Officials at Olymel’s Red Deer pork packing plant hope they will find enough staff to begin a second shift by fall.
Recent recruits from Ukraine, the Philippines, El Salvador and Thailand have helped fill the labour shortage, but it’s still a struggle to attract workers to the central Alberta plant, said Marc Lachapelle, Olymel’s manager of human resources.
“It’s not easy. It’s a very demanding, very physical job. We’re having major difficulty finding people,” said Lachapelle, who hired crews to stick recruiting brochures under the windshields of visitors’ vehicles at the Calgary and Ponoka stampedes.
Read Also
AI expected to make itself felt in food systems
Artificial intelligence is already transforming the food we eat, how farmers produce it and how it reaches the consumer, experts say
“We’re trying to do every type of publicity to be known everywhere.”
Like other Alberta industries, the hog slaughter plant has struggled to find enough workers. Plans to add a second shift were cancelled last July because of staff shortages.
About 1,200 people work at the plant killing 9,000 hogs a day. Another 500 to 600 workers are needed to operate a second shift, which would double daily slaughter numbers.
Lachapelle moved west from the company’s Quebec head office in June to boost recruiting efforts at the Red Deer plant and he has discovered the difficulties of living in Alberta’s hot economy. Houses in Red Deer are $100,000 to $200,000 more expensive than Montreal.
“The housing is crazy,” he said.
The company has teamed up with the federal government’s Service Canada to recruit workers from other countries. Those from Ukraine tend to be skilled meat cutters, while recruits from other countries are low skilled workers willing to work in a packing plant.
“We’re talking to any country who can give us manpower to work in a food processing plant. We don’t look for hotel-type employees. It’s going to be hard labour, good physical condition. It’s not an easy job,” he said.
With a $12 to $14 an hour salary it’s not easy to compete for staff. The turnover rate of foreign workers is low, but up to 80 percent with local workers, he said.
