Source:  Dani Friedland, MEATINGPLACE, 7/18/11

Unionized employees at the XL Foods Lakeside plant in Brooks, Alberta, have voted to approve a new union contract, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 announced.

Of those employees, 92 percent voted in favor of the new contract, which includes wage improvements, retroactive pay and increased benefits as well as new health and safety protections, food safety provisions and additional rights for temporary foreign workers, who reportedly make up about 30 percent of the plant’s work force.

Kill floor workers at the facility, which the Canadian Press reported is the largest beef processing plant in Western Canada, will earn an average of $18.50 per hour by the end of the contract.

“Union contracts are never good enough for our hard working members, but this contract goes a long way towards improving the paychecks and day to day working lives of XL Lakeside employees in Brooks,” UFCW Local 401 President Douglas O’Halloran said.

Officials at Nilsson Brothers, which owns XL, did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.