Workers at XL Lakeside in Brooks, Alta., have accepted a new union contract that includes better wages and benefits.
More than 90 percent of workers agreed July 13 to accept the negotiated agreement and avert a potential lockout at the slaughter plant.
The contract provides for new health and safety protections, feed safety provisions and new rights for temporary foreign workers, said a union news release.
The agreement comes at a time where Canadian packers are struggling financially.
Packers were profitable last year at this time, but a strong Canadian dollar, fewer cattle to kill and lower beef exports have taken their toll in the last four or five months, said market analyst Kevin Grier of the George Morris Centre in Guelph, Ont., who monitors packer profitability on a weekly basis.
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No Canadian plants operate on Saturdays and plants have shut down on other days as well.
“This is the time of year where demand is good and you want to make hay while the sun shines,” he said.
Lakeside and Cargill Meat Solutions at High River, Alta., are North American scale plants and require high volumes to maintain margins.
“Production this year is down in the double digits at 10 to 15 percent, so it is not surprising our beef exports are down,” he said.
“They are slaughtering less because they are not making enough money to make it worth
