2011.10.19 | CWA Canada Local 30009 | Schneider Office Employees' Association
Union trying to ease blow of Schneider plant closing
Forty CWA Canada members are among the 1,200 employees at Schneider Foods in Kitchener, Ont., who were stunned by today's announcement that the plant would be closing.
Maple Leaf Foods, which took over Schneider in 2004, says it is closing six plants and three distribution centres across the country by the end of 2014 and will build a new facility in Hamilton. There will be a net loss of 1,550 positions from among its 21,000 employees worldwide.
CWA Canada Director Martin O'Hanlon said he has spoken with Sandy Russell, President of the Schneider Office Employees' Association (SOEA), who was still trying to digest the bad news.
"We will be talking more in the coming days about ensuring our members are taken care of, through job transfers or enhanced severances."
O'Hanlon said Maple Leaf's decision is a sad day for the people of Kitchener as well as the workers who will lose their jobs.
"This is yet another example of a corporate giant killing a local plant and abandoning a community that has long supported it," O'Hanlon said.
"Schneiders has been a source of pride and employment in Kitchener for well over a century and it all ends with a sterile vote in some big city corporate boardroom. So much for tradition and so much for corporate responsibility to the community.
"We call upon Maple Leaf to reconsider and keep Schneiders in Kitchener where it belongs."
Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain told reporters that the new plant in Hamilton is commuting distance to Kitchener, but wouldn't commit to giving laid-off workers first crack at positions there.
The closing of the Schneider plant is a major blow to Kitchener, where the family-owned meat empire was founded in 1890. Mayor Carl Zehr said in a statement that Schneider is a "backbone" of the local economy and the city had been pressing Maple Leaf to build its new plant there.
"The local meat-processing plant has provided employment for thousands of people — in some cases, generations of families, for more than 120 years. It is one of the last of the large, traditional manufacturers in our city," said the mayor.
The SOEA, with almost 170 members six years ago in administrative, finance, information technology and clerical positions, saw labour relations deteriorate under Maple Leaf ownership. The Local accused the company of using Wal-Mart-style tactics in its attempts to derail collective bargaining.
The Toronto-based Maple Leaf soon began downsizing what had once been Schneider Foods' head office, moving work to other facilities and laying off dozens of employees.
McCain said the changes announced today are necessary to streamline its operations to improve its competitiveness with U.S. meat processors.
"We regret the impact on our people and communities adversely affected by these decisions," he said.