Striking workers at the Maple Leaf plant in Edmonton probably believe in Santa Claus if they still think the hog processing plant will reopen, says a company spokesperson.
“That plant is closed,” said Linda Smith. “We have said for seven months if there was a strike at that plant … because of its age, that plant would close for good.”
About 850 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 312A are picketing outside the 91-year-old plant, despite the company’s repeated statements that it would not reopen the aged facility.
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While some equipment has already been moved to other Maple Leaf plants, during the next two months the company will take more than $1 million worth of equipment and food out of the plant before turning it over to the provincial government, which owns the land and buildings.
Smith said there are no plans to return to the bargaining table with workers at Edmonton or at two other sites at North Battleford, Sask., and Burlington, Ont.
Alberta agriculture minister Ed Stelmach said the plant closure and the announcement by Maple Leaf that it will build a new plant in Brandon, Man., won’t affect hog farmers in the province.
“It won’t have any effect at all,” said Stelmach. “There is enough slaughter capacity to handle the current hog numbers.”
Handle the supply
A second shift at Fletcher’s Fine Foods in Red Deer, Alta., and the number of smaller plants around Alberta will be able to pick up the extra, he said.
Greg Whalley, vice-president of corporate affairs for Fletcher’s, said a “significant number” of farmers have asked to ship their hogs to the Red Deer plant.
“We’re getting a lot of real interest at looking at an alternative.”
Fletcher’s has already increased the number of hogs it slaughters each week from 23,000 to 30,000 with the addition of a second shift. There are plans to gear up to 40,000 hogs with the two shifts, and by summer, kill 40,000 hogs a week with a single shift after plant expansion.
Whalley said Fletcher’s is also hoping to entice some of the skilled workers from the Maple Leaf plant.
