Smith calls Alberta slaughterhouse accused of exploiting foreign workers 'positive example' for other businesses

OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has raised some eyebrows among labour advocates after singing the praises of a rural Alberta slaughterhouse accused of exploiting foreign workers.

“I think we need to be careful in putting forward what’s known to be a very difficult and dangerous place for foreign workers as a quote-unquote ‘immigrant success story’,” said Bronwyn Bragg, a geographer at the University of Lethbridge who researches migration and precarious work.

Smith said Tuesday that the success of the local beef processing facility in her home riding, owned by Brazilian multinational JBS, shows why local employers should have more control over Alberta’s intake of migrants.

“I don’t know how JBS manages to find (foreign workers) and use our program (but) they are reaching out throughout the world … to be able to do it. And I think that’s a very positive example of how other businesses would do the same,” said Smith.

Smith said the Brooks, Alta., slaughterhouse triggered a “massive” local population boom by attracting thousands of foreign workers and their families.

She was speaking at an Albert Next town hall in Fort McMurray, Alta., where immigration reform was one of six topics under discussion to be added to next year’s referendum ballot.

Bragg, who recently published a paper on labour dynamics in Alberta’s meatpacking industry and regularly visits Brooks for research, says it’s not as booming as Smith makes it out to be.

“I’ve been to Brooks six or seven times this year … and the number one issue there is people can’t find work,” said Bragg.

Bragg said that the plant’s preference for hiring disposable temporary foreign workers (TFW) is locking out locals, including other migrants.

“The refugees and permanent residents we speak to, they’re not getting work either,” said Bragg.

She added that there’s evidence that the plant’s hiring practices have suppressed wages, noting a meat cutter at the Brooks facility makes seven dollars less per hour than the province’s median wage, despite the job’s rigours.

The JBS plant (then Lakeside Packers) started pivoting toward TFWs in 2005, after a bitter strike led by resettled refugee workers.

She estimates that temporary migrants now make up as much as 30 per cent of the plant’s workforce, with the latest wave arriving from Central America.

JBS doesn’t publish statistics on its workforce and a request to the company for this information went unanswered.

Thomas Hesse, the head of the labour union that represents Alberta’s meatpackers, says the facility’s work conditions aren’t anything to write home about.

“We currently have had an issue with (JBS) in terms of breaks for workers to go to the washroom,” said Hesse.

Hesse said that high line speeds and sharp equipment create additional safety issues for workers.

“I’ve heard (meatpacking) described by some experts as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, measured by rate of injury.” said Hesse.

The facility made national headlines in the spring of 2020 , after 650 of its roughly 2,800 employees tested positive for COVID, leading to one fatality.

Bragg says she’s seen no evidence that conditions of the plant have improved since the COVID outbreak.

“When a big multinational like JBS comes to town, there are always winners and losers,” said Bragg.

“Unfortunately, the workers are often on the losing end of this.” National Post

rmohamed@postmedia.com

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