Attention JBS Union Members in Brooks!

There is an affordability crisis in Alberta and across Canada. There is an affordability crisis in many other parts of the world as well.

But you have a union at JBS, and we are fighting back. In recent months, JBS employees have struggled with the cost of living. Some employees got mixed up in a circumstance that involved claiming massage benefits.

Local 401 was there to ensure that employees had representation and that justice was done. Employees were innocent until proven guilty because they have a union.

But there was a bigger issue here. JBS employees work very hard, and they are struggling to make a living. In the coming days, we are going to be meeting with JBS to ask for benefit improvements and to ask for an immediate wage increase for you. You are facing an affordability crisis and you need and deserve a raise.

JBS workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of their last union contract. It was good. But the world has turned upside down. In 2022, inflation got out of control, and it hasn’t stopped.

Local 401 is bargaining hard for every one of its members. The battle is the same at grocery stores, casinos, hotels, and in food processing plants. Next year, major negotiations will commence in the food processing industry. Bargaining at the Cargil Beef Plant in High River and the Olymel Pork Plant in Red Deer could set a precedent for JBS workers.

If employers are not responsive to the needs of their employees, there will surely be strikes.

JBS employees will not be in a position to strike until your contract expires. But this does not mean that we should be quiet. We need to raise our voices now.

Please fill out the important attached survey.

We need to know what you want. We need to make demands. And we need your support.

Your union will do what you tell us to do, and that’s the way it is supposed to work. We know very well you are struggling, and we will commit every resource we have to stand by your side to demand something better.

In Solidarity,

President Thomas Hesse
Secretary Treasurer Richelle Stewart
UFCW Local 401

Posted on: February 21,2025