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News

Food workers union puts more then just meat on the table

Amber Yake - News Editor

TRU has the longest standing meat cutting program of it’s kind in Canada and now two of the province’s major food worker unions are putting their money on the table for scholarships.

Locals 247 and 1518 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union have committed a total of $150,000, which is aimed at their members seeking new careers as meat cutters and for experienced meat cutters needing an incentive to complete their journeyperson accreditation.

“This is the first time we’ve ever had the industry sector step forward like this,” said Ken Jakes, chair of TRU’s retail meat cutting program.

Local 247 and UFCW Local 1518 have each established five annual scholarships of $10,000 for their respective members registering with the Entry Level Program.

“How it’s going to work is the department along with the deans of culinary school and the deans of tourism have developed an application package and members of the union working in a particular store can apply,” Jakes said. “You don’t have to be a meat cutter, just a working member of the union.”

The scholarships are designed to cover all of the student’s costs.

“The $10,000 takes care of school, books, tuition and has a little bit of living expenses built in,” Jakes said.

UFCW Local 247 represents approximately 14,000 workers in B.C. who are mainly employed in the retail food sector and meat processing plants.

Local 1518 represents 26,000 workers in almost every sector of the economy across B.C., including the retail food sector and meat and poultry processing plants, as well as representing members in the health care sector employed by health care agencies throughout the province.

According to Jakes, because of the retirement of baby boomers in coming years, the meat industry will face a shortage of meat cutters.

“This is designed to get people into the workforce and get the industry involved to pay for and train future meat cutters,” he said.

Bruce Jackson, the representative of UFCW Local 247, estimates that 40 to 50 per cent of the province’s meat cutting journeypersons will be retiring in the next decade.

“There will continue to be transitions in the retail meat industry, and in conjunction with TRU’s expertise and input, we believe these scholarships are a good step forward in helping create an environment that fosters good, stable careers for workers in the meat industry,” said Ivan Limpright, president of UFCW 1518.

The TRU meat-cutting program is one of only five meat-cutting programs in the country.

“It’s the longest program of its kind in Canada and the only functional apprenticeship program in Canada,” Jakes said.