The process of sorting out who will work where and who won’t work at all is expected to take Viterra managers several months as they aim for a 4,000 person workforce.
Right now, about 4,400 people work for the company formed by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Agricore United.
Chief executive officer Mayo Schmidt said Sept. 7 that most of the people to lose jobs so far have been senior executives. He expects most of the staffing adjustments to happen within the next four to six months.
Grain Services Union general secretary Hugh Wagner said employees likely will hear about the company’s plan soon.
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“At the moment, at the operations level, they haven’t given any indication,” he said Sept. 10.
The GSU represents AgPro Grain workers in Manitoba and Alberta and all former Sask Pool employees. It previously represented AU country operations workers in Manitoba and Alberta.
The union has applied to represent all Viterra employees in Saskatchewan.
Schmidt told reporters after releasing fourth quarter financial results that the company will announce decisions as they’re made.
“As we interview individuals, as we reconcile what businesses (will be affected) and how we’re going to operate and where we’re going to operate, we then make the announcements to the employees as to who will be offered opportunities and who won’t.”
He said employees were encouraged by the $96 million profit realized as of July 31 after the two companies began operating as one. That figure includes the proceeds of several divestitures identified during the takeover, as well as integration costs, which were estimated at $8.2 million for the quarter and reflect severance, consulting and advisory costs.
The company is changing its fiscal year and will have fifth quarter results as of Oct. 31. During that quarter, the restructuring and integration plan, as outlined in Viterra’s management’s discussion and analysis document, calls for new human resource policies and procedures and complete legal amalgamation of the parent companies.
The agriproducts systems will be melded during the first quarter of 2008, followed by the grain system conversion and finalized grain network by the third quarter.
Western Producer reporters are members of a different GSU local.
