It’s High Noon for Canadian Beef in Cargill Showdown With Union

Jen Skerritt
Fri, November 26, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. meatpacking giant Cargill Inc. and union workers at one of Canada’s biggest beef plants are bracing for a showdown, with talks early next week offering up a chance to break a labor impasse that threatens to upend the country’s meat supply.Cargill is scheduled to meet union representatives from its beef processing plant in High River, Alberta on Tuesday in what’s likely to be a final attempt to reach a deal on a new labor contract for about 2,000 workers. The stakes are high: Cargill’s facility accounts for roughly 40% of Canadian beef processing capacity, so any threats of a strike or lockout could disrupt the nation’s meat supply when beef prices are already soaring amid supply chain snags.Cargill’s last offer included a 19% wage hike over the course of the five-year contract, plus a one-time C$1,200 ($940) bonus. That was rejected on Nov. 24 by workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union Local 401. The union has since said the plant workers will go on strike at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 6 unless a deal can be reached. Cargill responded with the threat of locking out employees on that date, and shifting production to other facilities to avoid disruption.

“We’ve both reached the end,’’ Scott Payne, a spokesman for UFCW Local 401, said in an interview. “It’s their final flex of muscle, saying we either get a deal next week or we’re locking you out.’’The labor dispute comes about a year after a massive Covid-19 outbreak at the High River plant sickened nearly half of the facility’s 2,000 staff and led to disruptions across the Canadian meat supply chain. The spread of infections led to the facility’s temporary closure, leaving thousands of cows awaiting slaughter on farms and prompting McDonald’s Corp.’s Canadian unit to start importing beef to meet its needs.

Meat plants in Canada and the U.S. became hot spots for Covid-19 last year as outbreaks forced the closure of some of the biggest slaughterhouses. Employees work in close proximity on some processing lines, sometimes described as “elbow-to-elbow.”

Workers ``have just been through hell’’ and are pushing Cargill to put forward an offer acknowledging that, Payne said. He said Cargill will probably have a difficult time finding replacement workers in the event of a stoppage as the meat processing jobs require special training and Cargill is already having difficulty attracting new staff.Workers across North America have been able to get the upper hand in labor negotiations as businesses struggle to recruit staff just as economies are reopening and recovering from a pandemic slump. A four-week strike at Deere & Co.’s U.S. plants ended earlier this month after about 10,000 unionized workers accepted a contract that boosted pay and retirement benefits.For Cargill’s High River plant workers, company spokesman Dan Sullivan says its current offer is five times higher than the industry standard. “We remain determined and hopeful that we can reach an agreement during this period,” he said.


Media Release: NFU solidarity with workers at Cargill’s High River beef packing plant


Tee Pee Creek, AB – The National Farmers Union (NFU) is concerned that the lockout notice issued by Cargill Foods at its beef processing plant in High River has the potential to hurt workers, ranchers and consumers.

“Given the record profitability of beef processors over recent months, the wage increase being offered by Cargill is derisory at best,” said Iain Aitken, cattle rancher at Belmont, MB. “We support workers' attempts to achieve better working conditions and fairer pay for the difficult and dangerous work they undertake, which was exposed by the April 2020 Covid outbreak when nearly half the plant’s workforce was infected and two workers, Benito Quesada and Hiep Bui, tragically lost their lives.”

“The NFU stands in solidarity with the UFCW workers at Cargill’s High River plant and supports their right to negotiate a fair wage and benefits in exchange for their labour,” said Neil Peacock, who raises cattle in the Peace River region of Alberta.

“We are worried that failure to reach an agreement by the December 6th deadline has the potential to wreak further havoc on cattle operations already struggling financially as a result of drought and skyrocketing feed costs” added Aitken. “Any interruption of beef processing at the plant will cause another backlog of slaughter cattle to build up in the feedlots, plummeting cattle prices and risk of store shelves being empty.”

