RED DEER, Alta. – Hogs squealed in the background and gave off a distinct odor that hung in the air inside the tent set up for the occasion – the announcement that Fletcher’s Fine Foods is expanding its hog plant once again.
It was up to hog producer Roger Charbonneau to explain the faint hog odor that settled around the plant.
“It’s the smell of money. It is for the workers, for Fletcher’s and hog producers,” said Charbonneau, chair of Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation, a hog marketing agency.
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The smell and the sound of construction give pork producers in the province reason to smile, he said.
“It gives producers assurance there will be a long-term player in the province.”
Men in suits were as thick as the flies around the doughnuts for the announcement of phase two of the facility expansion, which will make the central Alberta plant one of the largest in Canada.
Officials from government departments and every part of the hog industry were on hand to be part of the good news announcement.
Confident of future
“I think we’ll be one of the best in the meat packing industry,” said Fred Knoedler, president of Fletcher’s. “This can compete with the Smithfields and IBPs of the world.”
When the expansion comes on line next year the company will be able to slaughter 8,000 hogs in an eight-hour shift. The expansion will add 33,000 sq. feet to the existing 140,000 sq. foot plant and the number of workers will increase by 200 to 655.
“At the end of the day the two major competitors in Canada will be Fletcher’s and Maple Leaf,” said Don Loewen, chair of Fletcher’s board of directors.
The expansion should come as welcome news to the almost 100 hog facilities under construction or expanding in Alberta.
“The producers need to be reassured this expanded production will have a home and a home in this province,” said Charbonneau, especially given the uncertainty surrounding the Maple Leaf hog plant in Edmonton.
Negotiations between workers and management there are at a standstill over wages. Maple Leaf president Michael McCain said he will shut the 91-year-old plant down for good if workers strike. Workers for nine Maple Leaf plants across the country say they will strike and hold a national boycott if the company doesn’t return to the negotiating table.
Maple Leaf has said it’s looking for a home for a replacement plant somewhere on the Prairies.
Knoedler said Fletcher’s has no plans to add a second shift to absorb hogs now delivered to the Maple Leaf plant if there is a strike or lockout, but if the Edmonton plant is closed Fletcher’s will look at adding more workers.
The company also announced it is building a dry sow slaughtering facility to kill sows that now are hauled to Manitoba and to the United States.
