Dear Editor,
In this day and age of reality show people swaps, I propose to do the following swap: a Rachel and Ruth Swap.
So if I were Rachel for a day, here’s what I would do:
Implement a “Farmers Awareness Day” for the work that farmers do and include agriculture in the school curriculum.
1. Begin treating farmers and ranchers with the utmost respect. They work 365 days a year, 24/7 – all hours of the day to get the necessary work done. They don’t have the luxury of postponements, breaks, holidays, etc. They have to work in adverse weather conditions (extreme cold, heat, in manure, dirt, etc.) They cannot call in sick. They provide the food that we eat.
2. Realize that farmers don’t get paid what they should for their products. They are at the mercy of the market and the processor. They cannot give themselves huge wage increases and bonuses, which they so rightly deserve.
3. That farmers are vulnerable, because they aren’t paid the wages of other industries like the oil and gas industry. A farmer›s income is often erratic, because it’s based on global markets. Farmer’s have no control over their input costs.
4. That farms are understaffed because they can’t find workers, and they have a hard time attracting them. Farms are often located in isolated, small communities, with little access to the opportunities that are found in the urban centers. Often farmers can’t compete with the wages of city workers.
5. That this is the primary cause of the safety issue: farmers need more help. On every farm operation, there are critical time periods when the job needs to get done in a required time allotment.Workers are often overtired and overstressed. And that’s when we need the government’s help during these “critical time periods” when farm operations are challenged at their greatest level. And if this government was truly interested in farm safety, this would be their priority and focus, what a knowledgeable government should know.
One government solution to this safety issue could be to supply farmers and ranchers with a trained job bank of workers at a subsidized wage. So safety now becomes a priority, and the work gets done. So that a true job creation program exists for the farmer, not the government. Because now the proposed Bill 6 will only be providing city employment at the farmer’s expense.
6. Realize that every farm provides seven city spinoff jobs, which include: processors, wholesalers, distribution warehouses, stores, restaurants, government health agencies, labs, insurance, banking, equipment dealerships, feed companies, transportation, etc. And that these jobs wouldn’t exist without the farmer first.
7. That with the proposed Bill 6, the cost of food will go up. So everyone will be affected. Those who can least afford it, will be hit the hardest.
8. That if this govenment was truly interested in farm worker safety, they would provide the tools that are necessary to rural Albertans to achieve this goal – namely education, wage parity, health benefits and other opportunites that city workers enjoy. That farmers and their workers are “vulnerable” (the word Rachel so loves to use), because farmers do not operate on the same working scale as city people. So if this government wants to truly implement these work changes, it needs to first address the socio-economic conditions of rural people and equalize their lifestyle (work conditions) with that of city workers, and close the gap through properly, thought out programs, in order to establish an equal playing field for all workers, be it city or rural. This is the first step that must be achieved, before this government can make any attempt to address farm safety issues – or has the right too.
Sincerely, Ruth Malda
