Closure Agreement Reached With Maple Leaf Foods

Tuesday, 31 January 2017 at 15:04

A closure agreement has been reached between LiUNA Local 3000 and Maple Leaf Foods in regards to the closure of the Thamesford Processing Plant.

THAMESFORD - Liuna Local 3000 has reached a closure agreement with Maple Leaf Foods regarding the Thamesford Plant.

The agreement will provide enhanced severance payments for the active and inactive employees. It also includes production bonus who will be losing their job when the plant closes in 2018. Business Manager of Liuna Local 3000 Ann Waller tells Heart FM about some of the other items in the closure agreement.

"We also have a continuation of health benefits for employees after the last day of work and they also have the ability to convert those benefits to private coverage so they are not at risk and their families are not a risk should they choose to convert to private coverage. Maple Leaf is also making a substantial contribution to a career transition centre which will be operated from the Plant and that is for the purpose of assisting employees with respect to education and training and assisting them to finding alternate jobs."

About 260 members of the union participated in the closure agreement vote and 85 percent were in favour of it. Waller says they were trying to get the best deal possible for the employees.

“While we are still absorbing the full impact of the projected closure of the Thamesford turkey processing plant, we have worked hard to achieve a closure
agreement that will ensure our members are secure in the knowledge that they will receive enhanced severance provisions and continued benefit coverage, as well as support, training and education through career transition services when the plant ultimately closes in 2018. Of course, it continues to be our hope that these union jobs will not disappear and that our members will follow the work to another facility.”

Maple Leaf is moving production to a new Sofina Plant in Mitchell in 2018. Roughly 350 union workers will be let go with the closure.