Kraft Heinz senior vice president Michael Mullen said in a statement the company plans next year to move Oscar Mayer and its USA meats business unit from Madison to the company’s co-headquarters in Chicago.
Advertisement
The company also announced it will close manufacturing facilities in Fullerton and San Leandro, California; Federalsburg, Maryland; St. Marys, Ontario, Canada; Campbell, New York; Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin. In a staged process over the next 12 to 24 months, production in all seven locations will shift to other existing factories in North America.
The combination of Pittsburgh-based Heinz and Kraft earlier this year was engineered by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, which has become known for its tight cost controls.
In August, the company announced it would be cutting 2,500 jobs throughout the company, which included 165 positions in Madison.
State Sen. Fred Risser and state Rep. Chris Taylor, Madison Democrats whose districts include the plant, call the announcement “gut wrenching”.
Dislocated employees will receive severance benefits, outplacement services and other support.
In July, Kraft Heinz announced it would relocate its Northfield headquarters to downtown Chicago. Prior to the layoffs, Madison’s Oscar Mayer had about 1,250 employees.
The news comes as the company is planning a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Davenport, Iowa, according to the Associated Press.
“As Mayor of Madison, first and foremost my thoughts and concern are with the 1,000 workers who will be losing their jobs in the time span of the next 24 months”.
The statement said part of the company’s cheese production will move from a Champaign, Ill., facility to other factories.
Advertisement
Both moves would take up to two years. The company indicated that there would be no impact to Davenport jobs in the immediate future.
