Chicken and pork processor Olymel cuts 366 jobs

Canada's leading pork and chicken processor is consolidating three processed-meat plants in Quebec at the cost of 366 jobs.

Olymel l.p. said on Friday that plants in Magog, Granby and Laval will be closed between July and October. "Many employees from the plants to be closed may be offered employment with other company units," Olymel said.

"We are never happy about having to announce job losses and Olymel will fulfil all its obligations to those who must leave the company. This redeployment plan is keeping as many jobs as possible," president and CEO Rjean Nadeau said in a statement.

The plant closures follow a three-way merger between Olymel, Prince Foods and Supraliment l.p., which left the company with excess capacity.

The company, with 10,000 employees and annual sales of $2.5 billion, said it will invest $16 million in other Quebec plants to pick up the work.

Olymel processes 80 million chickens, four million turkeys and four million hogs every year. Its brands include Olymel, Lafleur, Flamingo, Prince and Galco Foods.

La Coop fdre, an agricultural co-operative with more than 51,000 members, owns most of the company. Supraliment and the Quebec government funding agency SGF-Soquia are also major shareholders.