Ninety Saskatchewan chicken producers have been forced to truck their birds to Alberta as workers at the only chicken processing plant in the province walk the picket line.
Lilydale Foods in Wynyard and its workers failed to reach agreement on a new contract after negotiating through the spring and summer. The previous agreement expired Jan. 31.
Garry Burkart of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union said the two sides remain far apart on wages and benefits.
“It appears we’re locked in for a long one,” he said, noting Lilydale representatives had returned to their headquarters in Edmonton.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The union, which represents more than 400 workers at the plant, is seeking a $1.35 an hour increase over a three-year period, while the company is offering an increase of 84 cents an hour. Burkart said the RWDSU is seeking to narrow the gap between wages paid at Lilydale plants in Saskatchewan and Alberta, where workers make $1.30 an hour more.
Lilydale processes more than 500,000 chickens each week at the Wynyard plant, which draws workers from the town and surrounding regions. Work has also slowed at a rendering and offal plant near Kandahar, Sask., said Burkart.
Rob Willmott, director of marketing for Lilydale in Edmonton, said the company is willing to meet anytime with the union to resolve their differences.
He said Lilydale’s immediate concerns are in marketing chickens properly within a reasonable period of time and serving customers normally supplied by the Wynyard plant.
