Two down... three to go?
For the second time in two years, a major agriculturally-connected industry has bitten the dust in Eastern Ontario.
First to go was Nestlé Canada in Chesterville taking 300 jobs; the latest swan song is from Hershey Co., Smiths Falls, which is departing by the end of 2008, eliminating 500 jobs.
Still standing with no worrisome rumours - that we’ve heard anyway - are Kraft Ingleside, Parmalat Winchester and Casco Cardinal. May they forever remain mainstays of Eastern Ontario’s rural economy!
Regional DFO director Henry Oosterhof says milk deliveries to Hershey account for an estimated 1.5 per cent of 2.6 billion litres produced in the province every year.
Because of pooling, the economic loss will be relatively small to each individual producer... although closure of the plant could eventually lead to milk production cuts, Oosterhof says.
The subject came up for discussion during the regular DFO two-day meeting in Toronto at the end of February.
"Everybody is frustrated about the situation," Oosterhof says, suggesting the cost of manufacturing milk must not be an issue for Hershey because the company never raised the matter with DFO.
While producers are currently earning 66 cents a litre for their product, Hershey is paying the deep discount confectionary rate of 30 cents.
Both Oosterhof and DFO chairman Bruce Saunders claim Hershey is unlikely to get a lower milk price in Mexico where it’s planning to relocate some of its displaced operations.
So what’s this closure about? Labour costs, no doubt; laxer environmental standards, possibly; the spread sheet... certainly.
After 45 years building Hershey in Smiths Falls, naïve workers no doubt assumed loyalty, hard work, and settling for the same wage in a new three-year contract would see them through.
But big business doesn’t work that way. Everything and everybody is disposable in the march towards an acceptable bottom line.
So forget Hershey! Let ’em go! Help them pack!
There’s no time to lament! The focus must immediately switch to replacing Hershey, to finding a new use or uses for the factory, to landing replacement jobs even if they come in at a lower hourly rate.
Stand proud! Flip the Hershey Kiss-off right back at ’em!