JBS to pay bonus to vaccinated employees

JBS Canada will offer a $100 incentive to the workers at its Brooks meatpacking facility who volunteer to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the company told the News on Friday.

That expands a program at U.S. plants announced earlier this week, the company’s Canadian office confirmed.

The head of a worker’s union at the plant, where an outbreak last spring made national headlines, said that considering the timelines for distribution, employers in general need to focus the immediate situation to protect workers.

JBS Canada says it has made hundreds of changes to operations this year to suppress potential transmission.

“We will continue to work proactively with Brooks community and government leaders, and our union partners as we fight this pandemic together,” read a statement.

The U.S. wing of the Brazilian-based beef giant announced the payments earlier this week as a way to support the vaccine rollout plan from new U.S. President Joe Biden.

It says surveys show between 60 and 90 per cent of workers in various facilities want the vaccine.

“Our goal ... is to remove any barriers to vaccination and incentivize our team members to protect themselves, their families and their coworkers,” said Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA.

Tom Hesse, head of the United Food and

Commercial Workers, No.

401, in Alberta said there will be a “lag” of several more months before the vaccine is available to the general public in Canada.

At that point, some will get vaccines and some won’t, he said, but the pandemic is ongoing and not going away soon.

“We’re in a grey area and we still need to be focusing on providing a safe work place,” he said.

“They would like (the vaccine) as early as possible — they’re very interested,” he said. “But, like with anywhere there will be people who have questions and will wait.

“If you’re going to get it, $100 is a nice little bonus, but is it enough to change your mind?”

UFCW 401 is providing an online workshop for members on Jan. 31 about the vaccine and workplace rights.

Hesse said members, totalling more than 30,000 across Alberta, want assured access to proper protective equipment, better sick pay programs to increase isolation calls, and a return of pandemic pay premiums that were mostly cancelled last summer.

UFCW also represents grocery workers across the province at Safeway, Superstore and in the region at South Country Co-op, as well as various care facilities.

Specific to Brooks JBS facility, where there was a major outbreak last spring, he said his organization is still concerned about line speed and worker spacing.

A statement on the JBS Canada website says COVID protocols and worker safety is reviewed daily.

It has installed new air filtration equipment, altered shifts and opened new lunch and break room space to allow distancing.

“We will continue to make all decisions based on the best available data and advice from both our team members and public health experts,” read a statement from president David Colwell.