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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-06-13, Page 2% Sugar and Spice By Bill Smiley IESTABLISHtp 11172 Brussels Post WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1973 -Serving Brussels and the surrounding community published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper. Association. Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others $5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each. Second class mail Registration No. 0562. ' Telephone 887-6641. 11111111.1.1111.1m1 .onusseis ONTARIO There inevitably are hardships when a long established plant closes its doors in a community. employment s suffer raised ,as s the dollar quently s was a to close; loss 'to despread arise. Too smaller n impact is There which 1p and the to their loss whi sustain factor i and thir the comai economic frequent communit greatest is the loss of ng time employee doubts which are future; there i ch the ownersfre and which perhap n their decision dly there is the unity and the wi problems which ly it is in the ies, that such a The public is reasonable No employer can be expected to continue to operate his facilities at a loss indefinitely. There comes a time when he must make a decision to sell or discontinue. Ii doing this however, these are steps that can be taken to ease the strain on not only staff but also on the com- munity beyond severance and holiday pay which the law requires. Elsewhere on this page is a letter from the principals of Huron Food Products Ltd. in which it is pointed out that a decision to dispose of the operation was made months ago and that the manager knew of this intention. The .fact remains, how- ever, that it was not until a few hours before the May 31st dead line that the staff knew their jobs had . disappeared. Surely if it was known months ago that it was intended to sell the business and perhaps close the plant time could have been found to. prepare a Statement setting out explanations and reasons for the decision so that the staff and the'community would know the facts and thus avoid the concern caused by preemptory action. The problems facing some small industries in smaller communities are many and too often are aggra- vated by government in its desire for bigness. To what extent, for instance,has the phase out program of the Ontario Milk Board'contributed to the demise of smaller creameries across Ontario? Was competition a factor? Was the pricing structure realistic? Was there a prOblem With labor? Could the community have assisted to, a greater degree? These are all matters which both Huron Food Products and SilverWoods might profitably have dittutted.. Certainly had they done so and taken the public- into their. tonfidente there would not be. the unfortunate misunderstanding and ii i tternett that it prete4t today,, the publid it reatonable if the fddtt are. known, I have three brothers-in-law.. One is a railroader,one is a lawyer, arid. the third Is pretty ill right now. I've always. felt lucky about them. Bach of the three is a fine fellow, and we've got along with never an unpleasant word or experience between us. That's more than loi:s of •brothers.- in-law can say. heft alone, they'd pro- bably be fine, but when the women in- volved start getting their knives into each other, often a coldness develops among the poor devils of husbands. My railroader brother-in-law went to high school with me, and we played foot- ball together on a couple of the best teams that ever came out of Perth Col- legiate Institute and Lanark County. My lawyer brother-in-law worked with me on a chain gang one summer, when we 'were students, and it was the best dodge-work chain gang. that ever worked for the Kodak company. we left no stone unturned in our constant vigilance to appear to be working when the foreman came around. Both theseabhaps are around my own age, a bit tattered around the edges from raising families and paying off mortgages, but otherwise in good shape. My third brother-in-law is a bit longer in the tooth, and I always looked on him as somewhere between a second father and second big brother, Not that he acted either part. He treated me exactly as most boys would like their fathers to treat them. And he never, ever acted the bullying, know-it- all role of the big brother. He treated me as a human being. He never implied that I was a kid and he was an adult. When he was twice my age, he talked as though we were equals. He knew I was pretty callow when I was sixteen, but he never let on. we were two men of the world together, and I've appreciated it ever since. He'd take me fishing when I was a kid. There was no nonsense about him being in charge. We were just a couple of fishermen. One fishing jaunt I still remember with particular pleasure. We were out in the middle of the lake when a summer storm caught us. No, or few, motors in those days . You rowed. we were as wet as though we'd jumped overboard. We got to shore, with the rain still pounding down. We found a cottage unoccupied and managed to get in. We put up the stovepipes, got a fire going and foraged. There Was a half can of Sir; In response to your front page article in the June 6th edition - SEVEN LOSE JOBS AS PLANT CLOSES IN 48 HOURS NOTICE We the principals of Huron Food Products Ltd. wish to bring to the readers of your fair paper the facts behind the closing of the Brussels DUO to an unsatisfactory return on investment, a decision was made approx- imately one year ago to dispose of the operation, and at this time our Manager, Mr. John Cousins was advised. Some ten months ago We approached several major companies in regards to the sale Of the business,. john Cousins and Ivan CaMpbell, as well as other employees were advised • 8itt in this, open letter to the brtitSels Fteeve and caidil, I Want to thank the in for chOpping 5 tnillS, or about -$8160,4i0 Off this year's takeSi, Last year; bektiiiiSe of the'centennial, Mills or about $5,000.00 was added to the taXeS which Was supposed to come Off this year. Don't you -thin14 because of the $12,b-06:06 grant, that the hall rate should tea leaves. So there we sat by a, roaring fire, drinking hot tea and feeling like Ulysses just home from the Trojan war. It was not a miserable experienCe or a disaster. It was a. joke, an adventure. Art , sat there, smoking his pipe and regaling me with earthy stories, and I , sat there, happy as a clam, feeling a real man, able to cope with anything. He'd take me off to the cottage, when he was courting my sister, and I was about fifteen. What a nuisance, I must have been, but you'd never know it, from him. When I was courting, I dragged home the critter who is now my old battle- axe, and her kid sister, who had tailed along. He drove the three of us to the same cottage, and he and my big sister accepted us and fed us without a question or a hint or a raised eyebrow. When the war came along, he was of an age at which there was no need for him to join up, no question Of being drafted. He joined the air force and spent four years of unheroic, uncomplain- ing service about two' thousand miles from his family. He could have stayed home and made money as most of his contem- poraries did. He never said much, at times of family crises, though he was dragged into our large family. But he was always there, always steady,' always the peace- maker. He hated rows, and scab-picking, and soul-searching, and when people got into that stuff, he'd change the subject or quietly leave. Like my own father, he very rarely got angry, but when he did, attention was paid. He believed in the old adage, as did my mother, that, ,‘If, you can't say any- thing good about a person, don't say any- thing." And I never heard anyone say a, bad word about him.' He's a good Christian, a good Catholic, but a down-to-earth one, not one of those pious bores. He was no world-beater, and he didn't want to be. He was no intellectual, but he had a wit as Irish as his good looks. He was always a kind, and, at the risk of seeming maudlin, I would say a sweet man. • I hope he reads this and knows how much his young brother-in-law thought of him when he was an impressionable kid, and ever since. And I hope the day is not too far off when he's out of that hospital bed and we can crack a jug together. Of the negotiations and meetings were arranged with Silverwood Dairies by the' principals of Huron Food Products Ltd. to discuss employment. These meetings were declined by the employees of Huron Food Products Ltd. on May 31, inclUded with the notice of layoff, all till tithe employees received two weeks severance pay, plus two weeks holiday pay and in addition to this the manager has been promised one Month additional pay when the business isfinally Completed. Huron Food Products Ltd. Grant t Mott, pres., Bric Cluley, Sec., Ralph E. Walker,Vice Pres. thOp 14 Or abott $19,66000 and there Still Should be Some left OVer to Spend.; A.Cdotdifig to the paper you left Mills or phis spending the grant of $12,,b60.00 so r am asking Where did all. this money go. Harold Bridge', Brussels Phone 881-601, phone 831,6N6 between A-,4 and •40.--k,4e• .1461,a1..410..11. To the Editor Huron Food Products answers The tax. rate