After the closures of Blainville and Laval resulting in the loss of 170 jobs last February, Olymel is closing its facilities in Vallée-Jonction, in Beauce, where more than 994 people, including 911 union members and 83 managers, will lose their livelihood.
The announcement was made Wednesday morning at Olymel’s head office in Saint-Hyacinthe by its CEO, Yanick Gervais, who had called the media the followingnoon before.
“In choosing to close the Vallée-Jonction plant, Olymel management did not choose a region. This decision was the subject of a rigorous process bearing first and foremost on the operational capacities of each of the 4 slaughtering, cutting and deboning plants owned by Olymel in Quebec,” he added. it indicated by press release.
In 2021, the union members of Vallée-Jonction had obtained salary increases of 26.4%. In Princeville, they got regarding a 35% raise.
In a recent interview with JournalPascal Houle, CEO of Sollio Cooperative Group, which includes BMR, Olymel and Agriculture, had not ruled out other plant closures.
“We are considering all scenarios. We are looking at the entire pork sector. We don’t currently have a factory closure in our plans,” he said, walking on eggshells.
Five months ago, Olymel warned that it was going to close its Saint-Hyacinthe plant with 107 workers.
In December, The newspaper told the story of Claude Bilodeau, who had worked there for more than 46 years.
“We’re going to have to tighten our belts. I do not know if I will find something else right away, since I will soon be 65 years old, ”he confided.
Two years ago, Quebec invested $150 million in Olymel to strengthen the head offices here and consolidate the 10,000 jobs here.
Over the past two years, Olymel has lost nearly $400 million in fresh pork.
After, the announcement the Union of agricultural producers (UPA) asked the Quebec government “to carry out a neutral and independent diagnosis on the situation in the pork industry”.
