UPDATE: GuelphToday received a statement from Cargill after this article was first published, claiming it proposed a meeting with the union to discuss possibilities. Cargill said the two parties agreed to meet next week.
Striking workers at Cargill remain on the picket line for a 29th day, and many of them have turned to community supports to put food on the table.
The problem is those agencies are now dealing with unprecedented numbers and unprecedented decisions on the horizon.
This all comes as the union representing the nearly 1,000 picketers said the company submitted an offer via email last Thursday, one that came in lower than the last offer that was rejected.
Jaya James, the executive director of Hope House, said it wasn’t noticeable in the first two weeks of the strike, but for the last couple weeks, the organization has been seeing 10 to 15 workers register for food support per day.
“A standard day for us for number of individuals going through our food market would be 36 households,” she said. “On Monday last week, we served 63 households.”
It adds to an already inflated total. Hope House is seeing client numbers it has never seen before, and for the first time in its history, is considering a wait list for clients.
James said over the month of June, it has gone over 100 new intakes for the month, something that has never happened before.
She said Hope House sees 35 to 36 new intakes a month on average.
It is exacerbating an already pressing issue that is well documented. A lack of food resources, and an increasing number of people looking for options for the dinner table.
James said a wait list is “within a month” from becoming reality.
“It’s not a situation we want to be in,” she said.
“But (it’s being considered) out of respect and care for the individuals who are registered, and to ensure that when they come here and they have the opportunity to access a reasonable amount of food.”
Hope House said it has been seeing “significant growth” since the pandemic started, going from single digit growth year-over-year to 33 per cent higher in the last fiscal year.
“That in itself has been extremely challenging on trying to make sure that we have sufficient food to support the community,” James said.
Over at The SEED, it is “pretty much out” of the latest shipment of donated meat protein it received from Cargill.
Manager Tom Armitage said it usually receives a shipment every four to six months, and while they don’t have anything coming in the next little while, he isn’t necessarily sounding the alarm.
He said it brings in a lot of donated food from multiple sources and distributes it to organizations. He said the situation at the moment speaks more to the larger, systemic issue of food insecurity.
“We have way too many people in our community that face food insecurity,” he said. “The fact that we’re relying on donations from manufacturing facilities, from the retail sector, from the wholesale sector is symptomatic of a bigger problem.”
He said this increase could’ve happened with or without a strike, and can’t predict when a shipment comes in. He said the big story here is that workers add to the number of people in need, and while that is happening, services that exist can’t increase or meet the new demand.
A meeting will be held Wednesday between James, Armitage, Colleen Murdoch of the United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin and a representative from Chalmers Community Services Centre to look at ways to provide support for each other.
As for the ongoing strike, no talks have been scheduled between the two sides.
But a union representative said the company sent a counter offer last Thursday.
Sam Caetano – the regional director for the UFCW’s Region 6 – said the offer was lower than the one that was rejected by the union membership right before the strike began.
His main concern wasn’t so much the offer, but the delivery, as it was delivered through a mediation officer through email, without a meeting.
“We just notified the membership of the company’s position, and we just told the employer that we’re not bargaining through emails and we want to get back to the table,” Caetano said.
He added Cargill is “bargaining with themselves” and there needs to be traditional mediation going on with all parties involved.
