File photo outside Cargill’s beef slaughter and packing plant at High River, Alta. on May 6, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Todd Korol)

Cargill beef plant workers to vote on new negotiated offer

High River workers otherwise headed for strike or lockout Monday

Workers at Cargill’s major beef slaughter and packing plant in Alberta will vote this week on a new offer which it’s hoped will avert a strike or lockout, both due to start Monday. The new offer follows a “marathon” of negotiations Tuesday between Cargill representatives and the bargaining committee for United Food and Commercial Workers […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

High River beef plant workers to vote on Cargill offer

UFCW bargaining committee is recommending nay

Workers on the verge of striking at Cargill’s major beef cattle slaughter plant at High River, Alta. will vote this week on a new contract offer from the company. However, the union bargaining committee for the workers, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, is recommending employees vote against the proposal. […] Read more


UFCW Local 401 board member and Cargill employee Joseph Kog (l) and Local 401 president Thomas Hesse with their strike notice on Nov. 10, 2021. (GoUnion.ca)

Cargill beef plant workers serve strike notice

Without a deal, High River workers will walk Dec. 6

Unionized workers at Cargill’s cattle slaughter and processing plant at High River, Alta. will start strike action next month unless a deal can be reached with the company, their union said Wednesday. A strike would begin at High River no sooner than Dec. 6 at 12:01 a.m. if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. considers faster hog slaughter paces based on staffing

Faster speeds seen as increasing injuries

Chicago | Reuters — The Biden administration is considering a proposal that could allow some pork plants to slaughter pigs more quickly if they boost staffing, a union official said, after a U.S. court struck down a Trump-era rule that removed line speed limits. The proposal put forward by Quality Pork Processors, operator of a […] Read more


An information label is seen on packaging for a CO2 cylinder for a fizzy drinks machine in Manchester, Britain on Sept. 20, 2021. (Photo: Reuters)/Phil Noble)

Britain tells its food industry to prepare for CO2 price shock

U.K. pays fertilizer maker CF Industries to reopen plants

London | Reuters — Britain warned its food producers on Wednesday to prepare for a 400 per cent rise in carbon dioxide prices after extending emergency state support to avert a shortage of poultry and meat triggered by soaring costs of wholesale natural gas. Natural gas prices have spiked this year as economies reopened from […] Read more

An information label is seen on packaging for a CO2 cylinder for a fizzy drinks machine in Manchester, Britain on Sept. 20, 2021. (Photo: Reuters)/Phil Noble)

U.K. meat industry warns of threat to supplies from CO2 crisis

CO2 shortage is caused by closure of fertilizer plants

London | Reuters — Some of Britain’s meat processors will run out of carbon dioxide (CO2) within five days, forcing them to halt production and impacting supplies to food retailers, the head of the industry’s lobby group warned on Monday. A jump in gas prices has forced several domestic energy suppliers out of business and […] Read more


(JBSS.infoinvest.com.br)

JBS plans to reopen Nebraska beef plant damaged in fire

'Primary production areas' not hit

Chicago | Reuters — JBS USA on Monday halted production at a Nebraska beef plant that slaughters about five per cent of U.S. cattle due to a fire, but said the company expects to resume operations on Tuesday. The temporary closure highlighted concerns among lawmakers and ranchers that the U.S. is vulnerable to supply disruptions […] Read more

(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Upgraded Olymel hog plant’s second shift begins

Ange-Gardien plant's slaughter pace to rise by up to 40 per cent

A promised second shift is now up and running at a major hog plant in Quebec’s Monteregie and is expected to eventually boost the plant’s weekly slaughter capacity by up to 40 per cent. Plans for a second shift at Olymel’s packing plant at Ange-Gardien, about 50 km east of Montreal, have been in the […] Read more


(PorcOlymel.com)

Slaughter resumes at Olymel hog plant

Return to usual pace expected 'in coming weeks'

Hog slaughter resumed Friday at a major Quebec pork plant that had sat idle for over four months, as striking employees now return to work with a new six-year contract. The Olymel plant at Vallee-Jonction, south of Quebec City, restarted daytime and evening hog slaughter shifts Friday after “maintenance and sanitation” work on Wednesday and […] Read more

(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Olymel’s striking Quebec workers get layoff ultimatum

Hog slaughter plant idle since late April

Updated — The threat of job losses for about half the unionized workers at a major pork packing plant in Quebec is its owners’ latest bid to end a four-month strike. Olymel announced Tuesday it will “abolish” the evening shift at its hog slaughter and processing plant at Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec […] Read more