Filipino workers at meatpacking plant tied to Canada's biggest COVID-19 outbreak feel unfairly blamed - CBC.ca | Canada News Media
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Filipino workers at meatpacking plant tied to Canada's biggest COVID-19 outbreak feel unfairly blamed – CBC.ca

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Arwyn Sallegue, an employee of Cargill’s meat-packing plant in High River, Alta. — where 558 workers have confirmed cases of COVID-19 — said he’s noticed an upsetting trend online.

Cases connected to the Cargill meat plant outbreak have increased dramatically over the past two weeks. As of Friday, there were 558 cases in workers from the plant, with 798 total cases linked to the coronavirus outbreak. It’s the largest outbreak linked to a single site in Canada.

“I see a bunch of [comments] blaming us [for the outbreak], because they said it’s in the households,” he said.

“We cannot blame anybody. Everyone’s a victim. Nobody wants to become sick and ill.” 

Sallegue, who is a permanent resident of Canada, tested positive for COVID-19 on April 23 and has been in self-isolation. The same day, his father, Armando Sallegue, visiting Canada from the Philippines, also developed symptoms. He, too, was confirmed to have the virus.

“He’s only a visitor here, and he doesn’t have any health-care coverage,” Sallegue said. “He was hardly breathing. He went to the ICU.”

Arwyn Salleague’s father, Armando Sallegue, who is visiting Canada from the Philippines, is in an intensive care unit after testing positive for COVID-19. (Arwyn Sallegue)

Elma Ton, whose husband works at Cargill, said she also has been disappointed to see comments online, specifically those that disparage multiple Filipino families living under one roof.

“I feel bad. Because instead of helping [the Filipino community], supporting them, understanding them, they’re still making fun of us,” Ton said.

“Filipinos are known to have strong family ties. So as much as possible, we love to live together.”

Lisa Degenstein, who works for the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society in High River, said she had heard of similar comments targeting the Filipino community over the past number of days.

“There’s something a little disturbing happening, a bit of community backlash happening. People say, ‘Hey, don’t you work at Cargill?'” she said. “And isn’t it a lot easier to look at someone who isn’t white and start making assumptions.”

Feeling blamed

One employee at the Cargill plant, a woman of Vietnamese background in her sixties, has died. 

Employees at the facility have accused the company of ignoring physical-distancing protocols — citing “elbow-to-elbow” working conditions — and of trying to lure them back to work from self-isolation. 

A separate outbreak at the JBS meat processing plant in Brooks now has seen 156 cases in workers from the plant, with two deaths — a worker and an individual linked to the outbreak. That plant remains open, operating at one shift per day.

A big chunk of the workforce at the Cargill facility are Filipino, some of whom are temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and others who are permanent residents. Employees interviewed estimated 60 to 80 per cent of the workforce is Filipino.

Cesar Cala with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce — a network of volunteers that seeks to support crises in the Filipino community — said many in the community are afraid to speak out about their experiences, especially TFWs whose stay in Canada is linked to their employment at these facilities.

Cesar Cala, a volunteer with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce, said many Filipinos feel like they’re being singled out and blamed for the crisis at Cargill. (Cesar Cala)

But this has posed a challenge, as Cala said many in the community feel as though their concerns were not taken seriously.

“Many Filipino workers and residents sent a letter to the company asking that the plant be closed so that safety measures could be put in place, but no actions were taken,” Cala said. 

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That letter was signed by more than 250 Filipino residents and sent April 12 — a day before 38 cases were confirmed by the union — calling for the plant to be closed for two weeks.

The plant remained open for the rest of the week, and 358 cases were confirmed five days later.

‘Several pieces of this puzzle’

On April 18, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen, along with Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, and other health officials, participated in a telephone town hall with Cargill workers. Dreeshen said he was confident the plant was safe.

Two days later, Cargill announced it would shut down the facility temporarily after it was announced that a worker had died.

“The situation got worse, and what [the Filipino community is] hearing from officials is that they are the ones spreading the virus,” Cala said.

Hinshaw has said that many cases at the Cargill facility were likely exposed to COVID-19 weeks ago, and many factors have been identified that contributed to the spread. 

Employees continued to carpool to work after safety measures were introduced at the plant, Hinshaw said, and some employees of continuing care centres with outbreaks also lived in large households with Cargill workers.

Many family members living in those households also don’t have enough space to self isolate, she said.

“There seems to be several pieces of this puzzle, and the challenge has been to put all of those pieces together,” Hinshaw said Monday. “I would say that plant shutdown is not a single, only factor in this.”

Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Friday that there is no reason to assume that everyone connected with Cargill is infected with COVID-19. (Art Raham/CBC)

Later in the week, Hinshaw said those affected by the outbreak deserved support, and should not be restricted from accessing businesses like grocery stores or banks.

“There is no reason to assume that everyone connected with that facility is infected,” she said. “The people who are affected by this outbreak are experiencing many difficulties, and they need support and compassion as we work to stop further spread.”

Challenges and frustrations

Cala said the realities of transportation and housing are out of the control of many employees at these facilities. Having sent a letter voicing their concerns before numbers of confirmed cases skyrocketed, Cala said they now feel they have been unfairly blamed.

“That’s why I think it’s important that public leaders need to speak out and say, no, this is our common, collective issue, it’s not an issue of the Filipino community,” Cala said. “No one is covering their backs. It’s more like, ‘Hey, you’re partly to blame for this.’ That’s not very good to hear.”

Cargill is one of the two primary beef suppliers for McDonald’s Canada, and normally processes about 4,500 cattle per day at this time of year. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Daniel Sullivan, a spokesperson with Cargill, said the company was working with health officials and community organizations to provide further support for TFWs and other employees.

“Our workers have been deemed essential – like healthcare workers and first responders – and we are committed to supporting them,” he said in an email to CBC News. “It is important to know that all TFWs are union members with the same wages and benefits as other workers in our facilities.”

Sallegue, still in self-isolation as he awaits news on his father in ICU, said he hopes that foreign workers can receive the support they need.

“Only thing I’m feeling right now is, we need support. We are here to work, to contribute and help,” he said. “I hope you will not blame our community.”

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Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

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Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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