Two meat plants in southeast Saskatchewan have closed amid complaints from the workers' union saying the owners haven't fully paid employees.

Meanwhile, one of the plant's owners says the company intends to pay up and is hopeful it can reopen the plants to help address any potential meat shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Northern Natural Processing LP owns and operates two facilities: a slaughterhouse in Neudorf, Sask., located about 136 kilometres northeast of Regina, and a sister processing plant in Wolseley, about 52 kilometres south of Neudorf. Both operate under the Qu'Appelle Beef brand name.

Norm Neault, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1400, said the plants recently employed about 55 people.

Neault said the plants closed without any notice to workers or the union in mid-March and that workers were last paid on Feb. 28.

Neault said the union had voiced concerns to management about unpaid wages before the closings.

"Payments were late and they were usually resolved," he said.

Then the plants ceased operating, Neault said.

Some staff had stopped going to work because they weren't being paid, he said.

Grievances have been filed with the province's Ministry of Labour, he added.

"It was something that kind of materialized through nobody working there — it's fair to say that — and our members contacting us looking for their money," Neault said.

Neault said the employer was not responding to queries after the closings.

Payroll delayed, plant co-owner says

Jason Aitken, one of the plants' co-owners, said Thursday that he and other investors purchased the operation out of receivership more than a decade ago.

"We've taken it from a bankrupt horse slaughter plant to one that's federally licensed and sells [beef] across the country," Aitken said.

He said he hopes the recent closures are just temporary.

"The intent on our side is ... not only to get every worker paid, but to provide safe, stable, long term jobs," Aitken said.

Asked about the union's concerns about unpaid wages, Aitken said, "Payroll's been delayed and it's a really difficult working capital shortfall we're working through right now. A lot of businesses are going through this."

The business also needs money to buy packaging materials and animals, Aitken said.

Local 1400 president Neault said Aitken contacted him after CBC News reached Aitken on Thursday.

Larger industry challenges cited

Aitken said the challenge of keeping the plant afloat has been "accentuated" by the fact that a small number of companies, including American-owned Cargill, control 90 per cent of beef processing in Canada.

Cargill's High River, Alta., meat plant recently halted operations temporarily due to COVID-19. As of Thursday, 480 Cargill employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

Another 124 workers at a Brooks, Alta., meatpacking plant owned by a different major player, JBS, have also tested positive for the virus.

"The result is that when a pandemic occurs and we're reliant on two foreign processors that have legacy mega plants, we don't have an emergency response plan in place," Aitken said.

Offer to help with supply issues

Aitken said the Canadian cattle industry needs more support during the pandemic.

He said he recently emailed Marie-Claude Bibeau, the federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, to say that Qu'Appelle Beef could play a role during this time of uncertainty.

"We are here to help," he wrote. "We are not a mega plant. But we are capable of processing up to 250 cattle a day. This capacity could be tripled with an expansion of our carcass cooler and labour capabilities.

"Are you available for a call to discuss solutions to the current COVID-19 meat processing shortage?"

Aitken said the minister's office has not responded.