Nearly 1,000 Cargill workers in Guelph go on strike

Cargill's beef processing facility in Guelph closed down this week as hundreds of workerstook to the picket lines.

Jason Hanley, regional director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, saysabout 1,000 workers have walked off the job after rejecting a contract offer over wage concerns.

"Costs for everything have gone up these days," he told CBC News. "Food, mortgages, household expenses are up and that's one of the main factors, I think, why the members turned the deal down."

Hanley said the rise in the cost of living and the cessation of a $2-per-hour COVID pandemic premium were key issues raised at the bargaining meetings.

Hanley said they've taken a 24-hour strike cycle approach. Workers split up the day between four six-hour shifts, starting at midnight.

"Just to man the line, right." he said. "Show the company that we're serious about this picket."

Some workers are surprised to see things end up this way.

Daniel Copeland has been a Cargill employee for 37 years.

"I've seen a lot of contracts come and see a lot of the contracts go," Copeland said.

Copeland said he's striking because he feels like the workers need a big raise.

"We need it to survive," he said.

Producer need to worry, consumers need not

Copeland and other workers said Cargill's Guelph facility sees 90 per cent of Ontario's beef cross through its doors, butMichael Von Massow saysthat as far as beef availability goes, grocery store shelves won't be emptying any time soon.

Von Massow is a professor of food and resource economics at the University of Guelph. He said there is a precedent for the large beef processor shutting down in Canada.

"If we look back to when the much larger Cargill plant in High River, Alta.,closed during COVID, we noticed almost no impact on availability," he said.

"Product was shuffled to cover the shortages due to the lack of packing or processing at that plant," he said."This plant is smaller."

But where the impact is felt is further up the line, before Cargill processes the beef.

"If you look at beef, animals are shipped for processing when they are ready," Von Massow said.

"If they can't be shipped for processing, they get bigger and the value of the animal actually goes down," he added.

"A long closure, even one of a couple of weeks, would have a dramatic impact on beef producers in this province. It's just not likely to have a significant impact on beef consumers."

Statement from Cargill

In an emailed statement to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, Cargill said the company was "disappointed" by the strike action.

"Our proposed agreement, which the union bargaining committee unanimously recommended as a comprehensive proposal, honours the tremendous skill and dedication of our Guelph workforce in feeding families across Canada," the company said.

Cargill says the recommended contractincluded a wage increase in each year of the 4-year settlement, with more than a 9.3 per centincreasein the first yearalone, plus retroactive pay dating back to Jan. 1, of this year. As well, the company says it offeredbenefit enhancementsand a signing bonus.

"We are concerned about the hardships a labour disruption will pose to our employees and our customers. We will be working with the union on next steps once we hear more from them," the company's statement said.

"While we navigate this labour disruption, we will shift production to other facilities within our broad supply chain footprint to minimize any disruptions to our customers."