Hundreds employed in Atlantic Canada’s dairy industry to lose their jobs

Hundreds of employees in Atlantic Canada’s dairy industry will be laid off this spring.

Agropur, which owns Farmers Dairy, and Saputo both announced 346 employees will be out of a job by April 1.

The employees were notified Tuesday.

The two Quebec-based companies say they’re adjusting their merchandising structure by making the retailer responsible for ordering the products and stocking the shelves.

“The announced measures are part of the continual analysis of our overall activities as we maintain our efforts to pursue additional efficiencies while strengthening our market presence,” said Sandy Vassiadis, communications for Saputo.

Both companies say eliminating the jobs from their sales structure follows current practices across the country.

“The Atlantic region is the only region where we merchandise our products to customers,” adds Vassiadis. “We find it necessary to align our go-to-market strategy and apply some changes by transferring all of the Atlantic region’s merchandising duties to retailers.”

As for Saputo, 187 employees will be let go. That includes 66 full-time and 121 part-time positions, mainly in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

In total, 159 of the jobs lost are within Agropur, 62 of which are full-time.  It breaks down to be 57 in New Brunswick, 78 in Nova Scotia, 24 in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“We believe this is the right decision for our business,” said Véronique Boileau, vice president of communications for Agropur. “It was a difficult decision to make. We will be helping employees through the transition process.”

Saputo says the employees will also receive outplacement support, as well as a severance.

CTV News reached out to the Atlantic Convenience Stores Association, but president Mike Hammound says he would like to talk to the companies before making a comment. CTV has also reached out to the Atlantic Dairy Council for comment.