Ottawa earmarks $77-million to protect meat plant workers, but union says it misses mark
Source: The Globe & Mail
Ottawa, May 5 2020 - Ottawa is providing $77-million in funding to help slaughterhouses and other food producers outfit their employees with protective gear and adapt their plants to facilitate physical distancing – a move aimed at ensuring workplace safety and a stable food supply.
The unions representing workers and inspectors say the approach is misguided, and they are reiterating their calls for the temporary shutdown of plants hit with COVID-19.
Tuesday’s announcement came one day after Cargill Ltd. reopened its High River, Alta., beef slaughterhouse following a two-week closure due to labour shortages caused by the illness. The plant is the site of Canada’s single largest COVID-19 outbreak; nearly half of the facility’s 2,000 workers have tested positive in recent weeks. The country’s second-largest outbreak is at another Alberta slaughterhouse, JBS Canada’s facility in Brooks, which has 487 cases and has cut its processing capacity in half. Together, the slaughterhouses account for roughly 70 per cent of the country’s beef production.
The $77-million is part of a wider $252-million package announced Tuesday, which includes support for hog and cattle producers who are facing rising costs associated with having to keep their animals longer because of decreased processing capacity.