Lakeside Packers


Lakeside Packers is a beef producer based in Brooks, Alberta. It is owned by JBS Canada, a subsidiary of JBS S.A., a Brazilian protein company.

History

BSE Aid

As of June 2004, Lakeside Packers had received roughly $33 million Canadian dollars in financial aid from the Government of Alberta since a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy was found on an Alberta farm in May 2003.

2005 Labour dispute

Lakeside Packers was unionized under UFCW as of the early 1980s, and members were local Alberta residents who strongly supported their union local. But then there was a strike that began in 1984 and lasted about 18 months. It is not said how the union came to be decertified in that time.
Workers at the plant later certified the UFCW Local 401 as their bargaining agent. Following a round of talks in 2005 the workers voted in favour of strike action, eventually settling after 3 weeks of job action.

Sale to XL Foods

As of March 2009, Lakeside Farm Industries, Ltd. was sold by Tyson to XL Foods, it is reported that Lakeside and its assets were sold to XL Foods Inc. for approximately $107 million.

Sale to JBS Canada

XL Foods sold the Lakeside Packers plant to JBS Canada on January 14, 2013.