Meat inspectors in B.C. have been classified as essential workers, which will help keep meat production flowing amid the B.C. General Employees' Union (BCGEU) strike that mistakenly sidelined the inspectors this week.
Agriculture and Food Minister Lana Popham made the announcement late Thursday evening, Sept. 11, saying abattoirs, or slaughterhouses, play a "critical" role in supporting the province's farmers and ranchers.
"I am very pleased that we have been able to successfully work with the BCGEU to have provincial meat inspectors classified as essential workers during this round of job action," Popham said in an email. "I am grateful for the BCGEU's collaboration and willingness to work with us to safeguard human health, support animal welfare and support the farmers and producers of this province."
Premier David Eby said Thursday at an unrelated press conference that the meat inspectors should be designated essential, adding the issue that cropped up this week was more to do with animal welfare than food security. He made the comments following news that at least 12 meat processors had been effectively shut down because their meat inspectors were now part of BCGEU's job action.
BCGEU was caught off guard, with president Paul Finch telling Black Press Media Wednesday it was never the union's intent to have the provincial slaughterhouse inspectors put on strike.
Finch explained the union didn't target any food inspection workers and instead merely took building addresses out on strike.
"(The animal inspectors) happened to be assigned to those building addresses," Finch said.
Ben Rainer, manager and co-owner of Rainer Custom Cutting in Darfield, north of Kamloops, sounded the alarm about the loss of business and animal welfare concerns that could arise if the issue persisted. He told Black Press Friday morning that the essential worker designation for the meat inspectors comes as a relief, but he's frustrated that it didn't happen sooner.
"You're happy for a positive outcome for a situation that never should have been created in the first place," he said.
Rainer said he's still waiting for confirmation from a supervisor, but it appears he'll be able to fire up production at his facility again on Monday.
If that happens, he'll only have been shut down for a week. But the disruption to his business will still be felt.
"Scheduling is going to be interesting," he said. "If we go back Monday, I'm not going to run on Monday, just because logistically we've still got product coming back that we had to process at another facility down in Grindrod, so at another facility that was still in operation. So we get that stuff coming back, and I have to make sure I've got room and the staff to sort all that out."
Everyone is keen to get back to work, Rainer said, "but it's going to be the fun of trying to make everything fit, because the ones we've already missed, some of these animals come from the coast. So we're not out of the woods yet."
Animal processors were affected by the strike in the Nanaimo area of Vancuver Island, the Kamloops area and Williams Lake, according to industry group BC Meats.
"We are truly grateful that BC Meat Inspection has been deemed an essential service," BC Meats said on social media Friday. "This is huge for our industry. Many plants in the province were effectively shut down this week due to the BCGEU strike, of which the BC Meat Inspectors were a part of."
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) voted at its Thursday board meeting, before Popham's announcement, to write a letter to the province to have meat inspectors be declared essential services. TNRD's concerns included upcoming agricultural fairs such as the B.C. Ag Expo happening in Barriere Sept. 19 to 22, where young 4-H members need to have their meat processed for competition.
Rainer, a director for BC Meats, said his meat inspector was surprised and dismayed by the notice they were included in the job action. He added that his industry group "deserves a seat at the table" in matters concerning meat production.
