Le salariat agricole au Québec

Résumé

Cet article s'intéresse aux salariés non familiaux du secteur agraire québécois. Il décrit d'abord les principales caractéristiques socio-économiques des ouvriers agricoles. Ensuite, il analyse dans quelle mesure le droit du travail québécois s'applique à ces travailleurs. Enfin, il discute de la validité des diverses exceptions et exclusions légales visant les salariés agricoles à la lumière des chartes canadienne et québécoise des droits de la personne.

Abstract

The subject of this article is centered upon non-family farmworker in the Quebec agrarian sector. In the first instance, it describes the principal socioeconomic characteristics of these workers. Afterwards, it analyses to what degree farm-workers are subject to Quebec labour laws. Finally, it discusses the validity of various legal exceptions and exclusions aimed at agricultural employees in light of the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights and freedoms.

There are at least 15 000 non-family farmworkers in Quebec. Approximately fifty percent of these employees are permanent workers, hired for the most part on livestock and poultry farms. Most of the non-family farmworkers are young male adults and of French-canadian origin. Some women and foreign farmworkers are to be found, but mostly on vegetable or fruit farms, and on a seasonal basis.

Only a few agricultural employees are unionized. Farmworkers earn low wages for long workweeks. Agricultural work also provides for only a few legal holidays, and is characterized by a high level of occupational accidents. To what extent does Quebec labour laws apply to employees in the agricultural sector? This question calls for a not so clear-cut answer.

The rules set forth in the Civil codepertaining to individual labour contracts are entirely applicable to the agricultural sector. So much can be said for the rules established in the Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safetyand in the Act Respecting Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases.These two laws do not create any exclusions or exceptions whatsoever with regard to farmworkers.

On the other hand, these employees are deprived, in part or in whole, from the benefits of other important legislations concerning work conditions and industrial relations. Thus, only agricultural employers with at least four permanent workers are subject to the Act Respecting Labour Standard.Furthermore, employees who fall within the application of this law may not benefit from all the minimal standards that it provides.

The Labour Code,in its application to farmworkers, is in no way different. Effectively, persons employed on a farm which has fewer than three full time workers are not considered «employees» as determined in the Labour Code,and are thus not entitled to union representation or certification. Considering the numerous farms in Quebec that hire fewer than three permanent workers, the great majority of farmworkers are deprived of the advantages brought about by trade-unions through collective bargaining. Finally, the Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decreesdoes not cover «agricultural exploitations» whatever the number of farmworkers in their employ.

Farmworkers are unfavourably treated by our labour laws when compared to employees working in other sectors of our economy. In so being, they are victims of discrimination based upon their occupational activity. This discrimination could be judicially challenged on the basis of section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Section 15 recognizes and guarantees the equality of all before and under the law. In spite of an uncertain jurisprudence on this subject, the door remains open for a court challenge. Futhermore, this occupational discrimination could also be attacked on the basis of some provisions of the Quebec Charter ofHuman Rights and Freedomswhich prohibits any form of discrimination based upon «social condition». Here again, farmworkers will have to overcome a jurisprudence which has favoured, up to now, a restrictive definition of «social condition».