Agropur workers, union hope to keep Sussex-area dairy plant in operation

A ‘Welcome to Dairytown’ sign is pictured at the Agropur facility in Sussex, N.B. (Avery MacRae/CTV News Atlantic)

Donny Kerr has only been a maintenance electrician at the Sussex-area Agropur plant for about three years.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been feeling the same levels of anxiety as his 59 other coworkers who learned a few weeks ago their dairy processing plant would be ending operations by the end of 2028.

Agropur expanding production in Bedford, N.S., scaling down work in Sussex, N.B.

“Initially it was panic, anxiety, not knowing what’s going to happen next,” Kerr says. “For the past couple of weeks, it’s kind of been a lull, [morales] a little low.”

While Kerr acknowledges there is still a long road ahead, he does feel a little better about the entire situation after a closed-door meeting Wednesday night at the All Season Inn in Sussex, N.B., with representatives from their union, Unifor.

It’s a similar feeling for John Belyea, who has worked in the plant’s maintenance department for the past year-and-a-half.

While Belyea didn’t want to share what was discussed during the closed-door meeting, he says workers have a slightly more positive outlook than they did when entering the room.

“Even if we didn’t get answers tonight it was more or less the ball was rolling, so we’re happy with that,” he says. “We’re staying positive about it.”

Jennifer Murray is the Atlantic regional director for Unifor. She says the members meeting was “very productive,” and allowed the union to hear firsthand the concerns of their members.

As for what comes next, Murray says it will be continuing to put pressure on both Agropur and the provincial government to try and find ways to keep the dairy production in the Sussex area.

“At the same time, we’re going to be bargaining with the employer to talk and open discussions on incentives,” Murray says. “What moving forward looks like, potential wages and severance payments including benefits, pensions, all of the things that come with bargaining. But primarily we need to make sure that we’re supporting our members.”

Murray says members understand any changes won’t happen overnight and will take time.

Shane Smith, a shop steward at the Sussex-area Agropur site, says the ultimate goal is to see the plant and jobs stay where they are.

“We had no clue this was going to happen,” Smith says. “Our plant was just functioning normal and like every day.”

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