The Rural Voice, 1988-05, Page 26JOB SATISFACTION:
EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES ON THE FARM
by Lise Gunby
Getting good employees —
and keeping them — entails
creative management.
Exempt from key sections of
the Employment Standards
Act, farm employers don't
generally have a positive
image out there in the work
force. But some farmers,
realizing the importance of
keeping skilled workers in an
increasingly complex indus-
try, have come up with some
creative ideas on their own...
Note: Agriculture's exemptions from
the Employment Standards Act are
under review, and a provincial report
released last month recommended that
farm workers be eligible for vacation
pay and paid for statutory holidays.
F
or Amilia Orlinski, the
opportunity to work in
the Canadian agricultural
industry was attractive enough that she
decided to stay in this country rather
than return to her native Poland.
But for many young people in
Canada, farm work is perceived as
belonging to something of a ghetto:
the pay is low, there are few oppor-
tunities for career advancement, and
the prestige value is nil. For farmers
looking for qualified people in an
increasingly sophisticated industry,
that perception is a source of frustra-
tion. As Doug Grant, manager of
Agricultural Employment Services in
Owen Sound, puts it "We don't hold
in much esteem those who are invol-
ved in producing our food. It's sad."
Annlia is employed by Avon
Swine Inc., a limited company owned
by the Lichti family of R. R. 1, New
Hamburg. With four years of univer-
sity training as an animal care special-
ist and several years of experience
John Lichti (left), who handles much of the administrative end of the Lichtis'
family-owned company, Avon Swine Inc., talks to Lloyd Schmidt, acting sow
herd manager at Avon Swine, who says he doesn't miss the financial worries
he experienced owning his own farm. Says John Lichti: "It seems to me a
waste of money for government to train people to get out of the industry when
the industry is crying for labour." (photos by W. Merle Gunby)
working on state farms, she came to
Canada as part of an agricultural
exchange program. When martial law
was declared in Poland, she declared
her choice of Canada as a home: "The
Life here is really good." Amilia, who
has become "part of the family," says
John Lichti, has been with Avon
Swine since 1981.
The Lichtis, who employ five full-
time employees in their operation,
have dealt extensively with issues of
farm labour. Hired labour, as John
Lichti notes, is becoming more of a
factor in all sectors of agriculture, not
least in the hog industry, and infor-
mation and guidelines are scant.
Not only are many farms
becoming larger and production more
intensive, but more farms are being
organized along corporate lines:
people are talking about employee
ownership and shareholding as in-
centives for workers and as a way to
bequeath the operation when the
traditional transfer between gener-
ations isn't possible.
The Avon Swine shareholders
include the three Lichti brothers, John,
Roy, and Dan, and their spouses as
well as parents Laverne and Nelda.
Avon Swine operates a 440 -sow swine
herd; some of the pigs are sorted as
market hogs, some are kept as breed-
ing stock, and the company sells F-1
gilts as well as purebred and crossbred
Landrace, Yorkshire, and Hampshire
boars. The structure of the Lichtis'
company allows John, who looks after
the business end of the farrn, to spend
24 THE RURAL VOICE