High Liner introduces mandatory masks, screenings to fight COVID-19

High Liner Foods made masks mandatory this week for workers at its Lunenburg, N.S., frozen seafood plant, one of a series of measures as the company tries to avert a COVID-19 outbreak like the one that shut down its operation in Portsmouth, N.H.

"What happened at Portsmouth did enhance what we were doing here with trying to prevent the spread," said Ed Snook, general manager of the Lunenburg plant.

High Liner said fewer than 10 workers at Portsmouth have tested positive for the virus. On Monday, it announced operations there have been suspended indefinitely for deep cleaning and contact tracing.

The Lunenburg operation has no cases.

Even before the U.S. plant shut down, High Liner introduced staggered shifts in Lunenburg, rearranged tables in the cafeteria to increase spacing, added 16 sanitation stations and assigned a worker to clean surfaces on a full-time basis.

On May 1, a temperature screening device will be delivered and installed to test workers.

More than 300 people work at the Lunenburg plant, including 200 members of Unifor. Local union president Trevor Banfield said he's "very confident" the measures will be effective.

"They're doing pretty good. They actually work with us constantly," he said.

Banfield explained how staggering shifts and break times is working on the production floor where frozen fish sticks roll down the line continuously.

"There's a couple of people that go round and take the places of people so we don't shut down a line and 30 people come out. It's one or two at a time," he said.

"In the cafeteria you see five people on break, maybe three people on break and then we start over. So we always keep everybody separated."

Temporary layoffs and an $80 per week incentive

While managers attend to health and safety issues during the pandemic, the Lunenburg plant has not been immune to the economic impact of the virus on the world seafood market.

High Liner store sales are "booming," according to Snook, while sales to restaurants have declined.

"We've adjusted our workforce accordingly. We did that through a voluntary layoff, working with the union hand-in-hand," he said.

Unifor said 28 temporary layoffs were issued.

The company also went beyond a dollar-an-hour danger pay in the collective agreement. It approached the union with an incentive amounting to $80 a week for everyone who works more than 32 hours per week.

"We've actually rolled out extraordinary recognition pay for those efforts because the company realizes that. That was something that was voluntary to help supplement those folks that are putting themselves in the conditions they are," said Snook.