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By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

COVID-19 CONCERNS

Union seeking two-week shutdown at Red Deer Olymel facility

Apr 20, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The union representing workers at the Olymel pork processing plant in Red Deer is seeking a two-week shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company says that’s not an option at this time.

Richard Vigneault, Olymel spokesperson, says UFCW 401 has requested such a measure, but the current situation does not justify it just yet.

“We are taking all precautions recommended by public health authorities in Alberta and at the federal level, because we are at the jurisdiction of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” he says. “We are talking every day and cooperating, and the union is cooperating very well with the management of the plant. Lots of measures are being enforced.”

Vigneault says Olymel has hired professionals with health expertise to screen employees when they arrive. Eight portable trailers are also on site to house employees who show up presenting with high temperatures.

More than 1,500 employees work at the Red Deer facility, located along Riverside Drive across from the Civic Yards.

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“Measures implemented also include staggered break times for dayshift workers so that only 25 per cent of employees are on break at one time instead of 100, there is reduced production line speed, safe distancing line markings throughout the facility, an increased number of hand washing stations, and all of these are in addition to the existing food safety measures in place,” Vigneault explains.

He says they’ve also brought on six extra janitors to help sanitize the facility and have posted signage reminding staff of how many people are allowed to gather in any given area.

Plastic dividers have been installed in production areas where physical distancing is not possible, and more N95 face masks have been made available to staff. There are also daily safety meetings, Vigneault says.

“We’re not waiting a week to answer a question, it’s a daily task,” he shares. “We are very, very open to our employees. Anytime they have a concern we are being very transparent and very helpful.

“They do a job that is very necessary,” he says, “necessary for producers, necessary for the food chain. So we want them to be very cautious.”

But Thomas Hesse, president of United Food and Commercial Workers 401, says while the measures taken are positive, it’s not what the union prefers.

“They had temperature screening at Cargill Foods in High River, and now they hav 358 cases (of COVID-19). The disease can be carried without having a temperature. That’s the issue here,” stresses Hesse.

“All we are asking is to err on the side of caution. If there is an outbreak there, how many diagnoses will it take for Olymel to close? Will it be 5, 10, 20?”

Hesse points out that Olymel did, on March 29, temporarily shutter one plant in Yamachiche, Quebec where more than 100 positive cases of COVID-19 have since been confirmed. At the time of closure, there were nine cases detected.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but there is no cure, no vaccine, no treatment. When there’s no cure, there should be 10,000 pounds of prevention,” he remarks.

“I know at least one worker who’s in a Calgary hospital. He was a temporary foreign worker who had come to Canada to build a better life, he acquired citizenship, and now he’s in hospital in a medically-induced coma on a ventilator fighting for his life. So we’ve asked Olymel to hit the pause button.”

Meantime, Hesse notes, multiple workers at a JBS plant in Brooks have also tested positive for the coronavirus. However, it and the Cargill plant in High River remain open and operating.

UFCW 401 represents workers at both of those plants also.

As for Olymel in Red Deer, Hesse says knowing that the union has demanded a two-week shutdown, he can sleep well at night.

“It will be too late when people are sick and it’s spread throughout the community,” he says.

“These are inherently and profoundly risky places to work because every one of them is designed around proximity and efficiency. It’s a dangerous job because it’s wet, cold, loud, workers are using knives, and this is causing psychological stress.

“Workers are afraid and their nerves are raw.”

Hesse noted as well that UFCW 401, which is the largest private sector union in western Canada, plans to ask the government to formulate a plan to restrict how often Canadians can go to grocery stores as long as the pandemic continues.