Meat packer Olymel plans to shut a pork further-processing plant it operates in Quebec’s Monteregie by mid-November and pick up the work at its other sites.
Olymel, the meats arm of Sollio Co-operative, said Wednesday it will permanently close the bacon plant at Henryville, about 60 km southeast of Montreal, effective Nov. 12.
The closure will affect 29 jobs, Olymel said, and all affected employees will be offered relocation to nearby Olymel facilities in the Monteregie. Employees were notified Wednesday morning at a meeting and by “personalized letter.”
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The former Agromex site, a 70,000-square foot facility in operation since 2011, came to Olymel early last year when it bought the pork business of processor F. Menard.
The employees are mostly represented by TUAC (UFCW) Local 501, working under an eight-year collective agreement that was put in place with F. Menard and was to run into 2026.
The Henryville site and buildings “are currently being evaluated, and Olymel will soon make a decision on the future of these facilities,” the company said.
“Closing a facility is always a difficult decision,” Olymel CEO Rejean Nadeau said in the company’s release. “However, after careful evaluation of our capacities and needs in this production sector, we have concluded that the company already has the necessary facilities elsewhere to meet our customers’ demand.”
The costs of continuing to operate the plant “would not have allowed this facility to achieve profitability,” he said.
The company, he said, hopes all 29 affected employees “affected by the closure “will be able to remain with the company in its other facilities in the region, and we’ll do everything to make this happen.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
