Certifying Justice? Migrant Farmworker Precarity and the Role of Ethical Certification in US and Canadian Agriculture

Migrant labour has become indispensable in North America and Europe for the functioning of the agrifood sector. However, unfair labour mobility regimes and the structures of opaque agrifood supply chains thrust migrant farmworkers into an industry rife with inequitable employment conditions, limited regulatory protection measures, and suboptimal living conditions. Over the last 30 years, several certification initiatives have been introduced to engage governments, farmers, retailers, nongovernmental organizations, and consumers in providing new avenues for improving migrant labour conditions in the sector. Certification programs have become an effective strategy to tackle issues related to labour exploitation. In some cases, these programs have led to the creation of communities and workers’ coalitions, thus facilitating spaces for conversations surrounding policy changes and temporary-program restructuring to make conditions fairer to migrant, racialized, and indigenous workers. The purpose of this paper is to review some of these good practices and to identify the necessary conditions in an effort to develop an operational framework for a Fair Farm Work certification initiative in Canada. This Fair Farm Work initiative is focused on exploring the potential of coalitions and partnerships between employers, workers, distribution chains, and policy makers to develop a certification scheme that helps improve migrant workers’ employment conditions in Canada’s agrifood sector. Our analysis shows that the success of certifications relies on the incorporation of worker-driven models and the inclusion of elements such as third-party audits, rigorous standards, clear enforcement strategies, worker education, clear food-labelling strategies, and community engagement to raise awareness and render these efforts visible to consumers. While migrant workers’ participation is pivotal in implementing certifications, retailers’ participation is a powerful incentive to garner support from other stakeholders and to harness consumer power through Corporate Social Responsibility mandates and engagement campaigns.

See also: www.torontomu.ca/centre-for-immigration-and-settlement www.torontomu.ca/cerc-migration ISSN: 1929-9915