A group representing Canada's meat-packers is expecting more changes in the coming months to make sure workers have protection from COVID-19.
Chris White, president of the Canadian Meat Council, says $77.5 million earmarked by Ottawa for the food-processing industry will be used for future changes to plants -- not to pay for measures already put in place.
Cargill temporarily shut down plants in High River, Alta., and Chambly, Que., after outbreaks of COVID-19. Olymel shut down its hog slaughter and processing plant in Yamachiche, Que., and the JBS beef plant in Brooks, Alta., temporarily went down to one daily shift from two."I think it caught the whole world off guard. I don't think any sector could have anticipated what this looked like.
Federal officials have said the emergency money for food processing might not move until the end of September. It's intended to help companies get more protective equipment for workers and to upgrade and reopen shuttered meat facilities forced to close. An official with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, which represents meat-packing employees at the two Alberta beef plants, agrees that the companies are unlikely to build new facilities."There's plenty of things they could do ... like slowing down the line speed, not having the same amount of production that you have pre-COVID-19, pre-social-distancing rules," Hughes said.
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