By Josh Hall

Union pressing Olymel to pay employees during Red Deer plant shutdown

Feb 19, 2021 | 6:21 PM

RED DEER, AB. — The union representing staff at the Olymel pork processing plant in Red Deer says it’s exploring legal options to make sure workers are paid during a shutdown brought on by a COVID-19 outbreak.

Olymel announced on Monday that it would be indefinitely closing its hog slaughtering, cutting and deboning operation in Red Deer after hundreds of workers became infected with the virus.

Alberta Health says that, as of Thursday afternoon, it had been notified of 389 cases linked to the Olymel outbreak, 197 of them were active, with one death.

All employees (approximately, 1,850) were notified by personal letter on Wednesday, Feb. 17 that they would be laid off – without pay – throughout the temporary closure. The letter from Plant Manager Rob Ackerkblade did note, however, that employees who showed up for work this week will receive 34 hours’ worth of pay.

The president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 says in a statement that the union believes laying off workers without pay during the temporary closure contravenes its collective agreement with the company.

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UFCW Local 401 President Thomas Hesse said in a statement Thursday that the union’s belief is that the company should be responsible for supporting employees through the pause because it is due to the company’s own failures that it needed to close in the first place.

“Further, we believe that the announcement is in contravention of our members’ collective agreement with the company. We also believe that the company could be in breach of employment standards under Alberta law,” Hesse says. “UFCW Local 401 is working to pursue avenues within our legal options as a means of securing the financial support that is owed to our Olymel members from the company. Union lawyers are reviewing the matter.”

On Wednesday, approximately 40 union activists held a demonstration outside Olymel in a show of solidarity for affected workers.

Hesse adds they are pressuring Olymel to apply for the new $1,200 Alberta critical worker benefit.

“What has happened here underscores the risks that frontline workers take, and they should be paid generously for taking those risks.”

Olymel spokesperson Richard Vigneault says in an email that the closure is a case of force majeure — or unforeseeable circumstances — and there is no provision in the contract for staff to be paid after operations have ceased.

He says Olymel is maintaining workers’ insurance coverage and will offer wage advances with flexible terms as a bridge until government assistance comes through.

“We have set up a 1-800 line that will allow us to answer employees’ questions and help them access existing governmental programs. We will also offer wage advances with flexible terms to bridge the period until assistance is obtained from government programs,” says Vigneault.

On Thursday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, was asked about the perceived slow response to the Olymel outbreak and why testing has not been made mandatory.

“The numbers in the initial outbreak were very low and those were maintained at a very low basis at a time when our community transmission was at its highest across the province,” Hinshaw said.

Alberta Health said Thursday they had been made aware of seven cases when the outbreak at the facility was first declared on Nov. 13. There were 31 cases linked to the outbreak as of Jan. 4 before skyrocketing to the point where there were 389 as of Thursday.

“We followed the same protocols with the Olymel plant as we have for every single outbreak, which is to say we strongly recommend and offer testing but do not require that particular and basic procedure,” said Hinshaw.

Olymel announced on Friday that it will move a “substantial amount of company owned production” to the United States in order to create enough plant capacity for all independent hog producers affected by the plant closure.

“This transition is already underway,” reads a company statement. “With the added capacity Olymel anticipates that the backlog of market ready hogs will be cleared up within 4-5 weeks after the plant is able to resume activities.”

Olymel expects a backlog of approximately 80,000 to 90,000 animals as a result of the closure.