The annual Labour Lecture at UBCO will examine how the agriculture industry aims to protect workers who are exposed to toxic pesticide exposure, hotter temperatures and growing political hostility toward immigration.
What: Open discussion about agriculture, pesticides and climate change
Who: Dr. Anelyse Weiler, University of Victoria
When: Thursday, March 12, 6 to 8 pm
Where: EME 2111, Engineering, Management and Education building, 1137 Alumni Avenue
UBC Okanagan and the North Okanagan Labour Council are hosting a public talk Thursday that will highlight the concerns agricultural workers are facing in a time of pesticide exposure and extreme climate-related heat.
The talk is the keynote presentation for this year’s UBCO Labour Lecture, organized by Dr. Luis L.M. Aguiar, Professor of Sociology in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The speaker will be Dr. Anelyse Weiler, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria.
Dr. Weiler’s research examines struggles for workers’ rights, dignified global migration and environmental sustainability. The talk will explore how, despite harsh conditions, labour movements have built the power of working-class people and strengthened workplace safety laws.
Dr. Aguiar notes that North American agricultural workers are facing not only toxic pesticide exposure but also hotter temperatures and growing political hostility toward immigration.
“Globally, farming has become more chemically dependent than ever,” he says. “This event will bring into focus an important issue. We will discover what workers think of our changing climate and their ideas on how to mitigate its impact on the industry and their working experience.”
The annual Labour Lecture is funded by the North Okanagan Labour Council, UBCO’s Department of Economics, Philosophy and Political Science, Department of History and Sociology and Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies.
The March 12 event is free and open to the public. It takes place in UBCO’s Engineering, Management and Education building and starts at 6 pm.
For more information, visit: events.ok.ubc.ca/event/annual-labour-lecture-dr-anelyse-weiler
