Lakeside?

[cowman]

Actually I believe the Gainers strike was a lockout as Pocklington tried to impose a drastic pay cut? The facts were Pocklington played his cards right to get some more money out of the Alberta government and had no intention of continuing running the plant. The land it was sitting on was worth a lot more than the business was ever worth and Pocklington had a long reputation of ripping off the various governments?
Truly a robber baron?
I believe Tyson has every intention of breaking the union...that is what this is all about? People who link Cargill in the same boat as Lakeside really have no clue? While Cargill is a tough business they are not operating on the scale of dirty tactics that Lakeside does? If you know anyone who works at Lakeside...ask them about how they operate?

[kato]

Wouldn't surprise me if this is a shot at union breaking.

How can Lakeside say with a straight face that they can't afford to pay their workers? After the two years they have just put in? Puleeezzz.....

Get rid of the union, and they are left with a large part of their workforce that is made up of immigrants who very likely have nowhere else to go. A captive workforce. No options. If I was one of those workers, I sure wouldn't want my future and security in the hands of the likes of Tyson.

After all, we've all seen how the welfare of those who supply the primary product has been front and center in the priorities down at corporate headquarters eh? I would think the workers are no more important than we are.

Maybe the McCains will send some Maple Leaf recruiters to Brooks so they can get the second shift at the hog plant in Brandon up and running? Would these guys rather work at Lakeside, where they are obviously not very valued, or work in a plant that has been known to have draws for a free truck for workers with perfect attendance..... mmmm....

[farmers_son]

Since 1947 and up to 1984 wages in Canadian packing plants were established by an industry wide national contract. Burns challenged the right of the union to establish a national contract and demanded that the UFCW bargain on a plant by plant basis. The national contract was not upheld by labour relations boards in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. The UFCW struck but effectively lost. Lakeside hired non union workers to work through the strike at $3 an hour less than the national wage. Lakeside decertified after a long and protracted strike/lockout and has resisted efforts by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) to re-organize them ever since.

However a walkout by 70 plant workers in April, 2004 to protest bad working conditions gave the first indication that attitudes were changing inside the plant. The company, instead of bringing in the workers and dealing with their concerns, simply fired all of them. That gave UFCW an opening that they quickly seized. UFCW 401 successfully certified the plant in a vote on August 27, 2004. The organization of the 2,100 workers at Lakeside is the most significant successful union drive in Alberta in the past 20 years..

The union won the certification vote 905 to 857 - a majority of 51.4 percent.

Lakeside Packers is owned by Tyson Foods - the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken and red meat products with annual sales in excess of $23 billion U.S. There are unionized Tyson plants in the United States. The Washington DC based UFCW has 1.4 million members throughout North America. The UFCW successfully organized workers in several Walmarts in Canada, all of which then closed. The UFCW is working to unionize farm workers. See:

http://www.ufcw.ca/media/family_farm_leaflet.pdf

The Gainers strike in 1986 resulted when the owners of Gainers, Peter Pocklinton decided not to renew a contract with the unionized workers and brought in non unionized workers in their place. The strike was settled in December 1986 when Premier Getty persuaded Pocklinton to settle with the union.

Prior to the strike Pocklington was bailed out by his Tory pals in the Provincial government, the taxpayers paid $22 million to keep Gainers afloat. After the strike when Pocklington couldn't pay off his debts to the Alberta government, they seized Gainers and sold it to Burns Foods of Calgary.

Burns, owned by Arthur Childes another long time Tory bagman and supporter, threatened to shut the plant if workers didn't take a three year wage freeze. Burns then sold the plant to Maple Leaf Foods, owned by a member of the McCain family, (McCain Foods Ltd.) Maple Leaf shut down the plant in 1997 after the UFCW striked at the Edmonton plant. Maple Leaf responded to the strike by seeking an injunction to allow trucks through picket lines at its Edmonton, Alberta, packing plant so it could remove the processing equipment. 900 workers were laid off. Maple Leaf opened up a plant in Brandon Manitoba with equipment moved from the Gainers plant in Edmonton, equipment that was bought with Alberta government money. The Edmonton plant was 91 years old. The UFCW responded to the Edmonton plant closure UFCW by announcing a toothless consumer boycott of Maple Leaf and then agreeing to job cuts and wage reductions of $6 an hour at Maple Leaf plants in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

Tyson's shares were up 18 cents, or 1.02 percent, at $17.88 at the New York Stock Exchange this morning Wednesday October 12.

