By The Canadian Press October 25, 2012

BROOKS, Alta. – The new managers of XL Foods Inc. are taking immediate steps to ensure the troubled plant meets requirements that will allow it to continue operations.

Bill Rupp, CEO of JBS USA’s North America and Australia beef business, says the first goal is getting the plant up and running and after that, management will consider whether to move forward with purchasing the plant.

He says at this point he doesn’t see anything to prevent that from occurring.

JBS has ordered an independent audit of the plant to review the facility and food safety procedures.

Rupp also says they are also doing intensive training with current employees to make sure they are aware of JBS standards and a session was underway next door to the news conference.

The plant is scheduled to reopen Monday after being shut down a month ago following a massive beef recall and E. coli concerns.

By The Canadian Press October 22, 2012

BROOKS — The company taking over management of an Alberta meat packer at the centre of a beef recall and E. coli scare is meeting with the people who work at the plant.

JBS USA officials were to meet with XL Foods employees in Brooks on Monday in groups of 100 to talk about plans for the plant, which has been closed since Sept. 27.

Doug O’Halloran of the United Food and Commercial Workers said union officials were to meet Tuesday with industrial relations staff from JBS USA.

Reaching out to the workforce and union is a positive sign for the future of Canada’s second-largest beef operation, he suggested.

“It’s certainly a step in the right direction because we’ve had no communication with XL, so the fact that JBS has reached out and wants to have a discussion I think bodes well,” O’Halloran said.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has said test samples from meat processed at the plant last week as part of an inspection came back free of E. coli.

The food agency is finishing a review of hygiene, meat-handling and sanitation procedures, but no date has been set for the plant’s reopening.

“We certainly have some questions going forward about what their (JBS) plans are … and right now we’re sort of in limbo, not really knowing what to expect … so we’re quite interested in having a meeting and seeing what they have to say,” O’Halloran said.

All the beef from the extensive recall is being dumped at a landfill.

By Sarah O’Donnell, Edmonton Journal October 23, 2012 7:28 AM

EDMONTON – Alberta’s chief electoral officer will be able to name names of groups that violate Alberta’s political spending laws under an amendment to election rules that will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session, Government House Leader Dave Hancock said Monday.

“It’s not retroactive legislation, but it will give the chief electoral officer what some of us thought he already had,” Hancock said, speaking of the Election Accountability Amendment Act, one of 10 bills the government announced Monday that it plans to introduce or vote on in the upcoming six-week session.

Previous amendments to Alberta’s election law allowed the chief electoral officer to levy penalties and make decisions about whether political donations complied with provincial laws. But when that change occurred, Hancock said, it wasn’t made clear that the chief electoral officer could also make those decisions public.

“This act will make that clear,” Hancock said.

As of July, chief election officer Brian Fjeldheim’s office said it had looked into 81 cases of allegedly inappropriate political contributions. Of those, 37 investigations resulted in fines and another 14 in warnings. He said the legislation prevented him from revealing the details of those investigations, including who had been fined.

In addition to the promise of more transparent election laws, Hancock said a mandatory new home warranty and a requirement for power transmission lines to be approved by the provincial utilities commission will be among the key pieces of legislation to be introduced when MLAs return Tuesday to the legislature.

The government also will introduce a new Education Act for a third time, which Hancock said will clarify wording related to the role of human rights, an issue that prompted protests last spring from some parents who home-school their children and worried the new act would force them to teach values they believe to be immoral.

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twitter.com/scodonnell

A look ahead at the legislation

Members of the Redford government said Monday they intend to introduce 10 pieces of legislation in the fall session. Here’s a quick look at the bills, based on the provincial government’s descriptions:

Bill 1: The Workers’ Compensation Amendment Act, introduced in the spring, gives firefighters coverage for work-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

Bill 2: The Responsible Energy Development Act creates a single provincial regulator for energy project that relate to removing oil, gas, oilsands and coal from the ground.

Bill 3: The Education Act, being introduced for a third time, is meant to modernize the dated School Act.

Bill 4: The Public Interest Disclosure Act is being touted by the government as whistleblower protection for people in the public sector so they can disclose problems without reprisal.

Bill 5: The New Home Buyer Protection Act creates a mandatory new home warranty for all new homes built in Alberta.

