LONDON, ONT. -- In light of the COVID-19 outbreak at the Cargill poultry processing facility in London, Ont. three local NDP MPPs are calling on the province to vaccine all essential workers.
Peggy Sattler, Teresa Armstrong and Terence Kernaghan released a statement Wednesday after 82 workers contracted the virus, prompting the company to shutdown the facility for two weeks.
"We need to vaccinate essential workers now, before we see more workplace outbreaks and more lives lost," it read.
The statement went on to say, "we know that workplaces are major sites of transmission for this virus, and the new variants put workers at even greater risk during the third wave. The Ford government promised to vaccinate essential workers as a priority, but the vaccine rollout has continued to be sloppy, confusing, and has failed to reach those who we need to protect."
The plant makes Chicken McNuggets for McDonald's Canada and the restaurant chain says it wishes all workers a full recovery and has enacted a contingency plan for its supply chain.
"We will begin temporarily sourcing Chicken McNuggets from a McDonald’s supplier in the U.S. We aim to return to a fully Canadian chicken supply as soon as production at the London, ON facility, can safely resume and catch up with demand," a company spokesperson said Wednesday.
Cargill says employees at the Cuddly Boulevard plant will receive a weekly guarantee of 36 hours of pay.
