Six months after winning the right to unionize, workers at one of Canada’s largest meat packing plants are at least two months away from their first contract, says a union spokesperson.
Negotiations between United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 401 and Tyson Foods are frustratingly slow, said union spokesperson Doug O’Halloran of Calgary.
Tyson has allocated four days a month for negotiating a contract for the 2,100 workers at Tyson’s Lakeside plant in Brooks, Alta.
“We’ve not accomplished as much as should be, but it’s not time yet to push any kind of panic button,” said O’Halloran, who worried the longer the negotiations drag out, the more frustrating it is for workers who voted to unionize.
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In August, workers at the plant voted 905-857 to unionize.
“The longer it takes, the more ineffectual the union looks. If things drag on into the summer that’s just not acceptable,” he said.
Gary Mickelson, a Tyson spokesperson in Springdale, Arkansas, refused to comment beyond noting negotiations are under way.
“We continue to bargain in good faith,” he said.
O’Halloran said the union is optimistic that an agreement can be reached within two months. He said the union wants to ensure better health and safety conditions, as well as equal treatment of workers, many of whom can’t speak English.
“How workers are treated is a bigger issue than money,” he said.
There is no talk of a strike.
O’Halloran said the union realized long ago that workers couldn’t win by walking a picket line against a large multinational company such as Tyson Foods.
Workers walked out in 1984, some for four years. After three months, most workers went back to work, but the company was no longer unionized.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons since 1984,” he said.
Last year Tyson announced a $17 million expansion at Brooks that will boost the number of animals slaughtered to 4,000 head a day from 3,000. It will also increase the workforce to 2,400 from 2,100.
Workers at Alberta’s other main packing plant, Cargill Foods in High River, voted in favour of their latest contract on Feb. 11.
Wayne Covey, financial secretary for UFCW Local 1118, said the 1,850 workers agreed to a new four-year contract at the plant that included wage increases, signing bonuses, improved pension and benefits.
The two plants handle 63 percent of Canada’s total slaughter and 71 percent of the total fed cattle slaughter.