Bill 6: Amendments to the Protection & Compliance Statutes promise new penalties for health, safety and trade violations.

Bill 7: The Election Accountability Amendment Act aims to “increase democracy and enhance accountability in the electoral process,” according to a government news release. PC House Leader Dave Hancock said it will include changes clarifying that Alberta’s chief electoral officer can publicly report on decisions the office makes or penalties it levies for violations.

Bill 8: The Electric Utilities Amendment act is meant to ensure all future power transmission line project are reviewed and approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission, not provincial cabinet.

Bill 9: The Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment Act introduces a handful of changes, including allowing sharing taxpayer information in certain circumstances, such as upon request by the Auditor General.

Bill 10: The Employee Pensions Act is being promoted as an update to make Alberta’s private sector pension legislation in tune with changing times.

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Written by Trevor Busch

Thursday, 18 October 2012 17:31

The ongoing tainted beef crisis at XL Foods in Brooks has been negatively impacting the province’s beef industry up and down the supply chain.
Besides the direct repercussions of over 2,000 employees temporarily laid off by XL Foods, feedlots have been backed up, cattle prices have been affected, and consumer confidence has been severely undermined.
On the weekend, the beleaguered company announced they were re-calling 800 workers previously laid off to allow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) evaluation to proceed, which requires the limited re-activation of beef processing activities in order to complete a comprehensive assessment.
Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan, who serves as the agriculture critic for the Wildrose Alliance Party, commented on the initial investigation by the CFIA and his hope this week’s limited re-activation of the plant will be a significant step towards full-scale operations resuming.
“I guess there wasn’t a lot of information going out, which with it being a short-term situation, that’s what I think they thought it was going to be, just a quick blip and no big problem, and then the situation got longer and they figured out there were maybe a couple more issues there,” said Donovan.
“It’s too bad it took as long as it did to get rectified. They’re opening modified, to work on the carcasses that are in there, to get everything working. So hopefully that works out, and they can get rolling again and back on their feet. Cattle prices have dropped quite a bit, because there’s not the market for it.”
Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith, along with Donovan and Strathmore-Brooks MLA Jason Hale, served free hamburgers at a barbecue on the Legislature grounds last week. Smith spoke to the media about the ongoing XL Foods beef incident, food safety in Alberta, and how to support Alberta beef producers going forward.
Donovan is hoping any investigations into the E. coli problem at XL Foods will reveal any weaknesses that may exist in food safety procedures.
“I think we have great food safety already. I think it has been identified there was problems — everybody wants safe food in Alberta, it’s our bread and butter, our industry. I would like to see an investigation to figure out what the hold-up was, and see why it went as long as it did without some of the issues on it. I don’t know if it’s an XL Foods issue or a CFIA issue, or what it is — I’d like to get more information. I think we’ve got a safe food product in Alberta, and I think we’ve got the guidelines to show for it.”
Although the incident at the XL Foods plant falls predominantly under federal jurisdiction, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t already profoundly impacted the beef industry in the province, according to Donovan.
“One of the things is we’re hoping to figure out what happened with the CFIA. This isn’t really a provincial issue, it’s a more federal issue, because CFIA are the inspectors for the federal plant.”
As far as provincially, it hurt our economy, not including the 2,400 employees they had working there that are off work, there’s also cattle buyers and cattle haulers, there’s feedlots that were backed up — there was quite a hit to a lot of people in Alberta. I don’t like to see that, especially with feedlot alley being in my riding, in Little Bow riding. As far as that goes, we know it was a big hurt that way.”
An investigation into the matter is warranted, added Donovan.
“Anytime there’s something like that where it’s shut down upwards of three weeks, I think there needs to be an investigation of some sort to find out what went wrong, is there safeguards that would have caught that, if stuff wasn’t being cleaned, or the boiler — I’ve been hearing from one source that the boiler wasn’t getting hot enough that they were using to clean. That should have been identified, and I think they’ve identified that now, and that should never be an issue again. But those are the things that you need to look and find out and see how that has slipped through the cracks. Our party stance is we’d like to see an investigation on this, just to see what happened, and to make sure that there are guidelines in place make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Despite the issues surrounding the tainted beef recall, Donovan is confident domestic consumers won’t omit beef from their weekly shopping list.
“Feel safe that it is a good product, and that you’re also helping your neighbours out when you’re eating it. We’re all in it together, and I think that’s what we need to do, is show that in Alberta we’re very confident in the food we’re getting, and keep on using it.”

By Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen October 20, 2012

OTTAWA – The Brazilian-owned company taking over a troubled XL Foods facility in Alberta is being sued by a U.S. government agency for alleged mistreatment of Muslim, Somali and black employees.

JBS USA will assume management of the XL Foods facility in Brooks, Alta., the source of E. coli contamination that last month triggered the largest meat recall in Canadian history.

The U.S. branch of the Brazil-based company is defending lawsuits in Colorado and Nebraska brought by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in 2010 that claim employees were subject to “hostile work environment because of their race, national origin, and/or religion.”

Many of the employees working the kill floor at the Brooks plant that JBS USA will manage are temporary foreign workers. Many are black and some come from Somalia.

One lawsuit, filed on behalf of employees of JBS USA’s Swift & Co. facility in Greely, Colo., claims their supervisors and other workers threw meat, blood and bones at the workers and also used offensive language toward them.

The allegations have not been proved in court.

The company did not respond to calls requesting comment on Friday. But in court documents, JBS USA denied it committed unlawful employment practices. It denied there was harassment and argued that the EEOC should have first exhausted administrative remedies before suing.

The complaint claims the company did not accommodate the needs of Muslim employees to pray five times daily during Ramadan and retaliated against those who used bathroom breaks to pray.

It also alleges that Swift employees turned off water fountains or cordoned them off with red and yellow tape usually used to denote rotten meat, so that they couldn’t drink water while fasting for the religious holiday.

Similar litigation in Nebraska alleges that employees at JBS USA’s Grand Island, facility were harassed with comments made by supervisors. It also claims a failure to accommodate the religious beliefs of Muslim employees. Some employees who protested lack of Ramadan accommodation were unlawfully terminated by claiming they had engaged in an unauthorized work stoppage, the lawsuits allege.

The EEOC said it received more than 160 complaints against JBS USA in the two states in 2008. The litigation against the company was launched after the EEOC investigated the claims.

The cases are scheduled for trial next April.

[email protected]

twitter.com/glen_mcgregor

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

 Original source article: Company taking over XL Foods being sued over alleged racial and religious harassment

By Bryan Weismiller, Calgary Herald October 21, 2012 9:01 PM

BROOKS — A steady stream of dump trucks rolled into a Brooks landfill through the weekend, teeming with recalled beef from the XL Foods Inc. plant.

The first load arrived at about 8 a.m. Saturday for disposal at the Newell Regional Solid Waste Management Authority. By late Sunday, approximately 600 tonnes of frozen product had been dropped off, said landfill manager Ray Juska.

“We don’t normally work Sunday and we don’t normally work until 10 o’clock on Saturday night either,” Juska said. “Hopefully they’ll run out of stuff to send us soon.”

The meat is being compacted in an industrial-grade, clay-lined cell.

Juska said much of the dumped contents are offal — internal organs and discarded byproducts from slaughter — although some hamburger has also been delivered.

“We’re all waiting for the striploins to show up,” he said.

Federal food inspectors have seized more than 5.5 million kilograms of beef from the beleaguered plant at the heart of a massive E. coli recall.

On Friday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the meat packer may be allowed to send some of the recalled beef to market if it is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill off any possible bacteria.

But later that day, the agency said all meat involved in the recall had been returned to XL Foods and will be destroyed. CFIA officials have been overseeing and monitoring the disposal of the meat at the landfill.

The CFIA announced Friday it would be drafting recommendations for the shuttered plant over the weekend.

Brooks Mayor Martin Shields expects the town’s largest employer will reopen this week. Shields said he was told by the plant’s manager that groups of workers would be recalled on Monday for an orientation with the new owners, Brazil-based JBS USA.

A CFIA spokeswoman said it’s too early to speculate on when the meat packing facility will resume normal operations.

But Shields expects the inspection agency will give the green light to Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz by Tuesday.

“Sounds pretty clear to me that it’s going to go ahead,” he said in an interview.

