Wednesday 5 August 1998 1 in 4 Maple Leaf workers took money and ran Craig Sumi The Spectator Hamilton/Burlington Roughly one in four employees at Maple Leaf Foods has left the company since the 15-week strike last winter. Maple Leaf executive vice-president Pat Jones said more than 100 of the 900 employees took the $10,000 signing bonus after the strike was settled in March and did not return to work. Since then, another 100 or so have left the hog-processing plant, presumably for other jobs. "We said all along that they could take their buyout and not stay and many people decided to do that," Jones said in an interview. He added, however, that despite the bitter strike, plant morale has been good. During negotiations, the company had threatened to close the plant down if the unionized workers did not agree to wage concessions of up to 40 per cent. Just over half the members agreed to the pact, most doing so because they felt a wage-reduced job was better than no job at all. "One should expect a certain amount of residual feelings around this, but overall, morale has been OK," Jones said. "I think the issues in the plant now deal more with getting new people trained and up to speed." With the high rate of turnover, the company has been in an aggressive hiring mode. The plant has been adding 20 to 40 new workers every week this summer and Jones said the company is looking to hire another 60 people immediately. Even more jobs are on the horizon, as Maple Leaf moves forward with plans to expand the plant and add a second shift, as promised during negotiations. Jones said 600 new jobs will be created once the plant is expanded and new hog chilling and storage units are installed. Engineers contracted by the company are currently studying how to expand and upgrade the Burlington plant without closing down the production line. Officials hope to have the project plans finalized this fall with construction starting some time next year. It's expected construction will take up to nine months. "When it happens is still to be determined, but we remain committed," Jones added. While Maple Leaf lost some of its business during the strike, Jones said the company has worked hard to recapture its market share. He said consumers have never turned off the Maple Leaf product, but during the strike, some of the vendors were concerned that the company could not guarantee supply. "We are back now to pre-dispute service levels and regaining our market share," he said.
