working in their year-round, permanent jobs. Due to increasing refusals, these already trained farm and food workers, who are currently working on farms and in processing plants, are at risk of having their application renewals refused, which means they will have to leave Canada. No business planning or expansion possible: A mushroom farm in Ontario produces 200,000 pounds of shitake mushrooms with gross revenues of $3.8 million annually. The family farm is owned and operated by a brother and sister team. They employ 10 Canadian workers and advertise for mushroom harvesters on an ongoing basis and they employ 10 Agricultural Stream workers to fill vacancies for jobs Canadians have not applied for. The market opportunities for fresh mushrooms are excellent so they are planning to expand their farm, seeking to hire six more mushroom harvesters. They advertised, and no Canadians applied, so they turned to the TFWP Agricultural Stream, however the farm family has had several issues. Their application requesting six workers to fill vacancies and to support expansion was refused. Service Canada told them they could not hire six workers and allowed only two workers on the application. This has put all expansion plans on hold. Next, their application was held up because they were required to supply a house inspection approval before the purchase of a new house for their TFWs was completed. The farm s 10 Agricultural Stream worker renewals are also upcoming, and the farm is very concerned whether or not they will receive approval for their trained workers as the renewal applications were submitted to Service Canada three months ago. The farm family is looking at purchasing a new mushroom farm in another province but is concerned about how they will staff this new farm, when Canadians do not want these jobs. 7

8 Addendum 2: Example of biosafety protocols developed by the Canadian Pork Council (May 2, 2018) VISITORS AND FARM BIOSECURITY Biosecurity is strictly enforced on premises where pigs are being raised. Visitors must review the following information before planning to visit a pig farm. WHY IS BIOSECURITY SO IMPORTANT? Biosecurity is critical to help minimize the spread of multiple diseases in the swine industry. The list of diseases is long, and they can be very devastating for the barns and/or the industry. Some example of diseases would be Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS) or Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED). The impact of such diseases in barns that have never been exposed is huge: increase in mortality (PED for example affects young animals very severely with 100% loss for piglets under 10 days of age), loss in production (PRRS can cause abortions and poor reproduction in sow herds), increase in medication cost (to help alleviate the disease and minimize losses), etc. Depending on the disease, the stage of production and the size of the barn, an outbreak could cost a producer anywhere from a few thousand to millions of dollars. BIOSECURITY PROTOCOLS Biosecurity protocols must be followed when visiting swine farms. These protocols include: Downtime requirements are from any pig site which includes packing/processing facilities, sales barns, assembly yards, shows & exhibitions & zoos. Downtime between barn visits; Order in which the barns are visited (based on health status); Shower in/shower out protocols, and; Danish entry. The protocol provided on the next page outlines biosecurity measures to be followed when visiting a farm. Visitors should read them carefully to prepare for a visit but please note that once at the farm, always follow the specific protocol developed for that farm by the producer and their veterinarian. 8

9 BEFORE YOU GET TO THE SITE In your vehicle you should designate a Clean Area/Box and a Dirty Area/Box. Anything that you plan on bringing to the farm should be disinfected and stored in clean Rubbermaid containers. Please be aware that you may not be permitted to bring anything into the farm. Anything removed from the farm, as well as any supplies or soiled disposable or reusable toe rubbers, coveralls, etc., should be put in the Dirty Area/Box as soon as you leave the farm, so they can be disinfected. All visitors must arrive wearing clean clothes and footwear. They should carry disinfected boots, boot covers or toe rubbers. Always contact the farm manager before visiting to understand specific biosecurity protocols in effect on their farm. It is required to follow all specific farm protocols prior to visiting, which will include a minimum of 1 night down time contact free and can be up to 7. When returning from an international trip, visitors to a farm should observe a 7 day downtime period. All clothing worn internationally should not be worn to the farm. Make sure you are not exhibiting signs of a cold, flu or stomach issues. If you are, reschedule the visit (as pigs can contract diseases from humans). ENTERING THE SITE (CAZ) Contact the farm manager by phone upon arrival at the site prior to exiting your vehicle. If it is not possible to contact the farm manager by phone at the time of the visit, provide them with your schedule so that they are aware of when you will be visiting and will be expecting you. Once you arrive at the farm, park in the designated parking area outside the CAZ (Control Access Zone), put on appropriate shoe cover-ups and walk onto the site following entrance protocols specific to each farm. If you must enter the barns (RAZ, Restricted Access Zone), follow the guidelines for Entering the Barns, specific to each farm. 9

10 ENTERING/EXITING THE BARNS (RAZ) Obey the farm manager s expectation of downtime between farm site visits (typically 3 nights). Make sure you are not exhibiting signs of a cold, flu or stomach issues. If you are, reschedule the visit (as pigs can contract diseases from humans). Bringing equipment into the barns should be avoided. If you must bring your own equipment into the barns (RAZ), clean and sanitize all exposed surfaces of equipment beforehand, preferably at least the night before (with disinfectant or alcohol wipes) and double wrap in plastic bags, disinfecting both layers of bags. Equipment/items that will enter the barns must be kept in a designated clean area/box of the vehicle, which is clearly separated from dirty area/box. If equipment cannot be fully sanitized as described, all surfaces that can be sanitized should be and the equipment should be used within the innermost plastic bag if possible. If equipment cannot be used within a plastic bag, it should not be taken out of the plastic bag except during the immediate moments it is being used and it should not be allowed to come in contact with any surfaces, people or animals unless absolutely necessary for the service being provided. Upon arriving at the barn, you must follow the farm s entry protocols, which should include: Signing into a visitor log Putting equipment and other items through pass through window, after removing outermost plastic bag and disposing of it on the dirty side of the barn s entrance. Proceeding through the Danish entry system, leaving shoes and disposable boot covers on the dirty side and stepping with socked feet directly into the transition area. Leaving street clothes in transition area Washing or disinfecting hands after changing out of street clothes. If the barn has shower in/shower out facilities, visitors must proceed to the dirty side of the shower, remove their clothes, undergarments and jewelry. Visitors must thoroughly shower and shampoo, enter the clean side of the shower and put on provided barn clothes and footwear on the clean side of the transition area. Upon exiting the barn, you must proceed back through the Danish entry system in reverse, leaving barn clothes and footwear (and towels, if applicable) on the clean side. Disposable equipment, items and clothing should be disposed of within the barn (clean side). You should stay within the barn for the entirety of the visit if possible. If you must exit and re enter the barn during the visit, you must proceed through the Danish entry system every time. After exiting the barn, sanitize all exposed surfaces (if possible) of equipment that has entered the barn, place inside a plastic bag, sanitize the bag and place inside dirty area of service vehicles. 10