Aquilini Group states that Guatemalan cranberry workers complained only after learning that they would be sent home

The Aquilini group reacted after being forced by a branch of the Ministry of Labor to pay more than $ 130,000 in wages to temporary foreign workers on a Pitt Meadows berry farm.

Jim Chu, Senior Vice President of the Aquilini Group, said in a statement prepared to the authorities that the complaint was brought to the authorities by a group of 15 Guatemalan workers who had previously left the farm in "direct contravention of their work". permit. "

Chu – the former head of the Vancouver Police Department – said the Golden Eagle Farm had hired temporary foreign workers from countries like Mexico, Jamaica and the Philippines for decades. He stated that many long-tenured employees had obtained permanent resident status in Canada and were still working on the farm, which had close to 2,000 workers during the peak months of the summer.

"We first brought workers from Guatemala in 2017 and they worked hard and seemed happy," wrote Chu. "Guatemalan workers were brought back in 2018 and we noticed more" townspeople "than" farmers "who worked for us the previous year.

"Some of these new workers left the farm suddenly and without notice soon after their arrival. This has been reported to (Canada Border Services Agency). In September 2018, after the end of the blueberry season, we started sending the remaining seasonal workers back to their home country. It was at this time that many other Guatemalan workers disappeared from the farm, in direct violation of their work permits. We heard that most of them went to the United States and that a group of 15 people stayed in Canada.

Chu said that this group of 15 complaints filed, claiming mistreatment, "only after they were told to go home."

In a recent WorkSafeBC mediation, a workers' representative had asked for $ 100,000 for himself and $ 225,000 for the plaintiffs in exchange for the withdrawal of the complaints.

"We considered this an extortion and we did not pay," wrote Chu.

A decision last week by the Office of the Director of Employment Standards revealed that the Aquilini family, owners of the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, were violating six-year labor market impact badessment contracts. months of full-time work for Golden workers. Eagle Farm.

Instead, the 174 workers who arrived in Canada from Guatemala and waited for a 40-hour workweek per year received only about one month of full-time work prior to the reduction of their workload. working hours.

Chu said that in the blueberry industry, which depends on good time for harvest, full time hours could not be guaranteed.

"The recent decision of the Employment Standards Branch was only about the wording of the Guatemalan labor contract. It was the intention of the employer that this new contract correspond to the structure of the current Mexican and Jamaican labor contracts, which allow us to send the workers home for six months and pay on average 40 hours. per week, not a minimum.

"The amount of the judgment referred to the interpretation of the contract and the question of whether 40 hours was a guaranteed minimum per week. Unlike some reports, we have never withheld payment for the hours worked. Workers were always paid in full.

In addition to ordering the payment of salary arrears, vacation pay and interest, the employment standards impose a fine of $ 500 on Aquilinis.

Julianne McCaffrey, spokesperson for the BC Ministry of Labor, confirmed last week that the Employment Standards Branch had investigated the case of 375 Golden Eagle farm workers in 2018 as a result of A complaint for undue wages, and found that 174 of these employees had a debt. The largest amount owed to the same complainant was $ 1,943.27, while the average amount was $ 768.61.

Wages due were determined by the documentation submitted to the federal government for foreign nationals to obtain a work permit to work in Canada. These documents guaranteed workers 40 hours of work each week, McCaffrey said.

Naz Mitha, the Golden Eagle lawyer, told Postmedia News last week that the Aquilinis paid their workers for every hour of work and that the conflict amounted to a misunderstanding of the terms of the workers' contracts.

"The key question was whether the contract signed by some workers guaranteed them six months of work for at least 40 hours a week," he said. "Of course, the Aquilini group did not consider the meaning of the contract.

"They understood that the contract meant that you worked up to 40 hours, but that you are guaranteed 40 hours. The decision was taken against us saying that this is not the correct interpretation. "

Mitha said the Aquilini group intended to settle all outstanding amounts. They would also work to reformulate the contracts to ensure that the wording was clear and that "there would be no misrepresentation in the future".

"This is not the example of a large group trying to exploit people who are clearly vulnerable," Mitha said. "They take care of their workers."

Earlier this month, the Aquilinis were fined $ 53,000 for using a dangerous vehicle to transport workers on the same farm.

In his statement, Chu wrote that the employer did not know that the vehicle was dangerous because the worker responsible for driving the vehicle did not report it.

"The circumstances are that last summer, a foreign worker drove a vehicle while he knew that he had a mechanical defect. He did not report this defect to his supervisor and used the vehicle without authorization. "

Chu said the farm hired a full-time health and safety officer.

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with Harrison Mooney files

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