Maple Leaf says a recently announced expansion at its processing plant in Winnipeg won’t affect hog producers who ship to the company under contract.
The plan, which will add more than 500 jobs to Maple’s Leaf’s Lagimodiere Boulevard plant, is aimed at consolidating killing and cutting at the Brandon plant as Lagimodiere picks up ham boning capacity from Brandon and the Marion Street killing plant in Winnipeg closes on Oct 26.
Jason Manness, Maple Leaf’s director of procurement for Western Canada, said the decision is a continuation of the company’s strategic shift announced late last year, which saw the closing of the Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods slaughter plant in Saskatoon in June.
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Maple Leaf’s aim is to give producers in Western Canada a long-term, secure home for production, he added.
“As we ramp down our slaughter operations in Winnipeg, Brandon will continue to ramp up,” Manness said. “So we’re not taking shackles out of the business.”
Ham processing work in Brandon will be moved to Lagimodiere after the 350 workers there last week approved a contract offer for a three percent raise and the company promised to invest $40 million in a new production line and create more than 500 jobs.
The future of the company’s Warman Road cutting plant in Winnipeg is still undecided, after the 600 employees there rejected the offer that has since been accepted by their counterparts at Lagimodiere, according to Norm Sabapathy, vice-president of human resources for Maple Leaf.
“In October 2006, we told them that work was going to transition to Brandon. So, we’re looking for a new use for that facility,” he said, adding some type of value-added processing was likely.
The Warman Road workers’ contract is up for renewal next April, but the company has told them cutting work will move to Brandon by early 2009.
“Luckily, we’ve got some time to figure out what to do with the infrastructure there,” Sabapathy said.
Work at the Marion and Brandon plants, along with custom work that is contracted to Springhill Farms in Neepawa, Man., have put the company close to its targeted full capacity of 85,000 head slaughtered per week.
Brandon, which has been operating two shifts on its killing floor since early September, is on schedule to reach full capacity by late October, he added. Brandon needs 700 more workers on the cutting side before it can bring on a second shift in 2009.
The 200 producers that now deliver hogs to Marion Street will be offered a regional adjustment on an individual basis to cover their increased shipping costs, Sabapathy said.
“We’ll take all of their hog supply in Brandon because clearly we’re going to need it,” he said.
