On the Current Situation at Cargill in High River, Alberta
The High River plant was closed two weeks ago, after workers stayed away in large numbers. Despite the number of workers testing positive growing day by day, Cargill has announced that the plant will re-open on Monday, May 4. In response, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 has sought a stop work order from Alberta Occupational Health and Safety and filed an Unfair Labour Practice Complaint, naming both Cargill and the Government of Alberta as respondents. The Alberta government states that it requires essential services, including food processing, to abide by social distancing guidelines and other measures to limit the spread of coronavirus. However, Cargill was allowed to continue to force workers to work elbow to elbow under the guise that the company was doing what was "possible," to harass workers to come to work even if they were ill, and to provide personal protective equipment, such as face shields, to the supervisors but not the workers. Cargill said in a statement April 29 that it had the support of Alberta Health Services and Occupational Health and Safety to reopen. The union points out that they said it was safe when there were 38 workers who had tested positive. UFCW Local 401 called for closure of the plant at that time, but it took 18 days before the plant was finally closed. A representative of Migrante reports that there are about 500 temporary foreign workers at the plant. UFCW has negotiated clauses in its collective agreement requiring the employer to nominate temporary foreign workers for the Provincial Nominee Program for permanent residency, on the basis Good Enough to Work, Good Enough to Stay. The majority of the workers there are either current or former temporary foreign workers, with the majority coming from the Philippines, while there are others from all over Asia, Africa and Latin America.
UFCW Local 401 President Tom Hesse has made it clear that although the union recognizes that it is illegal to take strike action during the life of a collective agreement, workers have a right to refuse unsafe work. Workers at Cargill are very aware of their right to refuse unsafe work, and the union will support workers who exercise that right, he said. Hesse has issued the following statement on the union's legal moves: "Cargill and the Government of Alberta have ignored our calls for a worker-centred approach to ensuring the plant is safe. Alberta Health Services inspection reports have not been shared with us, and Occupational Health and Safety inspections have omitted the serious concerns we have raised. "The whole point of having a union is for powerful, unqualified representation. One of the reasons that unions exist is to promote and defend the right to workplace health and safety.
"Food workers are afraid to go to work in the current environment. They lack the economic security they need to recover, and they are terrified of bringing this illness to their families and communities. While they try to recover, their employer and government are telling them to get back to work. This recklessly endangers their lives and puts the interests of their bosses first...." It is reported that a meeting finally took place on May 2 in the plant with the union and Alberta Health Services present. Speaking to CBC on May 2, Hesse informed that an emergency hearing is being held at the Alberta Labour Relations Board to prevent the plant from opening on May 4, adding that it is not known how long the process will take. A request made by UFCW on April 30 to the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Department to issue a stop work order to close the plant has not been met. Hesse went on to recount the experience of workers at a U.S. meat processing plant, which reopened after being closed for two weeks, and COVID-19 infections doubled and workers died. The union does not want that to happen here, and with the Cargill plant having the largest work-related outbreak in North America, the plant must not re-open until everything is put in place so that the workers can return safely. No civilized country would send its workers back to work under these circumstances, Hesse added. He said that if the legal proceeding fails, a large number of workers will refuse to work in an unsafe workplace and the union is counselling them on their rights on this issue.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Nine hundred and
eight of the 2,000 workers at the Cargill
plant in High River, Alberta have now tested
positive for
COVID-19, with 631 declared recovered. At least
seven workers are
in hospital and five are in intensive care. One
Cargill worker
and a close contact have died. There are 1,385
cases of COVID-19
in High River, which has a population of less than
14,000. High
River is about 60 kms south of Calgary, and
Cargill workers live
in Calgary as well as High River. The situation is
also extremely
serious at the JBS plant in Brooks, which has 390
confirmed cases
and 456 cases in the community. When added
together, 42 per cent
of all of Alberta's cases are linked to these
plants that are owned by
giant foreign monopolies who control the
meatpacking industry and
together process 70 per cent of Canada's beef. 
UFCW Local 401 has
published on its website the results of a survey
of the workers, conducted in four languages, to
which 600
responded. Two questions were posed to the
workers: 1) Do you
think the plant should re-open? and 2) Are you
afraid to go to
work? The website reports that 80 per cent of the
workers have
said 
"It is our
objective and role to use every legal avenue
available to us to keep the Cargill High River
plant closed until
we are able to ensure the safety of workers
employed there and
that their voices have been heard.