Lakeside Packers workers to vote on ending strike

BROOKS, Alta. — There’s word that the three-week strike at Canada’s largest meatpacker is almost over.

According to Canadian Press, Lakeside Packers in Brooks, Alta. is close to reaching a tentative deal with the United Food and Commercial Workers local 401, which is representing over 800 of 2,000 workers who walked off the job last month.

Union President Doug O’Halloran told CP, workers will learn details of the 51-month contract tomorrow before they cast their vote. He quickly added that he thinks if it passes, it will likely be by the lowest of margins, since the offer is likely short of what a government arbitrator recommended last summer.

Meanwhile, Lakeside officials have said more than 1,100 hourly workers continue to show up ready to cross the line every day.

Lakeside says it’s hopeful the employees will ratify the deal. “It provides competitive wages and benefits, while helping the economic viability of the plant,” manager Chris Borgren said in a news release.

Lakeside — owned by US-based Tyson Foods — slaughters and processes more than 40 percent of Canada’s beef daily.

The strike has been a blow to an industry still trying to get over a 21-month ban of live cattle to the US because of a “mad cow” incident in May 2003.

Keith Horsburgh, owner of Brooks-based Grace Cattle Haulers, told TodaysTrucking.com last month, that the reopening of the US border has somewhat mitigated the effects of the strike.

— with files from Canadian Press