GUELPH, Ontario — After a hard-fought six-week strike at the Cargill beef-processing plant here, the nearly 1,000 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175 narrowly voted to accept the latest contract offer July 6.
After voting a 99% strike mandate in April, negotiations dragged on until a tentative agreement was reached at the end of May. Union members voted it down by 82% and picket lines went up May 27.
Most workers Militant worker-correspondents talked to didn’t see much improvement in the new offer over the one they rejected before. The wage offer was basically the same — 2 Canadian dollars ($1.47) in the first year, 50 cents in the second and fourth years. The only change was a boost in the third year from 50 to 75 cents. There were also some improvements to the benefits package.
Strikers voted to accept the new offer by 52%. One striker, who didn’t want to be named due to previous company harassment, said the strike was about earning a living you could survive on and wanted to keep fighting. Striker Donald Cormier agreed it was hardly an improvement over the last offer, especially for those in lower job classifications, but didn’t think they could win much more by staying on strike.
Garrett Lines, who was doing picket duty before going to vote, said that after six weeks on strike it was “getting harder to keep up with inflation, living on CA$450 strike pay while picketing 30 hours a week.”
Workers faced public pressure from the Beef Farmers of Ontario Association. Ontario is the second largest cattle-raising province in Canada. The Guelph plant processes around 80% of Ontario’s beef slaughter.
A number of workers in the plant were hired from overseas. They can apply for permanent residence in Canada after working for two years. A number of strikers expressed concern for these workers. In addition to their own living expenses, their relatives back home rely on their remittances.