A slice of sweet Maple Leaf bacon may soon be as rare as a fiddlehead fern.
Workers at Maple Leaf’s hog slaughtering plant in Edmonton were scheduled to take a strike vote Aug. 26 and results were not available at press time. Workers at two other plants in North Battleford, Sask. and Hamilton, Ont. have voted overwhelmingly to strike and workers at a Hamilton distribution plant will take a strike vote shortly.
“It looks like we’re not the only ones unhappy,” said John Ewasiw, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 312A representative. “People here are all very frustrated.”
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Negotiations stopped when the workers voted to reject a mediator’s proposal of an 84 cents an hour raise over three years.
A news release from Maple Leaf president Michael McCain said he’s willing to offer the mediator’s recommended raise of 84 cents an hour over three years until Sept. 10.
“We don’t want to close the plant. We’d like to keep it going for another two to three years – which is why we accepted the mediator’s report,” said McCain.
If the workers strike, the company will close the 91-year-old Edmonton plant permanently, he said.
Newsletters distributed by the company within the Edmonton plant encouraged workers to vote against a strike.
“Each and every one of us will be affected if the union votes to strike. If there is no strike, the Edmonton plant will be in operation another two or three years,” said the daily newsletters Straight Talk. If the workers voted yes on Aug. 26, the union would be able to call a strike within 72 hours, as early as Aug. 29.
The company has been on a prairie-wide search for a new home for the plant. No announcement has been made about its location.
