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CFU's first tri-lingual paper with English front side (5-pages) and one French page and Punjabi front side (6-pages); Headlines: CFU on the move - 2 certifications won; Chavez attends Vancouver Rally; Jury raps living conditions; 250 attend meeting on health and safety; CUPE contributes $10,000 to CFU Delegates at NDP convention support farmworkers; Phoney union trying to sabotage CFU organizing; Racist attack on union organizer; Government responsible for deaths of four children in Fraser…

A tri-lingual newspaper with English front side (5-pages), two-page centerfold in French, and Punjabi front side (5-pages). CFU's new logo is presented on the front page. Headlines: CFU National Convention A Success; CFU Signs First Agreement; Ontario's Farmworkers Now Have A Union; Use And Misuse of Pesticides; Immigrant Women Exploited; The Attack at Osoyoos; Okanagan Farmworkers Attend CFU Public Meeting.

A tri-lingual paper with English front side (4-pages), and only the CFU 'President Message' in French, and Punjabi front side (3-pages). Headlines: Farmworker Dies Of Pesticide Poisoning; Agreement Signed At Jensen Mushroom Farm; UIC Discrimination Against Farmworkers Ends; Ontario Summer Legal Clinics; A Time To Learn; Film 'A Time To Rise' Banned in India;

Rally attended by 600 farmworkers and supporters to protest new Unemployment Insurance 16 week rule required for UI benefits. CFU collected over 8000 signatures against the 16 week rule and presented petition.

Fraser Valley farm worker cabins. Circa 1989.

Fraser Valley farm worker cabins. Circa 1989.

Jasweer Kaur Brar (left) and Jasbir Kaur Sagoo (right), two mushroom pickers who had just joined the union and been fired--on an information picket line outside their worksite. On May 27, 1984 eleven women mushroom pickers were fired at Hoss Farm, five for signing Canadian Farmworkers' Union cards and six more who then approached the Indo-Canadian grower about his actions. Langley/Aldergrove area, British Columbia. May 29, 1984. Photo 11 of 30.

Sakhdarshanpar Machi, Jasbir Kaur Sagoo and Jasweer Kaur Brar (left to right), all new union members on picket duty along the lonely rural road leading to the mushroom farm. At Hoss's mushroom farm the women had had enough of the poor working conditions that were typical for many mushroom workers in the Fraser Valley. This included working up to 15 hours per day with no overtime, being paid at piece rates amounting to $2-$3 an hour (far less than minimum wage), no bathrooms or cleaning…

The fired women brought their children with them to the picket line and for days shouted "Prani picker vipislo" (All pickers back to work!). Langley/Aldergrove area, British Columbia. May 30, 1984. Photo 13 of 30.

After three days of picketing at the remote farm, the women farmworkers set up a secondary picket line at the Fraser Valley Mushroom Growers' Co-operative--which packaged mushrooms under the brand name Money's Mushrooms. The Co-op warehouse workers who processed the mushrooms, members of the Retail & Wholesale Union, refused to cross the picket line. The plant shut down and the distribution and sale of mushrooms in retail stores came to a standstill. The pressure exerted by the picket…

Fraser Valley, BC. Farmworkers cabins. Circa late 1970s.

Fraser Valley, BC. Indo-Canadian women strawberry picker with young child harvesting in the fields. Circa late 1970s.

Fraser Valley, BC. Indo-Canadian strawberry pickers with young child harvesting in the fields. Circa late 1970s.

Fraser Valley, BC. Indo-Canadian child labour in the fields during strawberry harvesting. Circa late 1970s.

Fraser Valley, BC. Indo-Canadian strawberry pickers with young child harvesting in the fields. Circa late 1970s.