Home · Maps · About

[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ]
[ First in Thread | Next in Thread ]

view flat

Baltimore to lose last Unilever plant, with 137 layoffs

Posted by Olog-hai on Sun May 24 00:07:12 2015, in response to Baltimore mayor gave "space" to those who "wished to destroy", posted by Olog-hai on Mon Apr 27 18:44:54 2015.

---

Unilever to close last Md. factory

By Natalie Sherman
May 12, 2015 10:25 AM

Unilever plans to move production of vegetable oil and margarine spreads from Baltimore to Kansas beginning at the end of the month, shutting its Baltimore plant and laying off 137 workers.

The consumer goods giant plans to shift operations from its Southwest Avenue factory to Olathe, Kansas, where it performs similar work and embarked on a $152.5 million expansion in 2013.

Unilever informed Maryland regulators of the layoffs, which begin this month, in a notice last month, as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The plant is slated to close by the end of September.

The Southwest Avenue location manufactured Country Crock and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. A spokeswoman for the firm said the move was precipitated by a search for "greater efficiencies."

"Due to overcapacity in our spreads network in the USA, greater efficiencies can be achieved by shifting production," Jaime Stein said in a statement.

The Baltimore plant is the last factory owned by Unilever in Maryland, she said. As recently as 2002, however, the firm was a large employer, with at least three locations.

Unilever sold its laundry detergent business in 2008, offloading its nearly 50-acre plant on Holabird Avenue, which ultimately closed last year. In 2011, it also announced the shutdown of an ice cream factory in Hagerstown, with layoffs of 437.

---