May 4, 1998
MORE HOG STRIKE STRIFEFLETCHER'S 'UNDER PRESSURE' TO HIRE REPLACEMENT WORKERS AT RED DEER PLANT
Replacement workers may be brought in by Fletcher's Fine Foods to keep its Red Deer hog plant operating during a labor stoppage due to begin today, the firm said yesterday. "We'd rather not, but the hog industry is putting pressure on us to do that," said George Paleologou, Fletcher's vice-president and chief financial officer. "There's a lot of pressure on us to keep it open." UNION SAYS GOOD LUCK The union says good luck trying to find enough workers who will cross the picket line, to be set up today. The union voted last week to hit the bricks at 10 a.m. today. The company then said it will lock workers out at 5 a.m. "I don't think there's that many people interested in going across our picket to go work in a kill-cut operation," said Wayne Covey, business agent for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Local 1118. Fletcher's is Alberta's lone major processing facility, killing and chilling 35,000 hogs a week. If it closes producers will incur freight costs as high as $20 per animal to ship the hogs to plants in the United States, said Redwater producer Jack Moerman. "If it's prolonged for any length of time, it'll put some of the hog producers into bankruptcy," said Moerman, adding prices are now about 30% lower than last year. Paleologou said the Vancouver-based firm will hire replacement workers if the stoppage lasts longer than two weeks. He said no talks were slated last night. The 680 members of the UFCW have been without a contract since March 31, when a three-year pact ran out. Paleologou said the company is looking to sign a six-year contract with workers. It is offering lump sum payments of "at least $10,000" to cushion wage cuts for about 55% of the staff, he added. The remainder would receive higher wages, he added. A worker at the plant with four years experience earns $15.30 an hour, said Paleologou. He said the plant's competitiveness was hurt when the UFCW accepted wage cuts for hog workers in Burlington, Ont. "It seems to us the UFCW, just as in the case of Edmonton, is more interested in eliminating jobs in Alberta than negotiating in a rational way," Paleologou charged. 'LIKE A LEAD BALLOON' Covey said the company's contract offer "went over like a lead balloon" at a union meeting yesterday. Fletcher's become the dominant player in the Alberta hog processing industry after Maple Leaf Foods mothballed its Edmonton operation when 850 members of the UFCW, Local 312A went on strike to back wage demands in November. Maple Leaf has since said it's stepping back into the market and will invest $4 million to convert its unionized Lethbridge beef processing plant into a hog operation. Next Story: SUPERFAN PREDICTS 3-1 WIN
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