Meat Plant Re-opening in Alberta

Despite what the union for workers of an Alberta meat-packing plant has tried to do, they were unable to prevent the opening of a local meat-packing plant, Cargill. They had the largest COVID-19 outbreak in North America. There were 921 known cases at the plant that has 2,000 employees. A worker in her 60s died and her husband was later hospitalized with COVID-19.
 
In mid-April, Cargill announced that the plant was temporarily shutting down operations for a couple of weeks. The meatpacking plant, Cargill, supplies 40% of the beef in Canada. It has now announced that they would resume operations with one shift. They also said that operations would resume with added safety measures in place.
 
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Chief Medical Officer in Alberta said that the Alberta Health Services officials have inspected the facility and that it appears to be safe. However, Thomas Hesse who represents the United Food and Commercial Workers union said the workers are afraid, and they have tried to get a stop-work order from Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. Their efforts have failed despite ongoing negotiations.
 
At the time of this article, the situation had not been resolved. The efforts on the part of the union have not succeeded, as they haven't been able to convince the government or legal authorities to step up to ensure that the plant stays closed due to safety concerns. The union lawyers are looking at new strategies.
 
Despite the company’s desire to resume business as usual, they still need to convince the employees that it is safe to do so. Many of the company employees are reluctant to return to work at the plant due to safety concerns. This isn’t just a problem for Cargill but it appears to be a problem for other businesses that want to resume business as usual.
 
Many of the businesses, such as Cargill, have to act quickly to fix the problem so that employees are comfortable with returning to work. A rally was held at the facility and face masks with the words “Safety First” was embossed on them. Cargill sent out a statement to employees that said any employees who are healthy and eligible to work have been asked to return to work.
 
Health officials have said that the majority of the plant's employees are healthy and those who were sick have recovered. Cargill said that they are grateful to their workers for their dedication and resilience as the plant and community walk through this pandemic.
 
The union website reads: "If you are healthy and have been called and cleared to return to work, you should report to your supervisor. "If you don't think it is safe to work, then don't."
 
According to a union survey conducted on 600 workers, 80% said that they do not want the plant to reopen and 85% reported that they are afraid to go back to work at the plant despite its reassurance of being safe.