Cargill cuts nearly 700 jobs.
The parking lot at Cargill Limited's Rexdale plant will soon be empty as the company closes its doors, moving operations to its Guelph, Ont. plant. The closure will leave 600 unionized employees and 90 managers out of work. (September 1, 2010)
Staff photo/TAMARA SHEPHARD
Cargill Limited will close its Etobicoke meat packing plant next spring, part of a strategic realignment that will see its Guelph facility expand and add 200 jobs.But a company spokesperson said Wednesday, Sept. 1, the plant's 600 unionized employees and 90 managers could find work in one of eight Cargill business units in the GTA and Ontario, including the Guelph plant.The company operates 19 business units in Canada, including chicken processing, chocolate manufacturing and grain handling.Cargill spokesperson Rob Meijer said the company would "exceed" its expectations regarding severance payouts. A "not insignificant" number of employees are retirement age, he said. "For those who don't match up with the 200 positions and the skills that we need for our Guelph expansion, it doesn't stop there," Meijer said. "Cargill is a diverse agribusiness employer. They could potentially find a home working in our beef packing plant, an animal nutrition business for us, on the grain side of our business, chocolate, poultry. The list goes on."There's a big pond. If they're interested, we're going to do everything we can to find a fit."A representative from Cargill's union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175, was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.The 167,000-sq.ft. Rexdale Boulevard plant is a case-ready, retail-ready beef, pork, ground beef, poultry and sausage facility that is larger than its Guelph counterpart. However, the Guelph location boasts its Dunlop Drive plant across the road where beef processing, animal harvesting and packing occurs. "From a strategic realignment point of view, (Guelph expansion) allows our case-ready business to be that much closer to a primary input source on the beef side," Meijer said. "On the poultry and pork side, our supplies would still have to come from the Ontario region and elsewhere."Meijer said the company made a commitment when it opened its Guelph facility five years ago to expand the business.Cargill can now grow the physical infrastructure of its case-ready Watson Parkway South facility, introduce additional production lines and new technology and safety systems to possibly grow its customer base, Meijer said."It's certainly not about an under performing asset," Meijer said of the 10-year-old-plus Etobicoke facility. "When you look at all the pieces of the puzzle, this was the best way to put it all together."Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services.