Hard on the heels of the news that Maple Lodge will close the Beamsville plant it bought from Grand River Poultry, laying off about 100 employees, the company announced it is cutting more than 60 workers from its staff of 250 at Nadeau Poultry in New Brunswick.
The New Brunswick layoffs should come as no surprise since Sunnymel, a joint venture backed by Westco and Olymel, has captured most of the chicken production in the province. For now, the birds are being shipped to Olymel plants in Quebec, but construction is underway on a new plant in New Brunswick.
True to form, Maple Lodge blamed the layoffs on the failure of the New Brunswick government to order farmers to sell their birds to its Nadeau Poultry Ltd. plant. The politicians dabbled with that idea, but eventually backed off to let farmers sell their birds as they wish.
It's ironic that Bob and Jack May, who founded Maple Lodge and were dead-set against supply management for the chicken industry, now whine and complain that there isn't enough supply management to suit them.
