Cooke lays off 90 employees at salmon processing plants

Cooke Aquaculture laid off 90 workers at its Blacks Harbour and Beaver Harbour salmon processing plants on January 27. The company took the action because production has been down in recent years and as part of its consolidation following the acquisition of Marine Harvest's east coast operations in December and Heritage Salmon's east coast assets in June.

Cooke Aquaculture inherited the drop in production from the two companies, with Nell Halse, director of communications for Cooke, noting that Heritage had suffered significant losses of fish because of infectious salmon anemia two years ago.

The company now has four processing plants that are near each other, with two in St. George and one each in Blacks Harbour and Beaver Harbour. The former Stolt plant in St. George will now become the center for value-added processing, including fillet and spiced portions and burgers. The plant in Charlottetown, P.E.I., will continue to handle specialty products. The former Heritage plant in Blacks Harbour will now handle only whole fish, and since the number of salmon being harvested is down, some employees were let go. However, Halse notes that a large number of smolts will be placed in the water this spring, so production will come back up in time.

Cooke wants a high-end processing plant for whole fish to be in Blacks Harbour but is presently leasing the plant from Connors Bros., which wants the facility back when the lease expires in 2007. Cooke will have another year before having to leave, though. The long-term plan is to construct a new plant in Blacks Harbour. Cooke has already moved its headquarters from St. George to Blacks Harbour. However, its net manufacturing, value-added plant and feed shop will remain in St. George.

The Beaver Harbour plant will no longer process any fish but will continue to be used for cold storage and shipping. Cooke's True North plant in St. George will have its value-added processing line moved to the former Stolt plant in St. George. The company has closed the former Marine Harvest plant in Connecticut, letting about 30 employees go on February 1.

As for its Maine operations, Halse says, "We still intend to build up production in Maine. Fish grown in Maine we would like to process in Maine." Cooke will be placing 2.4 million smolts in the water this spring at its Maine sites. As for the former Atlantic Salmon of Maine processing plant in Machiasport, Halse says, "In a few years we hope we can open up there." The company is not planning to reopen the former Heritage plant in Eastport.

Of the 90 people who were let go at the Blacks Harbour and Beaver Harbour plants, about 15 had already been laid off and about 55 had been with the company for less than a year. Cooke has about 1,300 workers, and Halse says the company is aiming to protect the jobs of its long-term employees and then build the workforce back up.

All of the employees who were laid off were given severance packages, with Cooke spending approximately half a million dollars on severance pay. Workers were given at least four weeks of pay, with some receiving up to a year's worth of salary.

Before the layoffs were announced, Cooke had rolled out a new wage parity program for the processing employees, with workers at the two plants in St. George brought up to the wage level of the Heritage workers. A wage parity program for workers at the saltwater cages was also announced this past week.

"We are not planning any cuts in the rest of the company," says Halse. Although there had been some seasonal layoffs in Maine, when fish are put in the water this spring those workers will be hired back.