Alberta and Ontario hog producers are anxiously watching the Maple Leaf strike, wondering how long their fortunes will be threatened by a conflict they are powerless to control.
And producers across the country must wonder how the labor battle will affect their prices.
“It’s a fairly serious thing,” said Roger Charbonneau, chair of the Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation, a hog marketing agency. “The producers that were going to Maple Leaf are going to have to find a new home for their hogs.”
Workers walked out of Maple Leaf’s Edmonton slaughter plant at midnight Nov. 17, and by Monday morning picket lines were up. By that afternoon the company followed through on its long-publicized intentions to close the plant, probably for good.
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“It is a sad day for us and for the workers in Edmonton,” Maple Leaf vice-president Pat Jones said in a radio interview.
“We’ve been very consistent in telling them what would happen if there was a strike or labor obstruction. Regrettably, we are closing that factory in Edmonton.”
The Edmonton plant was slaughtering 14,000-18,000 hogs per week.
On other fronts, about 900 Burlington, Ont. workers went on strike Nov. 15. Maple Leaf locked out workers at its North Battleford, Sask. plant on Aug. 31 and at its Hamilton, Ont. plant Oct. 4.
“The union has said it will be a long strike and Maple Leaf said they were prepared for a long strike,” said company spokesperson Linda Smith.
Maple Leaf is trying to find homes for hogs in the United States, Charbonneau said, but the freight cost could be dear. Shipping to Iowa could cost $22 per pig.
Canadian hog prices could weaken, especially in Ontario, where there is only one other packer, said Canadian Pork Council executive director Martin Rice.
“Any time a buyer is out of the market or constrained in how much they can offer … it makes it a less aggressive situation for the price producers can expect to be paid,” Rice said.
But in Western Canada, packers should be able to absorb some of the pigs that normally flow to the Edmonton plant, he said.
That could allow plants to offer better prices than they are able to now.
“Other plants could operate at a more efficient capacity utilization and be in a more favorable position to offer the price that will keep the pigs from going to the States.”
Charbonneau said he worries producers will end up paying for freight to ship south of the border and for shrinkage. He hopes Fletcher’s Fine Foods, in Red Deer, Alta., can expand its production during the strike.
Fletcher’s spokesperson Greg Whalley said some increased production is possible, but growth won’t be dramatic in the short term.
Maple Leaf wants to substantially cut the wages of its employees over time. While it has not demanded wage rollbacks at its North Battleford or Edmonton plants, it wants the Burlington workers to accept lower wages and more flexible working conditions.
To sweeten the Burlington deal, Maple Leaf is offering a $10,000 to $20,000 one-time payment for workers whose wages are reduced. The United Food and Commercial Workers walked out of talks with Maple Leaf there, saying the offer was unacceptable.
North Battleford employees were locked out after they refused to accept Maple Leaf’s offer of a small wage increase. They are the lowest paid Maple Leaf meat plant workers in Canada.
