The struggling hog market is being blamed for job losses this month at Red Deer’s Olymel plant in Alberta, Canada.
The pork processing plant expects to lay off 100 staff in the coming weeks, confirmed spokesperson Audrey Giboulet on Monday to the Red Deer Advocate.
The future is uncertain as plant managers announced on Jan. 4 that the local facility was overstaffed by 200 people, the article said. If the market turns around, some employees may get called back to their positions at the plant.
Olymel had 1,800 unionized workers and was one of the Red Deer’s largest employers as of 2021. During the pandemic, the company increased slaughter numbers to 10,000 hogs a day.
To minimize the impact of the employee downsizing, Olymel Red Deer has implemented an early retirement incentive program, the Red Deer Advocate said. Workers who are over 60 years old or have 10 or more years of service as of Jan. 30, and who were no longer eligible for the special early retirement benefit, are now eligible.
Further layoffs will depend on the success of this early retirement incentive program and the plant’s natural turnover rate. Workers who leave their positions will not be replaced until the required number of employees is reached, the spokesperson said in the article.
