As 270 employees of Worldwide Pork in Moose Jaw entered their sixth month on layoff, their union lawyer last week called on the Saskatchewan government to take action.
Larry Kowalchuk, counsel for the Saskatchewan Joint Board of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said the workers are waiting for the government to make good on its promise to help reopen the plant.
It closed in May after producers stopped hog deliveries because they weren’t being paid.
“We are a little confused,” Kowalchuk said. “(Deputy premier Clay) Serby, at the rally in June, assured and promised everyone the plant would be opened in days.
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“We don’t understand why the government isn’t doing what it’s able to do.”
Kowalchuk said the government could start by using its investment in Big Sky Farms to force the large hog operation to deliver to Moose Jaw.
But agriculture minister Mark Wartman said the government has no say in Big Sky Farms’ business decisions.
Kowalchuk also said the province should take a look at what is in the best interests of taxpayers. It gave Maple Leaf Foods $35 million to build a plant in Saskatoon that, in three or four years, will process 4,000 hogs per day for export.
In June, the union sent a letter to premier Lorne Calvert asking for $7 million in equity to take the Moose Jaw plant up to 2,000 hogs per day within a year.
“And we’re already certified to export,” Kowalchuk noted. “That’s a heck of a lot more beneficial for taxpayers…. if they don’t want to be involved, then just give us a grant for $7 million.”
Alberta plants are already recruiting workers from Moose Jaw, he said. Some families are close to the limit of how long they can wait; both parents in several families are laid off.
Kowalchuk said the union will present a petition to the premier once the fall session of the legislature begins. It calls on him to “do what you have to do” to reopen the plant.
Last week the Court of Queen’s Bench approved another extension to Worldwide’s protection from creditors, this time until Dec. 19. Court heard the plant might not be open until next spring.
Although he is eager to resolve the situation, Kowalchuk said the extension isn’t all bad because the company is trying to put a plan in place to pay everyone, including the employees.
The provincial government, through the Agricultural Credit Corp. of Saskatchewan, is the largest creditor.
Wartman said the necessary steps are being taken to reopen the plant on a solid footing.
“I would be more concerned if it reopened too soon,” he said.
He said the plant has to be assured supply, have a market and hire a management team that is capable of implementing a business plan.
Wartman added the government stands by its choice to wait for the court process to be complete before deciding how it could help.
