One of Canada’s largest pork producers, Olymel, has announced that it would shutter its Vallée-Jonction hog slaughtering, cutting, and deboning plant later this year.
In a news release, Olymel says that the decision is a stopgap solution after $400 million in losses over the last two years. The plant also cites a “constant decline in available labor” and “structural problems at the plant.”
The closure will reduce the number of hogs processed annually by 1.5 million, and result in the layoff of 994 company employees.
Olymel says that it has already adjusted its slaughter capacity from 140,000 to 81,000 hogs per week to “find a better balance between the available workforce and the company’s slaughter capacity.”
“For over two years, the pandemic, the labour shortage, the instability of export markets and the increase in raw material costs, among other factors, have created unprecedented negative conditions that have hit the pork industry hard and resulted in losses, which still have a major impact on Olymel,” the company wrote.
The Vallée-Jonction plant is one of four processing facilities owned by Olymel. The announcement follows a February news release on the closure of of two other plants — in Blainville and Laval — where 170 jobs will be lost.
While the Blainville and Laval plants are slated for closure on April 28, the Vallée-Jonction plant is not set for final closure until Dec. 22.
Olymel shares that the Vallée-Jonction closure will occur in stages so all of the remaining hogs in the region can be processed.
Employees will be offered an option to voluntarily relocate to one of the other Olymel locations.
The company also says it is working with federal and provincial authorities to allow the 122 foreign workers on staff to apply for relocation.
»Related: Vilsack addresses child-labor issue in letter to meat packing industry
