Selling on markets, another face of seasonal agricultural workers
Rhythms Latinos escape from a flower stand at the Atwater Market, a salsa, more precisely. At the entrance of a mini-greenhouse in which plants of different sizes and colors are displayed, Rubén, a Mexican seasonal worker, unloads a few boxes, and receives instructions from his boss.
It's a hot and humid July day in Montreal. The high season for selling flowers and plants is behind us, it usually takes place between mid-May and June. Nevertheless, Rubén uses his knowledge of plants. Every day, he loads and unloads the precious goods.
Picture: Pablo Ortiz
“In June, we see more,” he says, when asked if there are a lot of seasonal farm workers at the Atwater Market. It is not known exactly how many of them — who come to Quebec to work in the fields and farms — also sell to the public. Until now, it was not common to see their faces at the market. In any case, not in customer service. In fact, this is the first time that Rubén has been asked to work in flower sales, which makes him very happy.
“It's hard to know why they chose me,” he says humbly. This is the first year that I have worked at Atwater, yet I have been coming to Canada for nine years. Maybe my bosses saw that I had a chance to work well here. Usually I am in greenhouses. I was there from January to May,” explains Rubén, who works in long sleeves, jeans and a hat even when the thermometer reads 30°C.
More and more agricultural workers on the markets
The presence of seasonal agricultural workers on the markets is not surprising given the current shortage of workers in the service sector and the fact that more and more of these workers are coming to Quebec. According to Statistics Canada, the number of temporary foreign workers in the agricultural sector who came to the province increased by 64% between 2020 and 2022, from 13,094 to 21,531.
Rubén came to Quebec through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), with an “open” work permit until December. He says that his working conditions are good, both in the greenhouses and at the market. However, he prefers to go to Atwater, because he considers that the situation is beneficial for everyone.
“Because we learn from them, local workers or Quebec workers, and because they learn from the experience we have in greenhouses. For example, what is the name of the plant, how long does it last, how many times should you water it, what should you give it to survive if it is sick? All of this,” he explains.
What he enjoys the most about this new activity is the acquisition of skills, especially the ability to speak French. “I learn as much in the greenhouses as at the market. But here I am learning to do more. I'm starting to talk and understand a bit. I would like to learn a little more so that the customer leaves satisfied with what he is saying to me and what I am trying to say to him,” he explains with a smile.
Tough work
Claude Wilson is the owner of the kiosk where Rubén works. He is the son of Noël and Rita Wilson, founders of Wilson and sons, a company that was founded in 1957, and that started harvesting annual flowers in 1978. The farm is located in Saint-Rémi, 40 minutes south of Montreal.
“There are Mexican and Guatemalan workers... They work very well, especially when you consider the work environment. It is a chance that they are happy to be here,” he explains.
While he says that the labour shortage has prompted him to employ seasonal agricultural workers at the market, he also explains that he needs employees who can carry heavy boxes and transport plants.
“Usually, it's mostly women who are there to sell the flowers, while the other employees set up the stock, water the plants. When they're done, they come to lend a hand. They are people who are far-sighted. But it must be said: those who are there are there because they like it, because they know how to talk to people, because they help each other and because they also make the effort to speak French. If they don't feel comfortable with the public, they're better off in greenhouses. It works very well because as you can see they like what they do,” explains Claude Wilson.
First time at the Jean-Talon Market
Simón* has been working in a vegetable stand at the Jean-Talon Market for about twenty days. He arrived in Canada in April. At the market, her colleagues are all women. Like Rubén, he is in charge of the heavy work at the kiosk, but he is also in contact with customers, which allows him to learn and practice French.
“I have been coming to Canada for two seasons already, but this is the first time I have worked in the market,” he says in a reserved tone. “I was told that I had to come, especially to carry the heavy loads. But I always work with the public, I sell vegetables. I feel very good here, because it's something totally different,” says the employee, who is also Mexican.
For the moment, he has a clear objective: to learn French. “That's what interests me the most,” he adds. There are days when he continues to work in the fields, in the farma, a term used by farm workers to refer to farms. “I work in everything, especially in crops,” he explains.
At the market, Simón says that he is doing very well. “I get along very well with everyone, there is a good atmosphere. I think they brought me in because they saw that I was working well, so they gave me the opportunity to take a test. If I worked with the same desire, I could continue and that's what I did. It's a different environment,” he explains.
To get to Jean-Talon, Simón travels with his bosses every day from the farm, located one hour from Montreal. “I work from 6 am to 6 pm and I am paid the minimum wage. On this farm, we work with about fifteen temporary foreign workers and there are Mexicans and Guatemalans,” he explains.
Passion for working with the public
As for José Luis, he works at Serres Riel Inc For the past few weeks, an operation has also been present at the Atwater market. Like Rubén, he already had the opportunity this year to be employed for customer service. Moreover, he will be able to work there until September.
Initially, he went to the market to do the heavy lifting. “I had to replace what customers were buying. For example, if they bought three geraniums, I had to bring three geraniums, and so on with all the produce, the pots, the balcony boxes.”
He had a small experience at the Atwater Market three years ago and has since discovered a passion for working with the public. He first came to Canada five years ago under the TFWP and works for Les Serres Riel Inc. for four years.
“The market is very special for me,” he says with the charisma he shows throughout the interview. “I have always had a good relationship with people. I find my work more interesting when I am with the public. I have learned a little bit of French. My boss's sister, who is my direct boss, doesn't speak Spanish and that helps me make an effort to learn the language,” he adds.
José Luis, also a Mexican, believes that working at Atwater helped him understand the needs of customers in terms of choosing and maintaining plants and flowers in particular. “And it's the place where, little by little, I was able to practice my French more. That's where I learned to talk more.”
Les Serres Riel Inc., located in Saint-Rémi, employ about twenty seasonal agricultural workers and this year, four of them, all Mexican, work at the Atwater Market. Most of the time, they are responsible for moving plants and other items, but José Luis explains that it was his thirst for learning that led him to take care of the sales side of the business. “The person in charge of the booth saw that I was doing a good job and that's why he put me up for sale. When there was a shortage of staff, they sent me to take up this position,” he explains.
Impatience to return to Canada
Rubén, Simón and José Luis earn the minimum wage, set at $15.25 per hour in Quebec. Whether they are in the market, in the fields, or in the greenhouses, they have one day off every two weeks, which they use to send money back to their families. All three are married and their wives and children live in Mexico.
“I would like to come back next year, if the boss asks me again, then I will come back here with them,” Simón replies when we ask him if he would like to continue working at the Jean-Talon Market.
Rubén, on the other hand, would like to return to work in the same company in 2024 and have the opportunity to continue serving customers in the market.
A wish that José Luis also shares. “I always told my colleagues that I went to the market to work hard so they could take me back. Next year I plan to go back there.”
All three would like to become permanent residents in Canada and bring their families with them. But this status is difficult for them in Quebec. In fact, François Legault's government has restricted the access of seasonal agricultural workers to the Quebec Experience Program, a path offered by the province to temporary workers and international students to obtain permanent residence.
Despite the enormous sacrifices they make year after year, living for long periods of time away from their families, homes and culture, the three Mexican workers say they are satisfied with what they have achieved so far.
Seeing the faces of seasonal agricultural workers, hearing their accent, seeing their hands, their skin darkened by the sun, in commonly frequented places like Montreal markets, provides new insight into the importance of these workers. Perhaps being around them instead of only seeing their photos in the fields is another way of showing the great contribution of these people who, although they spend more time here than in their country, continue to be temporary workers.
* To respect the anonymity of this employee, we changed his name.