However, the mayor is quick to point out that everything is not rosy in cattle country. He said more than $200,000 in wages is lost each day while 2,000 plant workers sit at home.

The XL Foods plant — closed since Sept. 27 — is the town’s economic engine, employing roughly one in every six residents.

“We’re dealing with an economic situation,” Shields said. “People have to understand there are still a lot of people at the food bank.” Speaking to reporters in Edmonton Saturday, Premier Alison Redford said it is “the end of the third week of a very difficult situation.”

“Every time I talk about it, the first thing I say is the quality of the product we are producing in Alberta is of a high quality and high standard,” Redford said. “It’s an excellent product and we want to encourage people to keep consuming it.”

Some 16 people across the country have become sick from bacteria in products sourced from the Brooks meat-packing plant.

A battle broke out on Twitter on Sunday when Opposition Leader Danielle Smith appeared to endorse feeding the recalled meat to the hungry rather than disposing of it. In a response to a Tweet from an individual who questioned, “Is there no way to cook it so it’s safe and feed the hungry?”, Smith responded, “I agree. We all know thorough cooking kills E. coli. What a waste.”

NDP Leader Brian Mason instantly responded, tweeting, “I’m appalled that a public official would suggest feeding tainted meat to ABans living in poverty.”

Smith went on to tweet that she would hate to see good food destroyed if there was a way to salvage it, and that if the recalled beef could be sold, she would be among the first to buy it.

With files from Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald, and The Canadian Press

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Original source article: UPDATED: Twitter battle breaks out over landfill dumping of beef from XL Foods

By Tamara Gignac, Calgary Herald October 19, 2012

While all beef from the XL Foods Inc. recall will be destroyed, the fate of another huge quantity of the company’s beef — which shows no sign of a dangerous bacteria — remains unknown.

More than 5.5-million kilograms of beef from the Brooks plant was detained across the country during the crisis as a precautionary measure. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the meat, which includes steaks and roasts, has tested negative for the deadly E. coli bacteria.

The agency has given XL Foods three options for that meat.

“It could go to rendering, it could go to the landfill, it could go to cooking,” said Dr. Harpreet Kochlar, the CFIA’s executive director of western operations.

“We don’t have a plan presented by the company, so we can’t speculate.”

Regulations require the meat to undergo additional tests before it can be sent back to market.

An undisclosed quantity of recalled beef products returned to stores by consumers is not eligible for “reconditioning,” noted Paul Mayers, the CFIA’s associate vice-president of programs.

“Where product has remained in the control chain, options can be considered around the return of that product to a marketable state,” he said.

“However, once product goes outside the chain, then product integrity can’t be assured.”

The detained meat from more than 5,000 carcasses at XL Foods tested negative for the E. coli bacteria, safety officials said Friday.

It’s still unknown when the Brooks facility will be allowed to reopen. The plant has been shuttered since Sept. 27, when the discovery of tainted beef prompted the federal government to revoke its operating license.

The CFIA plans to finalize its recommendations over the weekend after reviewing the plant’s E. coli control strategy, meat hygiene and overall sanitation practices.

“When the plant is allowed to reopen, it will resume operations under enhanced oversight which will continue as long as the CFIA deems necessary,” said Mayers.

Some 16 people across the country have become sick from the bacteria — including a new case announced Friday involving an infected patient in Quebec.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the most recent illness is directly linked to the same strain of E. coli 0157 observed during the CFIA investigation.

With its losses mounting, beleaguered XL Foods announced plans this week to sell its slaughterhouse in Brooks and other assets to multinational meat giant JBS USA.

The Brazilian-based company has an option to buy XL’s beef packing plants in Calgary, Nebraska and Idaho, as well as a feedlot in southeastern Alberta and adjacent farmland.

Acquired in 2009, XL Foods’ packing house in Brooks was processing 40 per cent of Canada’s beef before its licence was suspended.

The CFIA’s investigation has prompted criticism from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents employees at the plant.

Union officials have cast doubt on the ability of federal inspectors to properly do their jobs — an assertion the CFIA says is without merit.

“We remain open to working with staff to improve food safety. That is why we have reached out to the union several times … to get evidence of facts they might have. To date we have not received a response,” Mayers said.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Original source article: Millions of kilograms of XL beef has tested safe: Now what to do with it?

