Monday, January 10, 2022

Omicron hits Cargill, Alberta

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been confirmed in 44 workers at Canada’s largest beef-packing plant, Cargill at High River, Alta.

It has about 1,400 employees and has already gone through an earlier shut-down when COVID-19 spread among workers resulting in the death of one.


Protections were a major feature in a new union contract signed only after workers rejected the first two tentative deals.


Cargill said the outbreak has reduced slaughter and processing capacity, but also said 84 per cent of its workers have been vaccinated.


Neither the Canadian Meat Council nor the Canadian Pork Council have responded for five days to phone calls from Ontario Farmer asking if COVID-19 is having an impact on slaughter and processing operations..