The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shifted dynamics in the food processing sector and the situation remains unstable. Lockdown and other restrictions mean people are increasingly cooking their own meals and eating at home. This has generated a rapid shift in consumer demand for certain types of products purchased at grocery stores. These changes in consumption patterns and consequently food production have implications for workers and their unions (e.g. employment, precarious work and collective bargaining).
It is important to examine the trends in food processing during the COVID-19 era and whether these indicate long-term changes and what they mean for unions. On September 29, Héctor Morcillo from IUF affiliate FTIA reported on the situation in Latin America during a virtual meeting of the IUF Food Processing Steering Group. You can read his intervention on Rel-UITA’s site here (in Spanish).
