Olymel is closing two processing plants: a pork plant in Quebec and a poultry plant in Ontario.
The Paris, Ont., poultry further processing plant will close and all production will be moved to another Olymel plant at Oakville, around 75 kilometres north-east of Paris. The closure impacts 93 employees, with their final day of work set for December 22, 2023.
Olymel’s management says Paris plant employees may relocate to another establishment within the company if they desire, especially in the processing and further processing facilities located in Oakville, or the poultry slaughtering, cutting and boning plant in Port Colborne, both of which are located near Paris, as well as at its two poultry processing plants located in Brampton, Ontario as well. A relocation plan will be put in place in the next few weeks.
Related: Olymel reducing its business in Western Canada
The Oakville plant is set for major renovations and production capacity upgrades to the tune of $8 million.
Equipment from the Paris plant is being shipped to a poultry further processing plant in Sainte-Rosalie, Que., to expand production there.
On the pork side, Olymel has announced the closure of its boning and packaging plant at Princeville, Centre-du-Québec. The plant will close in under two months, on November 10th, putting 301 employees out of work. Employees will work the next eight weeks and then be given eight weeks pay in a lump sum.
Similar to the Ontario situation, Olymel will assist employees of the Princeville plant to relocate to other plants in the fresh pork sector or to any other facility with labour needs.
The Olymel plant in Princeville also has 33 temporary foreign workers on staff. Olymel will work with federal and provincial authorities so those employees can apply for relocation to another Olymel facility.
A final decision on the Princeville and Paris facilities’ future ownership has not been disclosed.
Related: Pork Council looking at options, following Olymel plant closure
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