By Keith Gerein, Edmonton Journal October 19, 2012

EDMONTON – Alberta taxpayers could soon be on the hook for a pair of new financial perks for MLAs, as a legislature committee on Friday voted for an enriched RRSP benefit and reintroduced the idea of a transition payment for politicians leaving office.

While critics such as Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith blasted the move as another excessive infringement on the provincial treasury, PC MLAs on the members’ services committee defended the changes as necessary incentives to convince top candidates to leave their careers for public office.

“We made a decision we don’t want to go to pensions, but we still need a retirement package that is fair and clear,” said PC caucus whip Steve Young, who proposed the new perks.

The committee has been conducting an overhaul of MLAs’ pay and benefits. Recommendations from former Supreme Court Justice Jack Major for a simplified salary system were largely implemented earlier this year, but there has been disagreement about what sort of retirement benefits to offer

Under the old system, departing MLAs were given a lucrative “transition allowance” that saw former speaker Ken Kowalski walk away with $1.2 million and former premier Ed Stelmach take home nearly $1 million. Amid public outrage over such payouts, Premier Alison Redford campaigned to abolish transition allowances and the legislature followed through with a motion in May.

Various alternatives have since been discussed, including Major’s suggestion that MLAs receive a “defined benefit” pension that would provide a target return each year.

The members’ services committee rejected that option Friday, along with all other types of pensions, as potentially too risky for taxpayers, who could wind up on the hook for any unfunded liabilities in the pension plan.

Instead, the PC members of the committee moved to compensate departing MLAs through their personal RRSPs.

Under current rules, the maximum $22,970 that can be put into an RRSP is covered on a 50-50 basis, with taxpayers and MLAs each contributing half ($11,485). But the change approved Friday will see taxpayers cover 100 per cent of the tab.

“We cannot cut these people off with nothing when their time is over. The workload is incredible but so is the responsibility,” PC committee member David Dorward said.

Smith criticized the PC members as out of touch with average Albertans, who do not typically get 100 per cent of their RRSP contributions paid by their employers. She described the change as essentially a $11,485 pay raise for politicians.

“We are trying to get the kind of proposal that is available in the real world,” she said. “There normally is some kind of matching requirement. Taxpayers don’t have the opportunity to vote themselves a similarly generous contribution.”

Derek Fildebrandt, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the only fair system is when MLAs put in the same amount as the public. NDP Leader Brian Mason said he would also like to see MLAs contribute something, though he didn’t say what the percentage should be.

In addition to the RRSP change, Young proposed outgoing MLAs be compensated with a “departing allowance.” Though essentially the same concept as a transition allowance, Young said his proposal would be much more modest since it would give MLAs one month’s salary for every year of service, up to maximum of 12 months. If eventually approved, backbenchers who serve 12 years or more would get an extra $134,000 when they left office, while cabinet ministers would take home a maximum $201,000.

Speaker Gene Zwozdesky, who chairs the committee, suggested the proposal was out of order since it appears to contravene the legislature’s decision in the spring to ban transition allowances.

The committee eventually voted to forward the issue to the legislature for debate.

“What we had before was too much, so we need to have one that reflects the transition into public life,” Young said. “Where Albertans were so offended was when long-standing folks came out with this big cheque that did not pass the smell test. With this (proposal), we’re seeing the best case scenario, as this is a reasonable cheque.”

Smith said she needed to discuss the “departing allowance” idea with her caucus before taking a position. However, she said the Tories seemed to be breaking Redford’s campaign promise of an end to transition allowances.

“That was a pledge of immense symbolic significance for the legitimacy of their re-election,” Fildebrandt said. “If they go back on this, it will be clear sign they only made the promise for the purpose of hanging onto power.”

Redford’s press secretary, Kim Misik, would not comment.

Mason said he needs time to consider the proposal, while Liberal Leader Raj Sherman abstained from voting, saying MLAs should not be setting their own pay and perks.

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald October 19, 2012

LETHBRIDGE — In a city surrounded by Wildrose MLAs, Premier Alison Redford tried Thursday to make the case for southern Albertans to come back into the Tory fold.

