The entire province — in fact, all of Canada — has found out how important the meat plant 20 km south of Okotoks in Foothills County is to the economy and to the food supply chain.
They have also found out how important the more than 2,0000 employees are at Cargill Meat Solutions, just north of High River.
The plant shutdown on April 20 after one employee passed away from COVID-19. Since that time, the number of cases among Cargill employees jumped from the initially announced 38 to mind-boggling more than 500 —about a quarter of the work-force.
Whether the plant should have shutdown sooner — it had gone down from two shifts to one shift just prior to April 20 — is a matter for unions, Cargill and who knows, maybe the courts to figure out.
What is no doubt is the employees’ efforts are missed.
The closure of Cargill — and the slowdown at the JBS plant in Brooks — has already resulted in back-ups for beef producers and feedlots. While, there is still plenty of meat at butcher shops and grocers, the speculation is beef prices are going to go up.
Hopefully, the reopening of Cargill is weeks away, and not months as it is too vital a clog to the economy.
It will have to mean a revamp of how things are done, not only from within the plant but from outside as well.
Issues such as transportation -- employees carpooling to the plant — have been cited as one reason for the outbreak as the workers are not able to maintain physical distancing. Obviously, Cargill will have to work with Alberta Health Services and hopefully with the employees’ United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 chapter before it opens to ensure proper safety.
The employees’ enthusiasm and money permeates through the Foothills community.
Their safety is the meaty issue at Cargill.
