UFCW hands out masks and information to workers entering Cargill after
plant reopened following COVID outbreak, May 5, 2020.
Neo-liberal globalization has imposed inhuman working conditions in the
meat processing industry. These include breakneck line speeds, a big
contributor to the high rate of workplace injuries and illnesses, low
pay, and a culture of threats, intimidation and bullying, including the
pressure to work sick even under
COVID-19.
Health
and safety has been and remains a major concern for the workers at
Cargill in High River, Alberta. In a recent study, in which several
hundred Cargill workers took part, 34 per cent reported that they had
been injured at work and 42 per cent that they had tested positive for
COVID-19. The deaths of two workers, Benito Quesada and
Hiep Bui Nguyen, and family member Armando Sallegue from COVID-19
remain on the workers' minds. The trauma of these deaths and the
infection of 949 workers in the first wave of COVID-19 alone is
still raw, and they are determined not to allow Cargill to carry on
"business as usual."
The Cargill workers and their union, Local 401 United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW) showed throughout the pandemic that it
is the workers who know what is needed and whose demands must be
implemented to ensure the safety and health of the workers, their
families and communities.
A representative of Local 401 recently spoke to Workers' Forum about
the fight the workers have waged to defend their right to a healthy and
safe workplace, a fight which is ongoing, including the collective work
to ensure that Cargill lives up to the new collective agreement the
workers recently ratified.
Despite the tragic loss of three lives and trauma to the workers at
Cargill, when Cargill came to the negotiating table with the bargaining
committee, not once in their opening statement did they mention the
pandemic. Cargill still does not acknowledge its failure to keep the
workplace safe or how gravely they mismanaged the outbreak, or take
any responsibility for the illnesses and tragic deaths. The
overwhelming conclusion of the workers is that Cargill does not make
any effort to keep the workers safe. The workers know that their active
participation is decisive in the fight for their right to a safe and
healthy workplace.
Workers
are insisting that Cargill take COVID-19 protocols seriously in the
face of the company's attitude that now that people are vaccinated
health and safety protocols can be relaxed. This is not a reason to relax
protocols, the workers say. A meat processing plant is tailor-made for
COVID-19 to spread. Keeping the workplace sanitary requires
constant and enhanced cleaning. Workers work very close together and
there are many factors related to the working conditions which can lead
to an outbreak. Improved sick time is an important issue so that no
worker is put in the position of having to choose between coming to
work sick or not being able to pay rent and buy food for their
families.
There are various structures and protocols already in place with
respect to health and safety at the plant, including the Joint Health
and Safety Committee, but workers say that when they raise issues there
they are not taken seriously. Meetings take place but then there is no
action.
Another important issue is scheduling, to ensure that work is being
done safely, and workers get the breaks they need. Working
short-staffed is a big problem. The Cargill plant is usually short
several hundred workers, and health and safety suffer when people are
tired and overworked. When there are only seven people where there
should be ten,
this is not safe, the workers point out, and in addition it takes time
to carry out the safety protocols.
Cargill speaks of "ongoing recruitment efforts locally" and "a lack
of skilled workers to fill key positions in recent months." In fact the
"for hire" sign never goes down, and it now contains an offer of
sign-on bonuses. Cargill and other meat packers complain that
"Canadians do not want to do this work." For many years they have used
the
temporary foreign workers program to recruit a vulnerable workforce
whose work permits tie them to the plant, as well as refugee settlement
programs. According to Cargill's website, since 2007, they worked
closely with the Alberta Government to recruit over 1,000 foreign
workers from both the Philippines and Mexico.
Cargill and other meat processors have asked the federal government
to increase the cap on temporary foreign workers to 30 per cent of the
workforce.
Early in negotiations for the new contract, Cargill wanted the union
to make it easier for them to hire temporary foreign workers and
provide fewer supports, a demand the union rejected. What Cargill needs
to do, the union said, is to treat workers with respect, improve wages,
sick time, benefits, and working conditions, including slowing the
frantic
speed of production which leads to injuries.
The workers say that Cargill has to recognize that it cannot be
"business as usual." Their experience with the pandemic has proved that
time and space are needed to be able to work in a safe fashion. When
the line is moving at a pace that the workers cannot keep up with, this
is unsafe. The workers want the line speed posted so they have proof when the line speed has been increased.
When the company said it was safe to go to work during the pandemic,
the Local 401 representative said, it failed the workers; it was not
truthful with them. He said that the workers report that their
experience, particularly the fight for safe working conditions, has
emboldened and empowered them to speak up because when they stand
together
they can make a difference.
The experience of the Cargill workers has proven to them that it was
the actions of the workers and the union, not the company or the
government of Alberta, that forced the shutdown and other measures to
protect them at the height of the pandemic and that workers' health and
safety cannot be left in the hands of the company and the
government. In its statement on the ratification of a new collective
agreement, the Union said:
"The injustices at Cargill, however, are not made right by the
contract. Local 401 and its activists look to the future to enforce the
new rights of Cargill workers in this unprecedented collective
agreement."
Local 401 United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) represents
the 2,000 workers at the Cargill plant in High River, Alberta.
It reported that the new collective agreement contains "significant
contract provisions to facilitate a new culture of health, safety,
dignity, and respect in the workplace."
This article was published in
December 8, 2021 - No. 117
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO081172.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
