NDP calls on executives of meat-packing plants to testify
Special Health Act Review Committee to examine province’s pandemic response
The leaders of two Alberta meat-processing plants with severe COVID-19 outbreaks are among those who should testify during a review of the province’s pandemic response, Alberta’s official Opposition said Wednesday.
A subcommittee of the Select Special Health Act Review Committee met Wednesday in private to determine which parts of the act will be reviewed and which witnesses, if any, will be called to testify before the whole committee, said NDP MLA and health critic David Shepherd.
Before the meeting, Shepherd announced the NDP committee members would be calling on Cargill chair and CEO David Maclennan and JBS Canada president David Colwell to testify about the facilities’ responses to the spread of COVID-19 among employees.
“It is our view that in order to prevent further tragedies, we must learn from our mistakes,” Shepherd said during a news conference in Edmonton.
“The premier promised this committee would do a ‘deep dive’ into the Public Health Act and determine areas for improvement. The obvious launching path for this work is the COVID-19 pandemic. If we want to be prepared for a second wave or another pandemic, then we must have a clear understanding of what happened during this one.”
The Select Special Health Act Review Committee was appointed to review the Public Health Act.
The NDP members of the committee are also calling on Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer, Labour Minister Jason Copping and the leaders of seniors homes Revera, Retirement Concepts and Extendicare to testify because of their significant roles in the province’s COVID-19 response.
“Critically, we need to hear from both government and industry to ensure that their failure to co-ordinate does not happen again,” said Shepherd. “The government and others were quick to talk about the part employees played in the creation of these outbreaks at meat-packing facilities. We have not heard, clearly and on the record, from the individuals who actually had control in that situation. … This would be an opportunity to talk to them about what steps they took, how they approached that and find out if there are ways to improve the system.”
The Cargill meat-processing plant in High River temporarily closed in late April after an outbreak of the novel coronavirus had already been linked to almost 500 cases and the death of an employee.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, which represents workers at the Cargill plant, argued the company wasn’t doing enough to protect employees, and during a town hall in April, workers voiced a range of concerns to management and Alberta health-care leaders, including anxieties over safety at work.
Union local president Thomas Hesse wrote to Cargill in April, stating that work was being carried out in a manner contrary to social distancing and endangering roughly 2,000 workers at the facility. Also in April, Cargill told Postmedia that employees had been discouraged from coming to work if they felt unwell. Workers were offered 80 hours of paid leave and enhanced cleaning protocols had been put in place, according to the company.
The plant reopened May 4 with additional safety measures in an effort to reduce the spread of coronavirus. This included reducing the likelihood of employees carpooling to work, added barriers in bathrooms, reassigned lockers and enhanced screening guidelines.
To handle an outbreak among employees at the JBS Canada meat-processing facility in Brooks, the company added barriers between every possible work station, Plexiglas between lunch tables, barriers in bathrooms and other measures meant to contain the virus as work continued.
Occupational Health and Safety
opened investigations into the outbreaks at both Cargill and JBS Canada.
Both Cargill and JBS Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Shepherd is also requesting the committee host physically distanced public hearings in High River, Brooks, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton and Grande Prairie to ask Albertans about their perspectives on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.