BANGOR, Maine — Citing competitive pressures, Garelick Farms is ending production at its Bangor facility and laying off 35 employees.
Garelick’s parent company, Texas-based Dean Foods, has decided to phase out production at the Bangor facility over the next two months and close permanently in January, Jamaison Schuler, a spokesman for Dean Foods, told the Bangor Daily News. The Bangor facility predominantly produces fluid milk, Schuler said.
Dean Foods is not closing Garelick’s distribution facility in Bangor, so the 38 employees who work there will not be affected, Schuler said.
Schuler would not offer specifics as to why the Bangor production facility is being closed, except to say the company operates “in a highly competitive marketplace” and is “looking for some efficiencies in the business” by moving production to its three remaining production plants in Franklin and Lynn, Mass., and Rensselaer, N.Y.
“From a production standpoint, we saw some opportunities to optimize our network and move that production to some of our other plants,” Schuler said.
Cathy Conlow, Bangor’s city manager, said she was disappointed to hear Garelick Farms would cease milk production in Bangor and lay off 35 employees.
“We understand the need to make tough business decisions, especially in these difficult economic times,” Conlow said in a statement. “The city is prepared to work with the affected employees and the company through this transition.”
Julie Rabinowitz, spokeswoman at the Maine Department of Labor, said late on Tuesday afternoon that she had not heard of the Garelick layoffs. If confirmed, she said the department would send its Rapid Response team, which offers assistance to workers who have lost their jobs.
When asked if affected employees would receive severance packages, Schuler said, “A majority of the affected employees are represented by a labor union, and we are in the process of negotiating those details with the union.”
A statement from Dean Foods that was read to Garelick employees in Bangor on Tuesday, and provided to the BDN by Schuler, reads: “We regret the impact that this decision will have on our employees and our community. The decision to eliminate jobs in any part of our business is never an easy one. We operate in a highly competitive marketplace, so we must run our business in the most efficient way possible.”
Schuler would not elaborate on why the Bangor production facility was being closed as opposed to facilities in other states.
The Bangor dairy production facility has been in operation since 1902. Garelick Farms purchased the plant in 1994. Suiza, which went on to become Dean Foods, purchased Garelick Farms in 1997, according to the company’s website.
More jobs lost on LePage watch.
Yep its his fault, hey Garelicks this is gov lepage and you need to close down per me. Is that what he did. No he did not, quit trashing him ,he is much better than most governors, including Baldacci
Plus we all know it starts at the top so it must me Obama. Of course there are always those dems that blame it on the last sitting Republican.
Exactly i forgot about him,
It is all LePages fault for what happens in Maine.
No it is not, its the businesses that can not handle staying open. Everything closes, funny when baldacci was in office it was not his fault
Use the D word and they comment gets yanked.
Let me try this again. Why do people such as yourself always have to turn a story such as this into a political issue? People are going to lose their jobs but all you care about is blaming someone who has nothing to do with it.
Its just not the d word they are pulling comments all the time
They pulled mine because my use of the D word which was “donkey” but I called said person a donkey which is a no no so I’m not surprised it was removed.
Happy trigger fingers on here today and yesterday i noticed alot were gone
I know when I type out certain things it is going to get removed but sometimes I just cannot help myself. Sometimes you just have to say it to get it off your chest.
Not only that but we get to see it and enjoy it for a while before it gets pulled. I admire your bipartisanship on the LePage comment particularly given that I think I know how you feel about the guy. Ahhh inspiring.
So you know the consequences BEFORE you print it and do it anyway and then whine about it and say oh poor me and then blame someone else.–perfect righty. PS it is likely a robo censor , nothing personal at all.
Well, let’s see…the TeaPublicans are blaming Obama that because he hasn’t completely cleaned up Bush’s EIGHT YEAR mess in four years but, according to you, that’s not political and it’s okay with you anyway that they are. So LePage rides into office on a promise of creating jobs and putting Mainers back to work yet we have a NET LOSS of over 5000 jobs on his watch-and that with a TeaPublican House and Senate. So here’s the deal…if it’s Obama’s fault that the country isn’t doing better despite businesses and their CEOs making RECORD PROFITS while refusing to hire more workers, then it follows that LePage is responsible for Garelick leaving.
Please note WHO it was who shot the first cannon ball across the bow to MAKE it a political issue tossing red meat … BUSHFAN!!!
No how about on Obamas watch! Why can’t you liberal admit he is so wrong and not the right person to run this country! This has nothing to do with LePage!
And Romney has donated a can of peas and a black and white tv to the hurricane survivors. Poor Mitt, he just can’t connect with those below his throne.
You must have attended public schools………..that would be “throne”.
Unlike Willard, I could not attend the finest finishing schools money could buy.
Unlike Willard I could not dodge the draft.
Unlike Willard I did not kill Leola Anderson while speeding in my car.
