The Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Agency (FARSHA) was started by the Canadian Farmworkers Union, Workers’ Compensation Board, and the BC Agricultural Council in 1993 when occupational health and safety laws were extended to cover agricultural workers. The organization provides training, consultation, and promotion of worker safety. CFU members still hold Board seats in FARSHA.

Operation Solidarity was one of many coalitions of unions and activist organizations formed in BC in 1983 in response to budget cuts and new bills cutting social services and union rights which were enacted by the Social Credit government under Premier Bill Bennett. This coalition, which was started by the BC Federation of Labour, organized numerous rallies and demonstrations. Operation Solidarity was formed mainly of union groups, while the related Solidarity Coalition, to which the CFU also belonged, consisted mainly of activists and community members.

The Pesticide Registration Review was a series of public hearings held across Canada by the federal government, inviting submissions from businesses, workers, and individuals on the use of pesticides. A multidisciplinary task force was formed to make recommendations following these hearings. CFU President Sarwan Boal represented the Canadian Labour Congress on the Pesticide Registration Review Team.

The Vancouver Sath theatre group was formed out of the Vancouver Sath Literary and Cultural Association, a Punjabi writers’ and activists’ group based on the concept of a Sath, an informal gathering place in a Punjabi village. Vancouver Sath published Watno Dur, a monthly Punjabi literary and cultural magazine, which included articles on employment of Punjabi immigrants in BC, racism, and the political situation in Punjab. The group later also published Watan: A Quarterly of Punjabi Language, Literature, and Culture and the related magazine Ankur. Theatre was seen as a way to reach the wider community with the association’s messages. One of Vancouver Sath’s first plays was Picket Line, written by Sadhu Binning and Sukhwant Hundal and based on the Hoss Farming Company strike in 1984. In 1988, Vancouver Sath produced A Crop of Poison, a play examining pesticide use and related health problems for farmworkers. These plays were performed at CFU events, other cultural events, and in the community.

Related groups of records within the same collection: Records relating to the Pesticide Registration Review may be found in Sub-series 5.1: Pesticides subject files and photographs.