Sobeys plans to close Winnipeg Lucerne plant, throwing 41 out of work

WINNIPEG – Employees at a Winnipeg plant that produces ice cream and cheese for Safeway stores will lose their jobs on Aug. 29.

The 41 workers were told at a meeting at noon Wednesday at the Lucerne plant on King Edward Street that the operation would be shut down and their jobs would be terminated.

“It was a complete kick to the stomach to everybody,” said Mark Armstrong, president of Unifor Local 468, which represents the workers. “Everybody just was in complete shock.”

The employees earn $22 to $26 an hour and work full-time, he said.

Armstrong works at the location but in the grocery and produce area, which will continue to operate. While the cheese and ice cream plant workers were notified they would be losing their jobs, Armstrong and his other co-workers were informed of the decision in a separate meeting.

“They didn’t give us too much security,” he said, and while he feels the other jobs are secure, others are worried about their future.

John Graham, the public affairs director for Safeway stores for Sobeys, which recently purchased the Safeway chain, said the work will be transferred to an ice cream plant in Edmonton.

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“We’ve been evaluating the overall financial viability of both,” Graham said, because both have been operating under capacity. “We thought it was an opportunity to improve efficiencies.”

There are no plans at this time for additional closures, Graham said, although he also said Sobeys hasn’t historically been involved in manufacturing.

Armstrong said the people he worked with had thought the purchase by Sobeys might be a good development for that reason.

“We assumed that was a good thing,” he said, explaining that they’d hoped to get more work as part of the Sobeys chain. “It’s a good product.”

The union will attempt to negotiate a good closure agreement for the Lucerne workers, including finding them work elsewhere in the chain, he said.

One of the men who was laid off had worked at the plant for 29 or 30 years but was still just 48 years old, Armstrong said.

“He was looking at another 10 years at least.”

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