Kraft Heinz will shut down seven manufacturing facilities across the USA and Canada is letting go of 2,600 workers in order to save $1.5 billion in operating costs by the end of 2017.
The company will be using the cost saved to install "state-of-the-art production lines". The six plants which are bound to close are located in Maryland, Madison, Wisconsin; Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; Campbell, New York, Fullerton and San Leandro, California; and St. Marys, Ontario. The seventh plant is a crouton factory located in Federalsburg.
Doug Leikness, president of the employee union at the Oscar Mayer plant located in Madison, Wisconsin, told CNN Money that the announcement of the plant he oversees closing by 2017 came "out of the blue."
Furthermore, in a news report published in Baltimore Sun, Rick Schroeder, a Madison plant janitor, said that the news came as a shock especially that he heard it through the news and not from the company itself. However, he is still positive that things will get better in time.
"They always say when one door closes, another opens," says Schroeder. "Gotta have faith. Move on, that's all you can do," he adds. The Madison plant will have one of the hardest hit. A total of 700 workers will lose their jobs as a result of the century-old plant closing. His father has also worked at the plant for 35 years.
In a statement released by the company, Michael Mullen, a senior vice president writes: "Kraft Heinz fully appreciates and regrets the impact our decision will have on employees, their families and the communities in which these facilities are located."
In support, authority spokeswoman Tina Hoffman reiterated that although the job cutting is an unfortunate situation, the company is ensuring that it would be able to retain as many jobs as they could while affected workers will receive severance benefits.
