Strike averted at Cargill

Monday, February 6, 2012

by DAVE PINK

The nearly 800 unionized employees at Cargill Meat Solutions in Guelph voted 78 per cent in favour of a new four-year collective agreement on Sunday, averting the threat of a strike at the largest beef processing facility in Ontario.

The agreement had been reached during provincial government mediation on Thursday. "Both parties are feeling pretty good about the situation," says Luc Lacelle, spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The union had initially rejected a company offer that called for wage rollbacks. The new deal offers a lump-sum payment in the first year of the contract, followed by pay increases of 30 cents per hour in the second year, 30 cents in the third year and 35 cents in the fourth year. As well, the company and the union came to an agreement over the use of part-time employees at the facility.

Cargill is a global producer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products, and has an international work force of roughly 140,000 employees. It has approximately 10 beef processing plants in North America, including the Guelph plant and another in High River, Alta.

The Guelph facility, formerly known as Better Beef, processes up to 2,000 animals daily, most of them from Ontario, with some from Quebec. The total work force at the Guelph plant is about 1,900. BF