The province’s Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) has confirmed an increase in farm worker claims in 2016.
According to WCB, between January and July 2015, there were 158 farm worker claims made in Alberta. The same time frame for 2016 has seen that number rise to 395.
On Jan. 1, key changes came into effect for Alberta’s farming industry under the NDP’s Bill 6. These changes included mandatory WCB coverage for all paid farm workers.
“The (WCB) provides no-fault insurance that protects farmers and ranchers in the event of a lawsuit, while providing workers with coverage in the event of an incident,” said Minister of Labour Christina Gray in an emailed statement.
“I’m pleased that we’re making steady progress with WCB registrations and that more workers in this sector are accessing the medical and financial supports they need to get healthy and return to work.”
According to Farmworkers Union of Alberta President Eric Musekamp, every farm and ranch worker in Alberta is covered by WCB following the implementation of Bill 6.
“It’s a benefit for everybody,” Musekamp said. “Employers are protected from liabilities (and) lawsuits…the worker gets automatic, no litigation coverage…and the public purse is protected.”
Musekamp credits the mandated, regulated WCB coverage of farm workers for the increase in claims.
“Before…depending how badly hurt they were, some would end up in a cardboard box down in Vancouver, some (would) move in with their family, some (would) wind up on welfare,” he said. “Some had private insurance (but) many did not.”
Alberta Federation of Agriculture Vice President Humphrey Banack said although mandated WCB coverage is a positive change, farm workers had other options before Bill 6.
“We in agriculture, we just dealt with this in a different way to make sure that our employees were cared for,” he said. “These injuries are getting to (become) a more reportable thing. Which is good, we can get a better track on these injuries.
“Health care may have picked up a lot of these things before, rather than insurance.”
Wildrose MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Nathan Cooper said workers may have been using private insurance last year.
“…Whether or not those people would have been covered by any other plan, we don’t know the answer to that question,” he said, adding WCB coverage may not protect people the way some private companies do.
“Much of that private insurance that employers carried on behalf of their employees, covered them 24/7,” he said. “And so some…claims rejected by WCB may have been covered by (private insurance).”
But Musekamp rejected the idea farm workers had valid options outside of WCB coverage before it became mandatory.
“Virtually every other province in Canada requires WCB on the farm industries because that’s the norm, that’s what works,” Musekamp said. “It’s the only thing that can be ubiquitous, there is no legislation out there to mandate and regulate any other kind of insurance.
“Farm workers have a chartered right to workers compensation coverage. They have a chartered right to equality of law; labor standards, labor relations, Occupational Health and Safety and WCB.”
“(WCB) is the only work place insurance that’s no fault, no litigation, automatic coverage provided by a non-profit,” he added. “There is not a private insurance company that would provide this level of coverage.”
Since its implementation, Bill 6 remains highly debated and controversial across the province.
According to Cooper, the 2016 WCB numbers only tell one part of the Bill 6 story.
“We don’t even know if they tell the whole story because of the existence of private insurance that many producers carried,” he said.
