The conflict between labour and the meat-processing industry in Alberta shows no signs of abating.
The workers are mostly immigrants and temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and they–and their unions–have concerns about the workers’ health.
Now, a third facility — Harmony Beef in Balzac — has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday — the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a multimillion-dollar aid package aimed at helping farmers and food processors navigate the novel coronavirus pandemic — the union that represents federal food inspectors called for Harmony Beef to be closed
Production at Harmony was temporarily halted in March after the first COVID-19 case at the facility was reported and the Canada Food Inspection Agency refused to allow inspectors into the plant.
As of Tuesday, Health Alberta had connected 36 coronavirus cases at the plant.
The company disputes that figure, saying in a statement it was aware of a total of 25 employee cases and only one within the “first five days of May.”
The statement said “almost all cases were asymptomatic,” adding that there have been “no hospitalizations,” and that steps have been taken to implement plant-wide testing of all employees.
The statement listed safety precautions Harmony is taking.
They include providing personal protective equipment, including surgical masks to employees each day, increasing sanitizing efforts, installing dividers, staggering shifts and limiting car-pooling.
The new developments came a day after workers returned to work at the Cargill plant in High River, two weeks after Cargill closed the facility following the death of an elderly female worker from the virus that has now been linked to a total of 1,500 cases of COVID-19, including over 900 workers, the majority of whom are Filipino.
The union, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, took legal action but failed to block the reopening of the plant, which Cargill says has been upgraded for safety.
In a poll of more than 600 workers in four languages – English, Spanish, Tagalog and Punjabi – last weekend, the union found that 85 per cent said they were afraid to return to work and 80 per cent said they did not want the plant to reopen Monday.
Meanwhile, the JBS facility in Brooks, which has reported more than 300 COVID-19 cases, remains open, though calls for it to close continue.
With files from CBC News (Rachel Ward, Robson Fletcher, Joel Dryden, Sarah Rieger, Thomson Reuters, Catharine Tunney, Janyce McGregor), The Canadian Press (Bill Graveland), RCI
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