Militant

Members of UFCW Local 175 on strike against Quality Meat Packers in Toronto on picket line November 1, the first day of the walkout. They are being interviewed by local Portuguese-language television station.

Picket lines remain up around the clock at the plant’s four entrances, keeping production at a standstill, said strikers. Workers used to slaughter and process between 5,000 and 6,000 hogs per day. Management recently laid off most of the office staff.

No negotiations have taken place since workers rejected the company’s “final offer” November 13 in a close vote of 200-180.

The strike is having an impact on the profits of the privately owned company, founded in 1931, as well as the hog industry throughout Ontario. According to UFCW plant chairperson Sam Cataeno, a lucrative contract with A&P, a major grocery chain, has been cancelled because of the strike, and that lost contracts with other major companies may follow.

An article in the Ontario Farmer, written in the first week of the strike, said hog farmers are being forced to ship live hogs out of Ontario to other Canadian provinces and to the United States, at great expense.

In the same article, Keith Robbins, spokesman for the Ontario Pork Marketing Board, said, “It’s the worse possible time” for a strike, because it will increase exports to the United States. This costs the board an extra $20 a hog because of the new 13.25 percent duty imposed by Washington. The Ontario Farmer reports that all of Ontario’s packing plants are operating at full capacity or near it. That means the board has to find out-of-province buyers for the more than 25,000 hogs a week QMP normally slaughters. This is 22 percent of Ontario’s total weekly production of about 115,000 hogs.

The Ontario Pork Board said in a November 18 bulletin that “this week, 18,000 to 20,000 are being processed in the United States, approximately 10,000-12,000 extra hogs will be processed in Quebec, and Maple Leaf Pork is planning a Saturday slaughter.”

Statements by QMP president David Schwartz indicate the impact of the strike on the company. “We were shocked that the membership rejected our offer in spite of the fact that their negotiating team unanimously recommended acceptance,” said Schwartz on the second day of the strike. Following the rejection of the “final offer” on November 13, Schwartz complained, “Our offer was better than agreements with other industry competitors. We feel it was extremely fair, therefore the outcome of the vote is very discouraging.”

In a November 15 “message to producers” Schwartz said, “We recognize that this latest setback puts incredible stress on producers, on the industry, as well as on the workers and the company.”

Meanwhile, the bosses continue their campaign of intimidation against workers, trying to convince the unionists that the plant will shut down if they don’t accept the company’s offer. During the third week of the strike, bosses loaded up two flatbed trucks with one line and a number of machines. They left them in the company yard for a day then moved them out.

Many strikers saw through this maneuver. “The line they took out was from the ham room and hardly used,” said a QMP mechanic with 27 years seniority who asked that his name not be used. “They’re making room for new machinery and cooling space.”

Six years ago, QMP workers failed to prevent a 40 percent cut in wages and benefits after a two-month strike. They are now demanding a wage increase above the company’s last offer of Can$1.15 to Can$1.75 (US$1 = Can$1.19) hourly raise over three years.

John Steele is a member of UFCW Local 175 on strike against Quality Meat Packers.  
 
 
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