Pickets will remain outside the XL Foods beef packing plant in Moose Jaw, Sask. after employees voted to reject the company’s latest offer.
The locked-out workers, who are members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1400, voted 93.5 percent against the offer Oct. 15. No new talks had been set as of Oct. 19.
“They took the four-year deal that we were looking for and changed it to a six-year deal,” said union president Norm Neault, which resulted in a $1.75 per hour wage increase over six years instead of the $2 that Cargill employees will receive over four years.
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“That would put us 25 cents under the industry standard five-and-a-half years from now,” Neault said.
XL Foods could not immediately be reached for comment.
Neault said the company still wants employees to give up a fifth vacation week, work unlimited overtime at least 30 weeks of the year and agree to eliminate severance pay from the collective agreement.
It also wants to change weekly guaranteed work hours to 32 from 37 at least 12 weeks of the year. In the previous agreement, that could be done only five times.
Neault said the employees want to get back to work, noting it’s good for the company, the city, the workers and beef producers.
Some employees have found work to supplement their picket pay and others have left for other jobs, Neault said.
About 200 workers were employed when XL Foods closed the plant in April for a five-month temporary shutdown. The company locked out the workers Sept. 18, just 10 days before they were supposed to return.
The last collective agreement expired in January.
