Workers at Cargill Defend Their Rights

Opening of Cargill's High River Plant

UFCW Local 401 President Thomas Hesse speaks outside the Cargill plant, May 4, 2020, denounces the company's decision to re-open the plant. The union had tried unsuccessfully to have the Alberta government prevent the plant from re-opening.

The giant U.S. owned monopoly Cargill reopened its High River plant on May 4 in violation of the clear stand of the workers and their union that the plant should not re-open until they were satisfied that it was safe. As of May 4, 981 workers out of 2,000 had tested positive for COVID-19, and the workers point out that many workers who were sick have never been tested.

UFCW Local 401 President Thomas Hesse said that Cargill is on probation. The union advised workers that if they are healthy and have been called and medically cleared to return to work, they should report to their supervisor. However, Hesse emphasized again, if the workers find the plant to be unsafe, they have the right to refuse unsafe work. "If you don't really think it is safe to work, then don't," he said. He also advised the workers to immediately contact the union if they felt the company was not keeping them safe.

"Governments may disappoint us in their failure to put ordinary, working people first, but being part of a union is the best way to be able to push back and not be silenced. As your union, we will never let you be invisible. We will never let you be without a voice. Never!" Hesse said.

"THE SITUATION AT CARGILL IS SERIOUS, AND THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE. COVID-19 is deadly. It has killed a Cargill worker and made people desperately ill. It is reported that 921 [now 981 -- WF Ed.] of the roughly 2,000 people who work at the Cargill High River plant have now tested positive for COVID-19. There are over 1,500 positive cases now linked to the plant. No one should be surprised that we have looked for the plant to close until it is clearly safe. There are few who disagree with us."

Alberta's two major beef processing plants are the site of Canada's largest two COVID-19 outbreaks — the first at Cargill and the second at the JBS beef-processing plant in Brooks. On May 5, it was announced that a third plant in Alberta, Harmony Beef, located in Balzac just north of Calgary, has 34 cases of COVID-19. The Agricultural Union which represents the meat inspectors at the plant has called for the plant to be closed. The plant itself is non-union.

The Alberta Labour Relations Board refused to hold an emergency meeting and to act on the union's demand that the plant remain closed until the union could determine that it was safe for the workers to return. Alberta Occupational Health and Safety also refused to take immediate action needed and issue a stop work order to safeguard the health and very lives of the workers. The Labour Board hearing will begin on May 7, three days after the plant reopened.  

"There will be a reckoning at Cargill," UFCW Local 401 President, Thomas Hesse, said on May 6. "In a matter of months, our members at Cargill will be in a legal strike position, and the anxiety and fear they are feeling now will need to be addressed. Fear becomes anger. All eyes are on their employer, and Cargill is on probation."

On May 4 the harvest department or kill floor was opened and the fabrication department where meat is processed opened May 6. Representatives of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 have been at the plant gates every day to provide information to workers who came to work and to provide workers with masks, and other unions have joined them, to show their support. On May 4 about 60 to 70 workers came to work. There are 2,000 workers at the plant. Three school buses retrofitted with seat partitions to bring workers who normally carpool to work arrived. One was empty except for the driver, and another carried one person. Local 401 President Tom Hesse told the CBC that Cargill is barely running on one wheel, not four as they suggest, and that while a cow would normally be disassembled in 40 minutes, it actually took one hour and forty minutes. 

Hesse stressed that it is the workers who know what is going on in the plant, and what has happened there. However the Chief Medical Officer of Health is not basing her decision that the plant is safe on the evidence of the workers, but on hearsay evidence, which is not a valid foundation for drawing conclusions. Workers have spoken out about how they were cleared to work even though they had symptoms, had positive COVID-19 test results, had not completed the required isolation periods and had recently travelled abroad.

Who do those in authority think they are fooling when they repeat over and over that Cargill has assured them that the plant is safe? The workers are not reassured by Public Health Officer Dr. Hinshaw or any other official, Hesse pointed out. But no government or legal authority has intervened to keep the plant shut until the workers and their union are satisfied that the plant is safe, he said.

Hesse pointed out that the union has tried to work with Cargill to develop sensible procedures and policies, but the company's culture is about moving as many cattle through the plant as they can. Cargill normally processes about 4,000 head of cattle each day, about 40 per cent of Canada's beef supply.

"Cargill is owned by the Cargill family. When we communicate with them we communicate with Wichita, Kansas. Cargill is a family owned business. Fifteen of the family members are billionaires, the fourth richest family, I am told, in the United States, and you don't get rich like that unless you know how to make money and every cow that moves through that plant is profit and so that motivation is a natural part of business. But it is incumbent upon society and policy makers and governments to ensure that workplaces are safe, and profit does not just drive what happens in society and this is especially important at this time."

"We believe that this plant should close until Cargill has proven that they care about worker health and safety and that it matters more than profits. Unfortunately, our pleas to the Alberta government and Alberta Occupational Health and Safety have fallen on deaf ears so far, Hesse said. "We have not given up. We are continuing to pressure Cargill in every possible way to ensure your safety....

"Some positive things are happening. There has been an outpouring of sympathy and support for Alberta's food workers. So many groups are working with us to be there for you. For example, today, we delivered grocery gift cards to Migrante, a group working hard to build solidarity and deliver essential supplies to those in need. Every Albertan and every Canadian is now watching Cargill. The public wants to know that you are safe when you eventually enter that plant.

"Our hope is in each other. Workers themselves can control their destiny by acting in solidarity. As your union, we will be there to support every choice you make."

Representatives of CUPE Alberta and Health Sciences Association of Alberta join UFCW Local 401 members at the Cargill plant, May 5, 2020.

(Photos: UFCW Local 401, Bayan, Action Dignity)

This article was published in

Number 32 - May 7, 2020

Article Link:
Workers at Cargill Defend Their Rights: Opening of Cargill's High River Plant

    

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