Cargill meat plant reopens as union continues to fight

HIGH RIVER (660 NEWS) – Despite dealing with an outbreak that has infected nearly half of its workers, the Cargill meat plant in High River will reopen Monday.

The plant shut down two weeks ago following the outbreak that has now hit 917 of the 2,000 employees with one person dying from the virus.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 (UFCW) continues to fight the move to reopen saying it will use any legal action necessary to keep the plant closed.

UFCW Local 401 President Thomas Hesse at Cargill High River, #Alberta pic.twitter.com/Rq7szKzgXp

— UFCW LOCAL 401 (@ufcw401) May 4, 2020

Last week, the union requested a stop-work order from Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and filed an Unfair Labour Practice Complaint naming both Cargill and the Alberta Government as respondents.

In a statement, UFCW 401 said: “Cargill and the Government of Alberta have ignored our calls for a worker-centre approach to ensuring the plant is safe.”

“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.”

To protect workers at Cargill High River, we've requested a stop work order from Alberta OHS and filed an Unfair Labour Practice Complaint naming both Cargill and the Alberta Government as respondents. https://t.co/oV3AVKz2iI #canlab #ableg #UFCW pic.twitter.com/pR0NMnntCu

— UFCW LOCAL 401 (@ufcw401) May 1, 2020

Meanwhile, Cargill said it has the support of OHS and Alberta Health Services to continue operations, saying it will operate on two shifts at this time.

“We want to emphasize that employees should be healthy and not had contact with anyone with the COVID-19 virus for 14 days,” the company said in a statement. “Alberta Health Services will be on-site and we will conduct ongoing screening to safeguard employees and ensure no one exhibiting symptoms enters the facility.”

"We care about our employees and this community," says Cargill. Saying it has the support of AHS & Occupational Health and Safety to reopen. The company says a majority of its staff is healthy/recovered from #COVIDー19. Cargill will start running two shifts #Calgary #yyc @660NEWS pic.twitter.com/iwPwSA7cQE

— Saif Kaisar (@StaySaif) May 4, 2020

The Opposition NDP is also calling for the plant to remain closed, saying about 85 per cent of workers feel scared to go back. They’re also calling for similar action to be taken for the JBS Canada plant in Brooks which has seen nearly 400 workers infected.

Despite the concerns, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Cargill’s new measures it implemented at the plant are sufficient to stop a second outbreak.

“Based on these on-site inspections and their assessment of the situation, my colleagues at Alberta Health Services have indicated that they feel these measures are sufficient to prevent the spread of infection.”