Dive Brief:
- General Mills will meet with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union Local 33G, the union that represents the 335 employees at the New Albany Pillsbury plant, which the company announced last week would be shut down, pending the discussion.
- The New Albany City Council voted to allow Mayor Jeff Gahan to form a four-person committee of council and administration members who will brainstorm how to prevent the facility's closing.
- The talks have been scheduled for early February.
Dive Insight:
General Mills' Pillsbury plant is Floyd County's fifth largest manufacturing employer. This potential blow to the community's jobs has prompted many area legislators to reach out to Roger Miller, president of the bakery union. General Mills signed a four-year contract that offers the union an opportunity to bargain for keeping as many local jobs as possible.
If the plant closes, it could be another in a line of closures for General Mills, who has employed cost-cutting measures called "Project Catalyst." This has included its decision to close two plants in September, which cost 900 jobs, and another recent decision to shut down a Twin Cities plant and two others in Indiana and Ontario, Canada.