Exploring Just Food Labour: Full day workshop in Toronto
Posted: July 20, 2016
Categories: Events / Food in the News / GoodFoodBites
On October 13th, 2016 food and agricultural activists, interns, academics, legal counsellors and farmers will come together for a full day workshop in Toronto, to explore the concept of “just food labour” and what this means in the context of unpaid farm internships. The event has been organized by the Food and Labour research project team at U of T.
Across North America and Europe, unpaid farm work and training has become a well established opportunity and option for young aspiring farmers, students of agriculture and travellers with an interest in agro-ecology and organic farming practices. In return for labour, interns and volunteers are often given room and board, meals or a small farm plot to tend for their energy. In some cases, just the experiential training is deemed a sufficient return. Unpaid internships have recently come under the spotlight, as many employers don’t understand the criteria for hiring unpaid labour and it can produce unjust, and even illegal working conditions. It is also argued that unpaid internships contribute to distortions of the job market and reinforce a culture that privileges wealthy applicants, leaving those unable to afford to support themselves to work for free to lose valuable opportunities to hone their skills. There is no doubt that farm internships, as a form of energy exchange, education and the production of food and capital has an impact on the food system as a whole and is a huge asset to farmers, producers and to those gaining the hands on training. The Ecological Farm Internship Workshop: Models, Experience and Justice event will explore the unpaid internship approach and the capacity it has to impact workers at all points of the food system as well as how it effects the sustainable food and farming movement as a whole.
Lunch will be served and a final report will document the presentations and discussion.
Register by September 20th, 2016