View cases - Stewart McKelvey

[360] The Task Force considered whether — and how — agricultural workers should beentitled to bargain collectively, given the unique characteristics of the agricultural sector. Itconcluded that “all persons employed in agriculture and horticulture” should be able to engage incollective bargaining, including those on family or smaller farms, but in accordance with aseparate labour relations scheme that is “sufficiently modified” to reflect the “particular needs”of the agricultural sector (pp. 7-8).2011 SCC 20 (CanLII)[361] The “single most critical issue” raised by farm owners before the Task Force was the“threat of work stoppage” (p. 3). In response to this and many other submissions, the Task Forcerecommended that all forms of work stoppage be prohibited and replaced by a dispute resolutionprocess that:• emphasizes the preference for negotiated settlements between the parties.• provides conciliation and mediation services to assist the parties in reaching anegotiated settlement.• provides an arbitration process for the final and binding resolution of all outstandingmatters between the parties following exhaustion of the negotiation process. [p. 10]It also recommended that there be an Agricultural Labour Relations Act, to be administered by aseparate Board (Second Report, at p. 17).[362] The government adopted these recommendations in the Agricultural LabourRelations Act, 1994, S.O. 1994, c. 6 (“ALRA”). The ALRA included protection for collective