A dispute at one of Alberta’s largest hog slaughtering plants is no closer to being settled after the company agreed to a mediator’s recommendations to pay the workers more money.
The recommendation calls for a three-year contract, retroactive to Dec. 16, 1996, that would include wage increases of 28 cents an hour in each year and improvements in benefits.
“In the interest of avoiding a labor disruption at our Edmonton plant, we are prepared to make this commitment and accept the mediator’s recommendations for settlement,” said Michael McCain, president of Maple Leaf Foods, in a news release.
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Cost disadvantage
“The company has now gone as far as it can. Maple Leaf Meats is at a labor cost disadvantage with other animal protein processors in the U.S. and Canada,” said McCain.
“This settlement does not solve our problems. However, for the sake of all those affected, we are prepared to accept the mediator’s report.”
But the union is calling for its members to reject the offer.
“This falls short of the members’ expectations and we are urging the members to reject it,” said John Ewasiw, spokesperson for Local 312A of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
About 900 employees work at the former Gainers plant bought by Maple Leaf last fall.
The starting wage at the Edmonton plant is $8.40 with a 40-cent-an-hour increase every six months. It takes about 71Ú2 years to reach the $14.13 top salary.
Workers at Fletcher’s, the other large hog plant in the province, start at $8 an hour, but it only takes them 21Ú2 years to reach the $15.10 top salary. In September that will increase to $15.35.
It’s now up to the provincial labor board to set a date to vote on the agreement.
If it’s rejected, a two-week cooling off period kicks in. After 14 days workers can take a strike vote or head back to the bargaining table.
