DRESDEN – More than 100 offshore workers, newly arrived to help process the area’s tomato crop, received a weekend show of appreciation from two companies as the harvest season gets underway.
Food-processing giant Conagra Brands and FarmGate Advisors Inc. held the “Guest Worker Appreciation Day” event for the Jamaican workers on Saturday that included a catered meal from Yardie Vibez, a Jamaican food restaurant in Chatham.
The Jamaicans, among thousands of offshore laborers who work in the province’s farm belt each year, many of them in Southwestern Ontario, have been arriving recently for the tomato-processing season at Conagra’s local plant.
FarmGate appreciates that the workers choose the company to do their tax returns, something that came about through a relationship with Conagra, said Nancy Melnyk, FarmGate’s client care co-ordinator. The workers also benefit area businesses by buying things they need while working here and other items to take home, she noted.
“It’s very important to do this, because we need each other,” Melnyk said of the appreciation event. “The guest workers need to know they’re appreciated. They need to feel welcome and they need to feel at home.”
Pisley Gaynor, who’s been coming from Jamaica to work for 33 years, said the thank-you event is appreciated and the workers can ask FarmGate – “good people . . . nice people” – any questions about their taxes and they’ll help.
“They do a perfect job,” he said.
Miguel Warberton, another worker from Jamaica, said he appreciates “everything that goes on from Day 1” as the season begins.
The welcome was “great” and “I hope it continues,” he added.