Labatt cuts jobs at Halifax plant

HALIFAX – Labatt Breweries of Canada is reducing the size of its unionized workforce at its plant in Halifax as it shifts some of its production of the popular Keith’s brand to breweries in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland.

The plant, known locally as the Oland Brewery, will lose 22 full-time and 17 part-time jobs by next March, said Larry Deal, president of Local 361 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The plant, which currently employs about 200 people, will continue to produce the Keith’s brand for the Maritime market, as well as Oland Export and Oland Schooner, Labatt Blue, Labatt Lite and the Budweiser family of beers.

However, overall volume will be cut by 25 per cent and the plant will likely lose an entire shift, said Deal, who is also in charge of brewing Keith’s products.

"We’re going to meet with the company to find ways to alleviate some of the job losses through retirement packages," he said in an interview Tuesday. "We have to find ways to soften the blow."

Company spokesman Wade Keller confirmed that some of the workers losing their jobs are eligible for retirement.

He said the company is shifting production to meet market demand, particularly in Ontario and Quebec.

"We see a real opportunity to grow the Keith’s brand in those markets," Keller said.

"It simply makes a great deal of sense to brew the beer where consumers live … instead of shipping it in large volumes across the country."

Deal said the large Labatt breweries in Montreal and London, Ont., have excess capacity because of reduced demand from the United States.

Labatt, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev of Belgium, has invested $20 million in the Halifax operation over the past three years, Keller said. Another $500,000 investment was announced Tuesday.

Demand for Keith’s beer has grown steadily since Keith’s India Pale Ale was first shipped to Ontario in 1996. Keith’s is now Labatt’s No.1 premium brand.

About 18 months ago, the company started brewing Keith’s in Creston, B.C., to keep up with the growing market on the West Coast.

The Keith’s brand is named after Alexander Keith, who in 1820 founded his own brewery in Halifax and was later elected the city’s mayor three times.

His brewery, still operating on the Halifax waterfront, remains one of the oldest in North America.

In 1928, the Oland family bought the business from Alexander Keith’s granddaughter. Labatt bought Oland and Sons Ltd. in 1971.