03) SCABS: THE SECRET INGREDIENT AT COVERED BRIDGE

 

By Gabriel Jarman

 

            Ryan Albright, President of Covered Bridge Chips, has a reputation for being confrontational. In August of last year, the New Brunswick Employment and Labour Board ruled Albright had violated the province’s labour law for threatening the workers during their organizing drive.

 

            The Board’s written decision describes Albright “storming out” of a mediation session after telling a UFCW representative “Screw you and your f**king union.”

 

            Today Albright is again claiming he will give his workers what they want – but not in a union environment.

 

            Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1288P at the Covered Bridge potato chip plant near Hartland, New Brunswick, have been in a legal strike position since June 2015. They walked out on January 5. At issue is securing a first collective agreement, which guarantees seniority, wages and working conditions in the plant.

 

            The UFCW is calling for a boycott of the chips. Already Memorial University student union in Newfoundland are saying they have halted business with the company.

 

            The workers note that the factory has quadrupled its production capacity in the past few years but they have only seen a wage increase from $10.10 an hour to $10.30, mandated by a provincial minimum wage increase.

 

            Safety enforcement is very poor, and the workers say the plant does not require steel toes or hard-hats. Equipment such as ladders are often coated in grease from the chip fryers, and break times are short. Perhaps most damning of all is that the boss prohibits having water to drink on the factory floor, so breaks function as water breaks. 

 

            The workers are insisting that a new collective agreement include seniority, which would help guarantee job security in the plant. Currently one union worker is involved in legal action after Albright laid her off and then hired three new employees the next day.

 

            The company has received around $700,000 in subsidies from the provincial government under support for local business initiatives. Albright is even featured in a government TV advertisement, as an so-called example of a good local employer. 

 

            Located in central-western New Brunswick, Hartland is home to the world’s largest Covered Bridge, which is a National Historic Site.

 

            The strikers argue that raises for them will have a strong ripple effect in improvement for the community, and there is great public support for the strikers. Hartland has a population of just under 1000 while the factory employs around 90 to 100 people total. Just over thirty people are currently organized by the UFCW but any gains would impact all the workers. 

 

            The provincial Gallant Liberals are “consulting” for their upcoming budget, which comes down on Feb. 2 and is expected to cut upwards of $50 million from both New Brunswick health-care and education.

 

            Covered Bridge Potato chips are sold at Atlantic Superstore, Sobeys, Costco, Dollarama, and the Great Canadian Dollar Store. Chip flavours include the usual selection as well as “Atlantic Lobster” and soon, according to the company’s twitter feed, a “Donair flavour.” Shoppers can send a letter to the President of the factory, saying Covered Bridge are off your grocery list, via the union website: www.ufcw.ca.

 

(The above article is from the February 1-14, 2016, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)