Progressive folks and organic food lovers are familiar with Mama Earth Organics.
Delivering fresh organic food to the front doors of thousands of customers across the GTA and beyond, the company prides itself on supporting local farmers and offering an alternative to the industrial food chain.
But the general good vibes of the company’s image do not necessarily translate to its treatment of workers trying to unionize.
Last October, drivers, packers and warehouse workers employed at the company’s facility in East York contacted the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
Workers told union organizers about health and safety issues at the plant, which houses about 80 employees, as well as allegations of harassment and favouritism and a general lack of job security.
According to workers, many of the company’s purple delivery vans seen throughout Toronto are in a state of disrepair. As a result, this year’s winter storms resulted in several break-downs and drivers being stranded (sometimes in the countryside) late at night.
Numerous workplace injuries, workers say, have been dismissed by management. Workers say the company did not have a code of conduct or workplace harassment policy up until last year, when a major incident occurred at the plant.
When workers have raised concerns or asked for a pay increase, the response from management, they say, has often been, “We’ll get back to you.” And then nothing changes.
The company’s response to the UFCW’s application for union certification earlier this year was just as shocking. Workers say those perceived by management to be union supporters were forced into closed-door meetings.
On February 6 a majority of workers voted to join the union.
The victory, however, was short-lived. Hiring an expensive and notoriously anti-union law firm, the company challenged the result of the vote. The employer knows that this will cause months and months of hearings at the Labour Board, leaving workers out in the cold while waiting for their union to be certified.
What seems lost on the owners is that fighting unionization is only hurting its brand.
Kevin Shimmin is an organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
@nowtoronto
