Occupational Health and Safety: The Experience of Cargill Workers

When the Cargill plant in High River re-opened after a COVID-19 outbreak it was the workers' union,  UFCW Local 401 which met the returning workers with masks and safety information.

Under current legislation in Alberta, Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) is responsible for enforcing compliance with provincial legislation. The legislation states enforcement is through "education, work site inspections, and other enforcement measures" including "proactive inspections and responding to complaints and incidents at provincially regulated workplaces."

The Alberta government's recent review of OH&S legislation is based on neo-liberal mantras that speak about the need for "flexibility," to rid the legislation of "burdensome" and "over-prescriptive" regulations that inhibit "innovation." A central aim of the review is to smash any public authority responsible for establishing and enforcing standards in the public interest and replacing it with rule by narrow private interests.

The experience of workers at the Cargill meat packing plant in High River, Alberta and their community reveals what such an aim and catch-phrases and self-regulation serving private interests mean in real life. Not until hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 with many becoming sick and two workers and a family member dying from the virus did OH&S finally "inspect" the worksite. It did not inform the union of the inspection as required by law; it did not speak to a single worker and did not inform or convene the worksite OH&S Committee. No one from OH&S actually went into the plant. The "inspection" was carried out by Cargill management who showed the OH&S inspectors part of the plant with a video camera, at a time when the kill floor was not even operating.

Despite the claims of "everyone" being involved in the inspection, the company called the shots. It actively worked to exclude the workers and the union from even receiving information, never mind upholding their right to participate in making decisions about health and safety issues.

OH&S followed the directives of a premier who was hell bent on keeping the meat packing plants open. It imposed no penalties on Cargill for what is widely perceived by Albertans as gross negligence. OH&S concluded everything was fine and did not order the plant to shut down to avoid contagion until such a time alternatives were put in place which protect the workers within that specific working environment.

The actions of the workers and their union finally forced Cargill to act, albeit reluctantly. For as long as it could, Cargill resisted implementing the measures the UFCW Local 401 proposed. It resisted closing the plant, and pressured workers to return to work during the quarantine period. As a consequence, almost 1,000 workers tested positive, two workers and a family member died, and the virus was transmitted to many in the community who became sick as well.

Throughout the stressful ordeal, government has permitted Cargill to act with impunity. The organized resistance of the workers, their affirmation of their right to refuse unsafe work, their courage in speaking out and exposing the conditions at Cargill, and the determined work of UFCW Local 401 finally forced the company to shut down and to bring in the safety standards and equipment they demanded, which brought the pandemic under control at the plant.

To working people, the problem with current health and safety at the plant and throughout Canada is clear. Consultations are phony, warranted conclusions about the matter at hand are not drawn or seen to be drawn, and decision-making power has been usurped by narrow private interests. From the vantage point of those who hold class privilege and wield power to serve their narrow private interests, laws are needed which impede any resistance whatsoever on the part of the workers.  Ruling elites say the problem is with workers who are lazy, greedy or unreasonable and blame them and their actions for endangering the safety of others, the economy and so on. They say that exceptional times require exceptional measures which justify the removal of regulations that are "over-prescriptive," "burdensome" and so on. They declare "flexibility" is required to remove obstacles to "innovation." The more excuses they give, the more the need to remove them from office in favour of those who bring in a pro-social agenda is revealed.

Exceptional circumstances require that standards and protocols in fact be upheld and used to find a way forward. To remove them willy nilly in the name of high ideals is in fact the prescription for anarchy, violence and terrorism, not security, coherence and unity of the people to face the dangers calmly. As it stands what is required today is to strengthen health and safety protocols to protect workers, their families and communities and the country as a whole.

Cargill workers have emerged from this ordeal with a heightened sense of their collective strength to defend their rights. They are remaining pro-active and vigilant to ensure safety precautions continue to be implemented. By speaking out and defending their rights, Cargill workers have drawn attention to problems existing long before the pandemic, conditions that threaten their health, safety and well-being. They are demanding, in essence, the right to have an effective voice and the power to decide what serves the interests of working people and the broad interests of society.

This article was published in

Number 55 - August 20, 2020

Article Link:
Occupational Health and Safety: The Experience of Cargill Workers

    

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