Moosehead Breweries has announced it will be laying off about 70 hourly production employees at its Saint John facility by the end of June 2015.
The company says the reductions are a direct result of the loss of a major brewing and packaging contract announced earlier this year.
Company president Andrew Oland says 40 per cent of the brewery’s business will disappear in June 2015, and efforts to replace the business have been unsuccessful.
“Those are the individuals who brew the beer, who package the beer, who put the beer on forklifts and do a great job every day, and that is what makes this so difficult,” says Oland.
There are about 144 hourly employees working at the brewery on Main Street.
Bill Farren, one of the company’s longest-serving employees, says the cuts are more than expected and will hit Saint John hard.
“This is a big blow to our city and to our province,” says Farren. “It’s huge. People don’t realize how much Moosehead has contributed to this city and this province.”
The employees were informed of the layoffs Thursday and the news quickly spread throughout the city.
“Moosehead employees are a huge part of my business as well and when you lose them, either going west or wherever they have to go now, it’s a loss,” says barber Blaine Harris.
“I know my father worked there until he died. I worked there as a university student and had an option to work there the rest of my life,” says Saint John resident Gary Keirstead. “They said it was a golden opportunity, that they’d be there forever, so sad.”
Moosehead Breweries says that some of the job cuts may come from retirements but that isn't known yet.
“We continue to work every day to grow our business, but we figure it was important for our employees to give them as much notice as we can about the circumstances, and obviously as those circumstances change, those employees will be the first to know,” says Oland.
Oland says Moosehead and the New Brunswick government are working together to provide support programs for those who will be laid off, including re-employment counselling and retraining.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron
