Post by crudo on Aug 31, 2006 12:16:44 GMT -5
Peach processor lays off about 1,100
Modesto Signature facility will not reopen as hoped
By CHRISTINA SALERNO
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: August 31, 2006, 05:07:59 AM PDT
About 1,100 employees at one of two Signature Fruit Co. plants in Modesto were "terminated" this week because new owner Seneca Foods Corp. won't reopen the cannery that was closed earlier this year.
Signature closed Plant 1 in the Beard Industrial District before selling the Modesto food processing operation to Seneca. The sale was finalized this month and the plant still bears the name Signature.
Employees who worked at Plant 1 began receiving letters Monday stating that "all Plant 1 employees will have their employment and seniority terminated" by Oct. 30.
According to the letter under the Signature letterhead, the plant will close permanently because of "events beyond our control."
Seneca officials could not be reached for comment. An employee reached at Seneca's headquarters, based in Marion, N.Y., said the company does not generally respond to media inquiries. Calls to Signature Fruit's Modesto offices were not returned.
The future of Plant 1, on Mariposa Road in Modesto, has been uncertain for several months. In January, Signature Fruit announced it would "curtail" operations at the plant this year. Idle for this processing season, company officials said it would likely reopen in 2007.
Signature's Plant 7, on adjacent property on Finch Road, has continued to process fruit. Signature has employed as many as 4,100 people at both plants during the peak summer season, making it the largest employer in Stanislaus County.
The permanent closure of Plant 1 came as a surprise to some employees and union officials.
"We were hoping this wouldn't happen, but apparently it did," said Sam Martinez, who represents Signature workers as an officer of Teamsters Local 948.
Martinez said the termination notices were sent to all of the plant's employees. The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to provide 60 days' advance notice to employees and government entities of plant closings and mass layoffs.
The notice sent to Plant 1 workers states that terminated workers can apply for jobs at Plant 7, although it is unclear how many positions are available.
Many hoped for reopening
Many of the workers at Plant 1 have remained unemployed this summer because the plant's fruit processing operation was shut, Martinez said.
Most of them had been counting on the plant reopening next year, he said.
That was what Marsha Davis had hoped for.
The Modesto resident has worked at the cannery for 24 years, where she was a supervisor.
Like many of her co-workers, she didn't work this season because Plant 1 wasn't running. But she was eager to return to work next season.
On Tuesday, she got a call from a co-worker who had just received a termination letter. She listened as the co-worker read it, then went to retrieve mail from her post office box and found her own layoff notice.
"It was very depressing," Davis said. "I felt like crying the rest of the day."
Davis said there had been rumors Plant 1 would close permanently, but company officials had repeatedly told employees it would reopen.
"That is why this is such a shock. We wanted to believe what they said," Davis said.
Stanislaus County officials are taking steps to assist the workers, said Jeff Rowe, work force development director for Alliance WorkNet.
There will be mass orientations to explain the county's job and training resources, he said. Counselors will help workers find similar positions or enroll them in job retraining programs.
"This is a major hit to our unemployment. We are taking it very seriously," Rowe said.
The announcement of the Signature plant closing follows other mass layoffs in Stanislaus County, including the termination of 200 workers at California Fruit and Tomato Kitchens in Riverbank and 200 at Valley Fresh Inc. in Turlock.
County looking for state money
Because of the high number of layoffs this year, the county has also applied for a state grant of $1.3 million to retrain displaced workers, Rowe said.
"We don't see layoffs of this size come around very often," he said. "But when we do, it takes more than the normal resources to address it."
Rowe said Signature's unskilled employees will likely face the most difficult time finding new jobs, although the manufacturing industry may be able to absorb some of them.
"We would be naive not to be concerned that we have had three major layoffs in one year," he said. "It is hard not to believe that this doesn't bode well for the food processing industry as a whole."
Signature Fruit processes peaches, pears, apricots and other fruit grown mainly in the Central Valley, although Plant 1 had only processed peaches in recent years, according to Martinez.
The news about Plant 1 saddened Hughson grower Vito Chiesa, but it didn't come as a shock.
"I'm not surprised they are jettisoning Plant 1," he said. "It's the smallest peach crop in years."
He said the closing doesn't bode well.
"I'm really worried about the canning industry in general," said Chiesa, who has been growing peaches since he took over the farming operation from his father in 1987. He has shifted most of his operation to almonds and walnuts.
"It (canning) is labor intensive, and people are moving toward less labor-intensive crops — almonds, walnuts and grapes."
He said peach growers used to make double or triple that of nut farmers. Now, it's the other way around.
Passing though many hands
Seneca bought the operation from John Hancock Life Insurance of Boston, which had acquired it in 2001 after the previous owner, Tri Valley Growers, filed for bankruptcy. John Hancock had hoped to rebuild the operation as Signature Fruit and then sell it.
Seneca's purchase of the cannery was seen by many in the food processing industry as a step in the right direction because Seneca was well-established in the canning business.
The two companies also owned rights to the Libby's label, with Signature for fruit and Seneca for vegetables.
Seneca, founded in 1949, has more than 20 plants across the nation, mainly producing canned and frozen vegetables. It produces under labels such as Aunt Nellie's Farm Kitchen, Green Giant, Stokely's and Seneca.
Bee staff writer Christina Salerno can be reached at 238-4574 or csalerno@modbee.com.
Modesto Signature facility will not reopen as hoped
By CHRISTINA SALERNO
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: August 31, 2006, 05:07:59 AM PDT
About 1,100 employees at one of two Signature Fruit Co. plants in Modesto were "terminated" this week because new owner Seneca Foods Corp. won't reopen the cannery that was closed earlier this year.
Signature closed Plant 1 in the Beard Industrial District before selling the Modesto food processing operation to Seneca. The sale was finalized this month and the plant still bears the name Signature.
Employees who worked at Plant 1 began receiving letters Monday stating that "all Plant 1 employees will have their employment and seniority terminated" by Oct. 30.
According to the letter under the Signature letterhead, the plant will close permanently because of "events beyond our control."
Seneca officials could not be reached for comment. An employee reached at Seneca's headquarters, based in Marion, N.Y., said the company does not generally respond to media inquiries. Calls to Signature Fruit's Modesto offices were not returned.
The future of Plant 1, on Mariposa Road in Modesto, has been uncertain for several months. In January, Signature Fruit announced it would "curtail" operations at the plant this year. Idle for this processing season, company officials said it would likely reopen in 2007.
Signature's Plant 7, on adjacent property on Finch Road, has continued to process fruit. Signature has employed as many as 4,100 people at both plants during the peak summer season, making it the largest employer in Stanislaus County.
The permanent closure of Plant 1 came as a surprise to some employees and union officials.
"We were hoping this wouldn't happen, but apparently it did," said Sam Martinez, who represents Signature workers as an officer of Teamsters Local 948.
Martinez said the termination notices were sent to all of the plant's employees. The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to provide 60 days' advance notice to employees and government entities of plant closings and mass layoffs.
The notice sent to Plant 1 workers states that terminated workers can apply for jobs at Plant 7, although it is unclear how many positions are available.
Many hoped for reopening
Many of the workers at Plant 1 have remained unemployed this summer because the plant's fruit processing operation was shut, Martinez said.
Most of them had been counting on the plant reopening next year, he said.
That was what Marsha Davis had hoped for.
The Modesto resident has worked at the cannery for 24 years, where she was a supervisor.
Like many of her co-workers, she didn't work this season because Plant 1 wasn't running. But she was eager to return to work next season.
On Tuesday, she got a call from a co-worker who had just received a termination letter. She listened as the co-worker read it, then went to retrieve mail from her post office box and found her own layoff notice.
"It was very depressing," Davis said. "I felt like crying the rest of the day."
Davis said there had been rumors Plant 1 would close permanently, but company officials had repeatedly told employees it would reopen.
"That is why this is such a shock. We wanted to believe what they said," Davis said.
Stanislaus County officials are taking steps to assist the workers, said Jeff Rowe, work force development director for Alliance WorkNet.
There will be mass orientations to explain the county's job and training resources, he said. Counselors will help workers find similar positions or enroll them in job retraining programs.
"This is a major hit to our unemployment. We are taking it very seriously," Rowe said.
The announcement of the Signature plant closing follows other mass layoffs in Stanislaus County, including the termination of 200 workers at California Fruit and Tomato Kitchens in Riverbank and 200 at Valley Fresh Inc. in Turlock.
County looking for state money
Because of the high number of layoffs this year, the county has also applied for a state grant of $1.3 million to retrain displaced workers, Rowe said.
"We don't see layoffs of this size come around very often," he said. "But when we do, it takes more than the normal resources to address it."
Rowe said Signature's unskilled employees will likely face the most difficult time finding new jobs, although the manufacturing industry may be able to absorb some of them.
"We would be naive not to be concerned that we have had three major layoffs in one year," he said. "It is hard not to believe that this doesn't bode well for the food processing industry as a whole."
Signature Fruit processes peaches, pears, apricots and other fruit grown mainly in the Central Valley, although Plant 1 had only processed peaches in recent years, according to Martinez.
The news about Plant 1 saddened Hughson grower Vito Chiesa, but it didn't come as a shock.
"I'm not surprised they are jettisoning Plant 1," he said. "It's the smallest peach crop in years."
He said the closing doesn't bode well.
"I'm really worried about the canning industry in general," said Chiesa, who has been growing peaches since he took over the farming operation from his father in 1987. He has shifted most of his operation to almonds and walnuts.
"It (canning) is labor intensive, and people are moving toward less labor-intensive crops — almonds, walnuts and grapes."
He said peach growers used to make double or triple that of nut farmers. Now, it's the other way around.
Passing though many hands
Seneca bought the operation from John Hancock Life Insurance of Boston, which had acquired it in 2001 after the previous owner, Tri Valley Growers, filed for bankruptcy. John Hancock had hoped to rebuild the operation as Signature Fruit and then sell it.
Seneca's purchase of the cannery was seen by many in the food processing industry as a step in the right direction because Seneca was well-established in the canning business.
The two companies also owned rights to the Libby's label, with Signature for fruit and Seneca for vegetables.
Seneca, founded in 1949, has more than 20 plants across the nation, mainly producing canned and frozen vegetables. It produces under labels such as Aunt Nellie's Farm Kitchen, Green Giant, Stokely's and Seneca.
Bee staff writer Christina Salerno can be reached at 238-4574 or csalerno@modbee.com.