[cowman]

If you read the propoganda in the papers Tyson claims it is offering a wage from $12 to $18 hour with $12 being the starting wage. Sunterra has an ad in the paper offering $10.75 as a starting wage.
The spokesman for Tyson said it isn't about money but about working conditions...most notably overtime? I suspect this means Tyson doesn't want to pay time and one half for anything over 40 hours and probably wants compulsary overtime?
Watched the news last night and they showed the two busses of workers being turned back at the picket lines. I don't think the union is going to win this one as the "replacement workers" are regular union members? If it gets ugly won't that be a wonderful place to work once this all gets settled?
At the calf sale yesterday there was some concern if this strike drags on for very long it could affect prices and the biggest problem could be cull cows? Tyson has been buying cows and now that market will dry up? We really don't need that scenerio this year as there are a lot of old cows looking for a place to go this year?

[sagewood]

I agree, we certainly don't need the strike at Lakeside to be ongoing. In this oil-rich province,, when every other industry gets support, why oh why cannot the government say that there must be certain 'humane' working conditions, i.e. bathroom breaks when needed, health considerations etc. It was my understanding that the workers are not complaining so much about the money, but about the 'slave-type' conditions that they work in--i.e. cannot get to the washroom when needed, but only allowed to go when 'scheduled'. Now I can understand how the line work would be interrupted if everyone was off to the washroom at the same time, however, some common sense could prevail here.

I do think that the Alberta government has the right to wade into this situation, after Tyson very happily taking 33 million of our taxpayer dollars just last year--I think we as taxpayers and people in the beef industry who are being unjustly penalized yet again have a right to have someone intercede on our behalf. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am really getting sick and tired of the American-owned bullies destroying our cattle industry. How many more years do we have to work at off-farm jobs just to keep the farm runnning? Everyone was so hopeful this fall that a bumper crop would be likely and that cattle prices would be up and then mother nature has ruined most of the crop grades and now the greedy Americans are finishing off the rest of our hope for a decent pay cheque this fall. I pretty well have had enough of the Americans--but by god when they want our wood, water and oil--look out--they will just take it--until then, we dance to their tune.

[cowman]

I suspect this strike is going to be over real soon? Just as soon as Alberta Justice can sign the papers that allow the busses in...enforced by the government goons...the RCMP!
These strikers can't win. Not with a lot of them already crossing the picket lines. Once the busses start rolling in you will see an abandonment of the union? And who can blame them? This is a no-win situation?
You can bet there is a list at Tyson of who is NOT coming back! All the trouble makers and rabble rousers will be gone!
Hopefully this whole fiasco will help some people realize that, if they want to be free and not a slave they need to get out of there? Go work somewhere that allows you to be a man and not a dog?
Tyson is achieving exactly what they want: a union free sweat shop where they can treat their slaves however they want? But in the big picture you can only be made a slave if you go along with it?

[farmers_son]

While I tend to agree with your comments I think for cattle producers the issue is not whether Lakeside is a sweat shop or if the union will win or is Lakeside trying to break the union.

For producers the issue is we have allowed our industry to be dominated by two mega players of which Lakeside is the largest. Lakeside kills 2/3 of all Alberta production in that one plant. From an industry standpoint much less a producer standpoint that is very foolish. Economy of scale is one thing but that much control in one place of a major primary resource industry should never been allowed to happen.

If there was any doubt that the two packers were acting as a monopoly before there can be no doubt now that Cargill is a monopoly buyer of live cattle in Alberta. Rather than calls for the Alberta government to step in and settle the strike I think producers should be calling for more packing plant capacity in this province, said capacity owned by other than these two monopoly players and preferably by producers themselves.

[pmckenna]

I remember a lawyer freind of mine saying that he worked his way through University (in Winnipeg) at a packing plant in the 60's.

So - in balancing rights vs. production necessities (would you like a shutdown, possibly even permanent, in the wake of BSE, and can Alberta really afford it?) - does working at a packing plant give you a life sentence? I would think some if not many senior employees started at the bottom - and I'll bet working conditions today are a lot better than they were then. Not saying I'd be great at it, but it's a start for new Canadians, and education can follow.

My dad came from Ireland, as far as I know his education was grade 5, and he became a clean room pressure welder.

We still need people who want to be Canadians. The race card don't add up to me.

[cowman]

Well I don't think anyone mentioned race?
I worked in a packing plant when I was young and I will tell you it isn't for the faint of heart! You won't have any trouble sleeping at night and you won't have to worry about being fat!
The point here is if Cargill and XL can afford a certain contract then why not Tyson? Are they poverty struck or something?
Tyson will break this union if that is their desire, but in the long run they will lose because you can't treat people like dogs and expect them to give a rip! Shoddy work, a demoralized work force...no one will care? Eventually it spreads to management?
How do some industries/businesses keep out a union? One way is to treat your people better than if they had a union. Involve them in the business so they have a stake in the succcess of the business? It's simple human relations 101!

[cowman]

i read on the globe and mail, about
lakeside strike! it is bad news that
garnet-altwasser leading plant official
has been charged !
if he is american he be charged and send
back.
this is going to far and the big us giant got large sum of subsidie from our
country! made huge profit while b-s-e
crises.and starting at 12 dollar/hour
it is time mr klein brings this to an end.