Fiera Foods hires former AG to lead safety review
Company under scrutiny again after the death last month of temporary worker at factory
Following the death of another temporary worker at one of its factories — the fifth since1999 and third in the last three years — Fiera Foods says it has hired former Ontario Attorney General David Young to lead a “comprehensive review” of its health and safety practices.
“Any workplace fatality is tragic, and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of our job sites,” the company, which mass produces bread products for grocery stores and fast-food chains across North America, said in a news release.
Fiera, which was the subject of an undercover Toronto Star investigation in 2017, has come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the death last month of 57-year-old Enrico Miranda, who was crushed by a machine while he cleaned it. Miranda had worked at Fiera through a temp agency for about five years. The Ministry of Labour is investigating.
The company was also in court on Thursday to face Ministry of Labour charges related to the October 2018 death of a temp worker at one of its affiliated factories. Thursday’s hearing was unsubstantive and company executive David Gelbloom refused to answer any of the Star’s questions outside the courtroom.
In its news release, Fiera said it prioritizes the health and safety of all of its workers.
“We plan to learn from this accident and ensure that it does not repeat itself while growing and improving as a Torontobased job creator,” Fiera said.
Two years ago, in response to the September 2016 death of 23-year-old temp worker Amina Diaby, Fiera also announced plans to review its health and safety practices. It refused to say who was conducting that review. “What happened to Amina Diaby was a tragedy,” Gelbloom told the Star then, after the company pleaded guilty to Ministry of Labour charges and accepted a $300,000 fine. Gelbloom said Fiera was going to do “everything that we can to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.”
Two temp workers have died at Fiera-affiliated factories since then.
Gelbloom did not directly respond to a question from the Star on Friday asking how Young’s review would differ from the one the company undertook in 2017.
In an emailed statement he wrote: “Each accident has its unique set of unrelated facts … Each time we have invested significant resources to learn from them and do better.”
But it seems Young’s review will be more substantial than the one conducted just two years ago. A lawyer and former Progressive Conservative MPP who served in the cabinets of both Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, Young will select an “expert advisory panel” to support his review.
On Friday, Young declined to answer specific questions from the Star, but in a written response said he is still in the process of finalizing the “terms of reference” of his review. He wrote that he expects to announce the members of his advisory panel soon. “I will likely have more to say publicly once my review is complete,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, independent Toronto grocery store Fiesta Farms announced that in light of the most recent worker death at Fiera, it would no longer sell croissants made by the company.
Other Fiera clients, such as Sobeys, Metro, Costco, Walmart, Tim Hortons and Dunkin’ Donuts, did not respond to questions from the Star on Friday. Sobeys, Walmart and Dunkin’ Donuts previously told the Star they would be addressing the latest death with Fiera.
This week, a group of worker advocates occupied Premier Doug Ford’s constituency office in Etobicoke to demand stronger protections for temp workers. Seven of the protesters were charged with trespassing and fined.
In its statement, Fiera said temp workers and full-time employees receive “the same training, education and support. Unfortunately, a segment of labour leaders continues to politicize this matter, perpetuating the incorrect allegations that potential penalties and worker status somehow correlate to health and safety.”
A Star reporter who worked undercover at Fiera for a month in 2017 was hired through a temp agency and received about five minutes of safety training, no hands-on instruction and was paid in cash at a payday lender without any documentation or deductions.
The investigation also found that temp work is increasing across the province, the majority of temp work is now in nonclerical jobs and that temps are twice as likely to be injured on the job compared to their non-temp counterparts. Temp workers make up 70 per cent of Fiera’s workforce, according to records from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
Following the Star’s investigation, Ontario’s previous Liberal government initiated a measure that would have ensured all companies who use temps are liable for their injuries at the workers’ compensation board, which workers’ advocates have long argued is a key financial incentive to protecting temps. The Ford government has not moved to implement the measure.