Olymel workers reject 30% wage cut

Management at Olymel LP, one of Canada's largest pork processors, has asked the 1,200 workers at the Valle Jonction pork plant to reconsider their vote after they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed 30 per cent wage cut.

Unionized workers at the plant south of Quebec City voted 99 per cent against the cuts on Sunday despite threats that the plant may be closed.

Management saysit cannot continue to operate the plant in the face of foreign competition withhigh wages and a strong Canadian dollar.

But union leaders say it is unfair to place the company's financial burden on the backs of the workers.

Former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard is heading a financial restructuring at Olymel, but union leaders say he is doing little to help the two sides reach a deal in the dispute.

Olymel has been struggling for several years in what is says isa high cost environment.

It has already closed several other plants in Quebec and cut wages at others.

It closed its plant at St-Simon south of Montreal, last year eliminating 520 jobs as part of a company-wide restructuring that saw the company consolidate operations at other plants in Quebec and in Western Canada.

"Our business must adapt itself to the particularly difficult market conditions in the pork industry in Quebec," CEO Rejean Nadeau said at the time.

Olymel processes pork and poultry in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, and employs more than 10,000 people. Nearly half its sales are exported, mainly to the U.S., Japan and Australia.

The company did not mention the dispute on its corporate website.