Workers at JBS Believe Huge Effort at Meat Plant Will Keep Them Safe

As the morning shift begins at the JBS meat-packing plant, workers line up leisurely and with appropriate social distancing at the back of the staff parking lot to pick up a free, four-kilogram box of frozen chicken

by Licia Corbella

The 11 employees interviewed Tuesday in this city about 185 kilometres southeast of Calgary were relaxed and expressed little fear of infection. It’s a vast difference between the expressions of anxiety and anger at the Cargill plant in High River on Monday, which reopened after closing for two weeks amid its own outbreak.

“I think the company waited too long to bring in safety measures but now I think they are doing a lot”

 

The JBS employees say they appreciate the company’s small gesture of gratitude for their hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s what has been done inside the plant that makes them most thankful.

Virtually everything inside the facility has changed. Barriers have been erected between every possible work station, as well as plexiglas barriers at the lunch tables — which have been spread out into heated tents.

There are barriers between the urinals and sinks, and lockers have been spaced out so that people on the same shift go to different areas. Everything is sanitized frequently and infrared sensors check for elevated temperatures of anyone entering the building and starting back on March 27, it was mandatory for every worker to wear a face shield.

A sign outside the JBS plant in Brooks. LICIA CORBELLA / POSTMEDIA

“We have proactively identified and adopted more than 100 preventive measures at the Brooks facility to ensure a safe working environment for our team members,” Robert Meijer, a spokesperson with JBS said Wednesday.

Bol Cheek, who has worked at JBS for a little more than one year, says he’s no longer worried about getting COVID-19 — the virus that has infected 566 of his 2,600 co-workers and killed one man — an Ethiopian national like himself.

“Things have really improved in there,” he says. “We all get face shields and masks and everyone has to wear them, which is good.”

Currently, three of Alberta’s almost 200 meat-processing plants have COVID-19 outbreaks, including Cargill and Harmony Beef.

The three plants process 85 per cent of the country’s beef.

The Cargill outbreak is the single largest workplace outbreak of COVID-19 in North America with 946 of its 2,000 employees testing positive for the disease, which includes the death of Hiep Bui, a 67-year-old woman, on April 19. On April 20, the plant shut down for two weeks, reopening on Monday over the objections of the union with many of the same measures that exist at JBS and Harmony.

On Wednesday, a second death linked to the Cargill plant occurred. Armando Sallegue, who is from the Philippines and was visiting his son who works at Cargill, died after testing positive for the virus on April 23.

At Harmony Beef in Balzac, 38 employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

Cargill held a moment of silence for Bui and flags were lowered to half staff Wednesday. On Monday, Nga Nguyen, Bui’s grieving husband of 23 years, said he had not received any expression of condolence from Cargill management for the loss of his wife, even though she worked for the company for 24 years.

The company deserves little credit for this too-little-too-late expression of sympathy, as well as its delayed actions at keeping its staff safe.

Back in Brooks, Cheek is philosophical about meat-processing workers. “We are essential workers,” he says with a shrug. “People have to eat and producers have to sell their animals, so we must work.”

Sorie Bangura, 42, is stopped in a car with three other men he works closely with, on the public road leading out of the plant toward Highway 1.

“I really can’t think of anything more the company can do to keep us safe,” said Bangura, who has worked on the slaughter side of the plant for 15 years, since he immigrated from Sierra Leone.

“JBS has made a huge effort,” he says. “They gave us masks even before anybody got sick but now there are partitions everywhere — in the washrooms, at work stations, at lunch tables — they’ve spread things out and all of our helmets are surrounded with plastic,” he adds through the blue surgical mask he and all the others in the car are wearing.

Ehiarinmawian Prin Osamede, nicknamed Prince, nods in agreement.

“They’ve done what they can do. We’re doing our best and we have to leave the rest up to God,” says the 53-year-old Nigerian man who has worked on the kill floor for the past three years.

The $4 per hour wage increase running at least until the end of May and a $600 bonus to all employees working between March 23 through May 15 doesn’t hurt either.

The notice for the bonus is ambiguous and many employees believed that they had to work every scheduled shift to receive it. That is not, in fact, the case. It’s possible the lack of clarity surrounding the bonus encouraged unhealthy workers to show up to work.

Ayan, 35, who is quarantined in her tidy two-bedroom apartment with her 15-year-old son, after testing positive for COVID-19, says at first that is what she believed, but human resources told her being sick or taking time off doesn’t disqualify any employee from receiving the bonus.

“I think the company waited too long to bring in safety measures but now I think they are doing a lot,” said Ayan, which is not her real name.

She says she stayed home after having some flu-like symptoms last month on the recommendation of Alberta Health Services but she tested negative for the virus.

“I went back to work for two weeks and got sick with chest pains. I wasn’t smelling anything and I had a dry cough,” she said. “On Monday, April 27, the test came back positive. My son was tested too and he got it also,” she said.

Hamszi, her son, says it hasn’t been all bad. His symptoms are much milder than his mom’s but because he’s not even allowed to go for a walk outside and his mom felt guilty for giving him the disease, “she bought me this PlayStation,” he says, flashing a bright smile while playing Fortnite with a friend online.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, specifically addressed the outbreaks at the three meat-processing plants Wednesday.

“All meat-processing facilities in Alberta with outbreaks underway have implemented safety controls that meet requirements identified by AHS, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Occupational Health and Safety legislation and my orders,” she said.

“I know that Albertans want these outbreaks to be over immediately. If I had the power to do so, I would make that happen,” Hinshaw said. “Unfortunately, this virus is like a forest fire. Once it has started to spread, there are no simple or immediate ways to put it out. It takes time and hard work, and proven practices that slow the spread.”

Sadly, the hard work started much too late, and the cost has been much too high.

Licia Corbella is a Postmedia columnist in Calgary