BROOKS, Alta. — It appears there will be labour peace at the largest beef processing plant in Western Canada.
Unionized workers at the XL Foods Lakeside plant in Brooks, Alta., have voted in favour of a new contract that includes a wage increase and better benefits.
The United Food and Commercial Workers say 92 per cent of the plant’s 2,300 unionized workers approved the deal that runs until December 2013.
About 30 per cent of the plant’s employees are temporary foreign workers.
Earlier this year, XL Foods shut two meat plants in Calgary and a plant in Idaho.
The company, owned by the Nilsson Brothers Group, blamed challenging market conditions and a decline in the Canadian cattle herd for the closures.
The contract for 1,700 UFCW beef workers at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in High River, Alta., runs until January 2012.