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2009-01-12

Fresh Plaza

Fresh Plaza

The growth in grapes in Prince Edward County is inadvertently reaping a heavier workload for staff at the local health unit. "Public health units have been inspecting migrant farm accommodations for a number of years," said Eric Serwotka, director of environmental health at the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit. "What's different now is the (grape) growers ... in Prince Edward County."

The inspectors had dealt with the workers coming here through the Foreign Agriculture Resource Management Services, to do various farm work such as picking apples, he said. The service is a non-profit organization that handles requests for foreign seasonal agricultural workers.

But the grape growers in Prince Edward County -- the vino industry has flourished there in the past few years -- come through the Agricultural Foreign Workers Unit, a federal agency and the workers are in addition to the ones brought in by the management services group.

With the agency, employers must demonstrate that they are unable to find Canadians to fill the jobs. But for the health unit, the job is the same -- to ensure the adequacy of lodging, fire and water safety and reasonable living spaces, but now there is more to check.

"It's increased the number of inspections because there are more (migrant workers)," Serwotka said. In 2008 the health unit conducted 20 inspections for the two agencies and that will increase along with grape production. The inspections are done once a year, usually as the foreign workers are arriving, Serwotka said.

The health board was apprised of the new inspection duties and it raised some concerns. "These workers come over here (to) homes much better than their homeland," he said. "Are they going to live better than some (of our own people)?"
His concern was really that it would be not be affordable for the farmers and that was seconded by Peter Kooistra.

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  Canada: Grape industry's expansion gives health unit more work (http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=36430)
  

Agriculture and horticulture workers

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