Dive Brief:
- Farmland Dairies will close a 40-year old milk-production plant in Wallington, N.J. The shutdown will mean layoffs at the unionized plant for 323 workers.
- The news comes just weeks after another dairy in Wallington closed its doors in the wake of a legal dispute with Farmland.
- Local politicians are seeking a meeting with Borden Dairy Co., owner of Farmland, to try to find a solution.
Dive Insight:
Every year around this time we see stories like this: a company announces layoffs just days before Christmas. Certainly there are business decisions driving such moves. And we can only assume such decisions are well-reasoned. In this case, for example, Farmland is closing a unionized production facility that makes a product with declining sales in a high-tax state. No one can be surprised by such a move. But we can be, and are, outraged by the timing of the move.