“This dispute, along with the temporary shutdown of the plant due to Covid in 2020, highlights the problems in the food processing sector of our nation and the potential harm to our food sovereignty and food security,” Peacock added. “Concentration of the beef packing sector has not only led to depressed wages for plant workers but also depressed prices to Canada's farmers and feeders -- while Canadian consumers pay high prices at the super market.”

“Once again this highlights the systemic weakness that corporate concentration has created, whereby one processing plant handles more than 30% of the national beef cattle kill. We need more smaller-scale, local processing capacity across the country to mitigate the risks so clearly demonstrated here,” said Aitken.

The NFU asks that Canadians support the workers right to negotiate a fair deal and asks that Canadians contact their elected representatives to take a hard look at the concentration of power within our agriculture food sector.
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**Translation supported by Heritage Canada
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Communiqué de presse: Solidarité de l’UNF avec les travailleurs et les travailleuses de l’usine de transformation du bœuf de Cargill, à High River


Tee Pee Creek, AB – L’Union nationale des fermiers (UNF) est préoccupée que le préavis de lock-out émis par Cargill Foods à son usine de transformation du bœuf, de High River, a le potentiel de nuire aux travailleurs, aux éleveurs et aux consommateurs.

« Étant donné la profitabilité record des transformateurs de bœuf au cours des derniers mois, l’augmentation salariale offerte par Cargill est vraiment dérisoire, » expliquait Iain Aitken, un éleveur de bovins à Belmont, MB. « Nous appuyons les tentatives des travailleurs et travailleuses d’obtenir de meilleures conditions de travail et un meilleur salaire en échange pour le travail difficile et dangereux qu’ils font, et qui furent exposés à l’épidémie de Covid en avril 2020, alors que presque la moitié de la main-d’œuvre fut infectée et que deux travailleurs, Benito Quesada et Hiep Bui, ont tragiquement perdu leurs vies. »

« L’UNF est solidaire avec les travailleurs et travailleuses des TUAC à l’usine Cargill, à High River, et elle appuie leurs droits de négocier un salaire équitable et de bons avantages en échange pour leur travail, » déclarait Neil Peacock, qui élève du bétail dans la région de Peace River, en Alberta.

« Nous sommes préoccupés que l’impossibilité d’en arriver à un accord d’ici la date limite du 6 décembre a le potentiel de faire des ravages additionnels dans les exploitations bovines, qui font déjà face à des difficultés financières causées par la sécheresse et la montée en flèche des coûts de l’alimentation des animaux, » ajoutait Aitken.

« Toute interruption de la transformation du bœuf à cette usine va causer un autre retard et l’accumulation de bovins dans les parcs d’engraissement, une chute des prix du bétail et le risque que les tablettes des magasins soient vides. »

« Cette dispute, ainsi que la fermeture temporaire de l’usine à cause de la Covid en 2020, met en évidence les problèmes dans le secteur de la transformation des aliments de notre nation et le tort potentiel à notre souveraineté alimentaire et à notre sécurité alimentaire, » ajoutait Peacock. « La concentration du secteur de la transformation du bœuf a non seulement mené à des salaires inférieurs pour les travailleurs et travailleuses de l’usine, mais aussi à la réduction des prix aux fermiers et aux éleveurs du Canada – tout cela alors que les consommateurs canadiens payent des prix plus élevés au supermarché. »

« Une fois de plus, cela souligne la faiblesse systémique créée par la concentration dans les mains des grandes entreprises, alors qu’une usine de transformation à elle seule gère plus de 30 % de l’abattage national des bovins de boucherie. Il nous faut des capacités de transformation locales et à petite échelle à travers le pays afin d’atténuer les risques si clairement démontrés ici, » déclarait Aitken.

L’UNF demande aux Canadiens et aux Canadiennes d’appuyer le droit des travailleurs de négocier une entente équitable, en plus de demander à nos concitoyens et concitoyennes de contacter leurs élus et leur demander d’examiner de près la concentration du pouvoir au sein de notre secteur agro-alimentaire.

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