Speaking at the Alberta Progressive Conservative leader’s dinner, the premier recalled a conversation with former premier Peter Lougheed, who in 1971 headed a government largely locked out of southern Alberta — a situation Redford finds herself in now.

“I asked him what he did in 1971 to ensure continued success and how he changed the map,” she told the fundraiser audience of more than 400.

Following the April election this year, the legendary Alberta leader advised Redford to work for the best of the whole province, no matter what the electoral map looked like.

“We live by that example,” she said, praising the late premier. “We are committed to ensuring that we will govern for all Albertans.”

Redford used the Lethbridge speech to outline the more than 100 trips her MLAs have in recent months taken to southern Alberta, “truly one of the best parts of our province.”

She announced a new party office in the Lethbridge area — the first outside of Edmonton and Calgary, and one which party officials say should be up and running within six months.

But Lethbridge is a lonely Progressive Conservative island. Its two Tory backbenchers are surrounded by a sea of Wildrose MLAs. Dissatisfaction in southern Alberta over a number of Redford government decisions, including the cancellation of a police college in Fort Macleod and the closure of a long-term care centre for seniors with dementia in the aging community of Carmangay, hasn’t been forgotten.

“We used to be a strong PC area,” Carmangay Mayor Kym Nichols said in an interview Thursday.

“There still was a lot of PC supporters, but the fact that (Redford) never, ever acknowledged it, what was going on here — and she still hasn’t acknowledged it — kind of feels like a slap in the face,” said Nichols, who still holds out hope the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre will be reopened.

Livingstone-Macleod Wildrose MLA Pat Stier, one of 17 members of the official Opposition party, described the suggestion that PCs could once again take southern Alberta “more than presumptuous.”

Earlier in the day, at an announcement on the expansion of the Chinook Regional Hospital, Redford addressed another simmering issue. She said her government is in talks with the town of Fort Macleod over the police college project her government cancelled in August.

She said she wants to make sure the municipality is covered for the money it had already sunk into infrastructure for the $122-million project, which had been long promised by the province.

“We’re working very closely with them to make sure that they’re not out of pocket,” the premier said.

Fort Macleod Mayor Shawn Patience wouldn’t speak about the issue on Thursday, citing the ongoing negotiations with the province, but wrote a letter to a local paper this week stating: “We have made every effort to have the training centre reconsidered, but unfortunately none of those efforts have been effective.”

Despite a number of decisions that continue to be perceived as missteps in southern Alberta, hope springs eternal for the long-governing PCs.

Greg Weadick, one of the two Lethbridge Tory MLAs, said the premier has made efforts to meet with everyone from southern Alberta hospital officials to beef producers.

He feels certain that with some special attention to the issues close to southern Albertans’ hearts, such as an improvement in ambulance dispatch services, the party can improve its political fortunes.

“There are some issues that they would like to see resolved and many of them are about health care,” Weadick said.

John Kolk, the failed PC candidate in Little Bow in last April’s election, said the party will “redouble its efforts” in the region to prove to southern Albertans that the party represents their long-term interests. He insists the Wildrose party’s domination in southern Alberta is temporary.

“The wave is changing,” Kolk said at the Lethbridge dinner Thursday night. “Most prairie fires only burn for so long.”

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

By Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald October 19, 2012

Eager to get back to work, XL Foods workers and union leaders were hopeful new management by meat packing giant JBS will help the beleaguered Brooks packing plant.

Union leaders pledged to hold the world’s biggest beef processor’s “feet to the fire” as JBS Foods prepares to take over management of the embattled XL Foods processing plant at Brooks.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 president Doug O’Halloran said at a press conference Thursday that he views the move by the Brazilian-based JBS to assume management of the Brooks plant as a positive step. However, he said neither new management nor eventual new ownership at XL can fix what is wrong with Canada’s food safety system, which he described as “broken”.

O’Halloran said he will be pushing for JBS to include whistleblower protection in the union contract, so that workers who spot potential food safety issues feel comfortable speaking up.

He added JBS has already assured the union it will honour the existing contract XL has with its workers regarding wages and benefits, and has promised to recall all laid-off XL employees once the current CFIA investigation is complete and the plant is given the go-ahead to resume operations.

More to come.

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© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Original source article: Union pledges to hold new management’s ‘feet to the fire’ at XL Foods (with video)