Bill would set 26°C maximum in employer-provided bunkhouses, mandate paid cool-down breaks, and require anti-reprisal protections for workers who report unsafe heat
Media Release
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
TORONTO, May 28, 2026 — Migrant Workers Alliance for Change welcomes the Ontario NDP private member’s bill introduced today at Queen’s Park to protect workers from dangerous heat in fields, greenhouses, processing plants and employer-provided housing. The bill, introduced by NDP MPP Peter Tabuns, includes protections migrant workers have demanded for years, while the Ford government has refused to act. MWAC is calling on the government to pass this bill, or table its own legislation, strengthen it further, and act before another summer of preventable harm.
Migrant farmworkers grow the food that Ontario eats. They harvest fruit and vegetables in temperatures that routinely exceed 35 degrees Celsius during summer heat waves. They live in bunkhouses that often have no cooling. They work under closed permits that tie them to a single employer, so workers who speak up about unsafe conditions face deportation and blacklisting.
“Heat is a workplace hazard and a housing crisis, and the two cannot be separated when the worksite and the bunkhouse are under the control of the same people – the employer,” said Syed Hussan, Executive Director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “Migrant workers need paid cool-down breaks, shade, water, acclimatization, anti-reprisal protections, and a 26-degree maximum in employer-provided housing to survive. The protections in today’s bill are a floor. The government must strengthen and pass this bill, resource enforcement, and ensure that migrant workers are central to devising implementation.”
What the bill does for migrant workers
The bill amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act to establish a Worker Heat Protection Standard, and requires annual public reporting on heat illness and deaths. Provisions that respond directly to migrant farmworker organizing include:
- 26°C maximum in employer-provided housing and farm bunkhouses.
- Paid cool-down breaks, shade, acclimatization, and PPE at the employer’s expense.
- Proactive inspections, anti-reprisal protections, third-party complaints, and penalties for violations.
- Regular wages paid for rest, breaks, medical removal, and training.
- Plain-language training, posters, alerts, and heat plans in languages workers understand.
- Heat risk mapping and public data on work-related heat illness and deaths.
- Annual reports to the Legislature for five years on heat illness, deaths, and enforcement.
Migrant workers are speaking out
“The heat is killing us and there is more to come. We work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day, even in extreme heat. If we speak up, the boss makes fun of us for being weak or threatens to send us home. When we call our government representatives, they say there are 100 workers waiting to take our place. We have no air conditioning or proper ventilation for cooking and it gets even hotter in the bunkhouse than it is outside. There is no escape. If the bosses cannot respect us as humans, maybe they will respect the law,” said Kenroy, a farmworker in Niagara employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. (Last name withheld to protect against employer reprisal.)
What’s needed next
Heatwaves have already started to hit. Migrant farmworkers will face deadly heat in the coming months. The Ford government must act before summer by:
- Strengthening and passing this bill immediately, or introducing its own heat protection law.
- Extending the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) protections to cover employer-provided housing for agricultural workers.
- Funding unannounced inspections of farms, greenhouses, processing plants and employer-provided housing.
- Ensuring inspectors speak to workers privately, away from employers, and in languages workers understand.
- Creating enforceable maximum temperature standards with clear inspection powers and penalties.
- Adding mandatory trigger temperatures for stop-work and paid cool-down breaks, including indoor thresholds for greenhouses and processing plants.
- Guaranteeing full wages when work is stopped because of extreme heat, wildfire smoke or other climate emergencies. Workers should never have to choose between their health and feeding their families.
- Ensuring 10 permanent paid sick days so workers can recover from heat stress without losing wages or facing reprisals.
- Naming migrant worker organizations as required consultees in developing and updating the Worker Heat Protection Standard. Workers facing the highest heat exposure must be at the table.
- Calling on the federal government to provide permanent resident status and open work permits so workers who report unsafe conditions are protected from deportation.
Background
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is a migrant-led organization representing non-permanent residents with a focus on food and care workers. Ontario hosts roughly 20,000 migrant farmworkers each year, primarily from Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and other Caribbean nations. Workers arrive under closed work permits that legally tie them to a single employer. MWAC has supported migrant farmworkers who report falling sick on Ontario farms and in employer-provided housing in conditions consistent with heat stress. Provincial inspections of farm worker housing and work remain rare, and workers who raise complaints face deportation.
The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program marks its 60th anniversary in 2026. Six decades on, many of the workers who feed this province still face conditions where even drinking water or taking a break can depend on employer permission.
For media inquiries: Syed Hussan | 416-453-3632 | hussan@migrantworkersalliance.org
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change migrantworkersalliance.org