La Broquerie-based pork company HyLife Foods says production will be minimally affected by layoffs it announced last week.
“We are carefully restructuring to endure the current global conditions,” said president and CEO Grant Lazaruk in a June 9 news release, which announced the layoff of 87 employees, most of them administrative staff. The company has 2,500 employees.
Why it matters: Several meat companies, including global giants like Tyson Foods and JBS, have announced financial downgrades in recent months due to higher feed costs and sliding demand.
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HyLife did not say which of its facilities were affected by the layoffs. Colleen Synchyshyn, chief administrative officer of the town of Neepawa, said 29 workers at HyLife’s Neepawa processing plant were affected.
Layoffs did not involve temporary foreign workers, a spokesperson for the company told the Co-operator.
Synchyshyn said, to her knowledge, HyLife continues to bring in workers from abroad, mainly from the Philippines. Neepawa officials regularly participate in welcome events for these workers, Synchyshyn noted, and these events continue to take place.
As of press time, HyLife had not responded to requests for further information.
“We always want all parts of our industry to be healthy financially, and right now they’re not,” said Cam Dahl, general manager of the Manitoba Pork Council.
However, he said he wasn’t aware of any changes to production in Manitoba and he is not concerned about HyLife’s commitment to Manitoba.
The company attributed the move to “inflation, rising production costs … uncertainty in hog and pork markets and foreign exchange rates.”
HyLife’s out-of-province ventures have also seen financial impact. Its processing plant in Windom, Minnesota, recently declared bankruptcy. It closed and laid off about 1,000 staff on June 2. According to a report from Investigate Midwest, this left about 500 foreign workers in limbo on temporary U.S. visas.
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has since opened an investigation into potential unpaid wages, Investigate Midwest reported.
HyLife did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
A combination of economic challenges has led to losses in the meat sector in recent months. Smithfield Foods is shuttering 40 sow farms in Missouri. In Eastern Canada, Olymel has announced the permanent closure of its Vallée-Jonction plant in Quebec. Tyson Foods and JBS have reported quarterly financial losses.
Maple Leaf Foods also reported losses in the first quarter of 2023, but the company told the Co-operator it has no plans for layoffs at its Winnipeg or Brandon facilities.
“The number of shifts at these facilities will vary from time to time based on things like scheduled maintenance, seasonality of demand for certain products and inventory management,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “These are normal operating rhythms.”
“We are continuing our operations in the ordinary course and we continue to hire at these sites for many positions,” the spokesperson added.
