Olymel closing in Princeville: ‘A complete surprise’ to employees

Olymel employees in Princeville were surprised by their employer’s decision to close their factory doors on November 10.

• Read also: Olymel will close its Princeville plant in November

This is what their union president, Steve Holley, said in an interview on the “À vosaffaires” program.

“Today was a state of shock because we did not expect to close so quickly,” he said.

“It was a complete surprise to everyone,” he adds. When the employer announced the news to the workers in the cafeteria, they were speechless, no comments, no questions, the atmosphere remained cold.

The union president stated that the reasons given by Olimele to justify the closure were purely economic.

He asserts that “the reasons are directly economic.” There has been talk of profitability, so it is profitable for them to make their products in factories where pigs are slaughtered. “It’s not a business issue, it’s not a product quality issue.”

He adds: “It is not a matter of wages, but in fact a matter of production costs for the employer and transportation.” We agree that oil is worth its weight in gold lately. »

This factory had stopped slaughtering pork a few years ago, which alerted employees to the possibility of its closure, although they did not expect it so soon.

“Knowing Olemil, it was really the beginning of the end,” Mr. Holley says. In the past, there was a buttock deboning plant in San Hyacinth, which closed and returned the buttocks to local factories where the pigs were slaughtered. “We knew we wouldn’t be able to survive for long in the long run.”

Steve Holley believes that the majority of workers would rather find another job than move elsewhere.

Watch Mr. Holly’s full interview in the video above