Thanks for the help. :)
The Red Cross specifically states on their website that donated items(rather then money)
cause more problems than they solve unless there is a specific request for them.
Because OBAMA didn’t bust it, R policies of deregulation did. And R’s shouldn’t be allowed any where near leadership , until they can admit it and come up with a better plan then one that busted it to begin with. who in their right miond is going to put the economy back into the hands of those who busted it?? NOT me.
NEVER EVER VOTE R AGAIN .Fool me once, shame on you ; Fool me twice, shame on me.
You have forgotten Bush. And the Kochs. And ALEC.
You didn’t lose your marching did you, comrade??….hhhmmm……….shoddy performance. May have to keep an eye on you……..
And not one found.
“looking for some efficiencies in the business”.
This is what happens with unions. The union workers think they are winning when they negotiate a contract but all they are really doing is negotiating themselves out of jobs. The powers that be often “reset” in order to keep expenses low. Just ask the former Millinocket workers how they liked their 1983 contract.
I bet if they negotiated with the cow they could get a better deal. They should explain to the cow that it is either hamburg or less money for their milk, they pick. MOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Maybe then we should pay wages like they do in China? Then the companies can really milk it for all it is worth. Maybe you can blame some unions for strides in safety? Things may not be perfect with unions, but where would you be I wonder.
Let them work like they did in 1920 an get locked in an look at all those ladies that died in a fire because of locked doors .
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911.It’s unfortunate that a tragedy is sometimes the only thing that starts change.
Why make stuff up? They didn’t cite unions, they cited competition. So don’t lie and create your own tale.
I seem to have heard some years ago that Dean controls 90% of all milk product, including soy and almond, in the U.S. So my thought as I read the article was, What competition?
Please refer to sourcewatch.org , it will give a little more insight to Dean Foods and how far they actually reach throughout the dairy industry. Pretty interesting.
Lets take away every thing that the union has gotten for all people we will go back to the 1920 an see how you like it 10 hr. work days 6 days a week an no benefits an no safety
This is what happens when you have R’s in charge who value “effieiciences ” and business over all else (like consumer safety) . Next stop—- Milk form CHINA remember how THAT turned out?? Dead babies etc..Then their was tainted pet food from … CHINA and Tainted jewelry from CHINA. Regulation( and the costs of it ) has it’s purpose –consumer safety . When profit ( aka “effieciences”) becomes your sole interest something gets sacrificed–often consumer safety ( or taste) .
Now don’t foget NAFTA that Clinton signed.
Don’t forget the UNIONS opposed it.
As they should of.
Yup…..NAFTA.
Clinton signed it….his 1st act in the 1st week of his 1st term. So guess where NAFTA came from…..George H W Bush and the Republicans! For-the-record…..the Senate had enough votes on NAFTA to over ride a Clinton veto….
Do you really think a new rookie President is going to veto a bill as his 1st legislative action in office…especially when the congress had enough votes to over ride the veto?
What was the tipping point to get business to support NAFTA? Take a guess because initially most firms opposed it. Answer: coverage ratios for Pension funds were reduced AND 401K’s were approved to replace those pensions. In other words, corporations got an immediate cash windfall as they got approval under NAFTA to shut down their Pension funds and transfer the reduced funds to the workers’ 401K plan arrangement. This is why business jumped on the NAFTA band wagon….especially the Mass. High-Tech Council which initially strongly opposed NAFTA.
Wall Street really-really wanted NAFTA…..basically to get their hands on the pension fund money that was going to move into 401K plans. Pension funds aren’t allowed to gamble on the stock market…..401K’s are at the mercy of the rigged stoock market and big Wall Street firms. It was the scam of the century….and Republicans and Romney want to repeat it with Social Security!
How do you like that 401K plan balance these days? You got scammed!
Fact is he still signed it, rookie, well we still have one in office making a messs and he wants a second term. How about Obamacare taking what is it, 700 million out of Medicare. Making more of a mess. Don’t forget Barney Franks mess witht eh Savings and lone.
Obama would never let that happen.
Maybe the problem is less that the workers are unionized and more that the parent company operates out of Texas?
Wrong. This is the result when corporations are publicly traded commodities. A family owned business can decide that they don’t have to make the absolute maximum profit, but a corporation has no choice but to maximize profits.
So sorry for those who will be losing their jobs…..not a time to be looking for employment…..
Especially in Maine.
Maine Dept. of Labor ‘Rapid Response Team’? Whew, now the fired employees can rest easy.
I can just picture a state-owned van full of government employees (who likely have never been employed in the private sector) speeding up I-95, with lights flashing and the siren blaring.
I’m from the Govt. and I want to help.
Fridge magnets and tote bags for all.
Yup Magnets and Totes all made in China
I think you meant ‘Obama’, but your have your blinders on.
Every shopper should remember this when they go to the grocery. Make it easier on Garelick so they don’t have to transport all that milk up here from Mass. Just buy milk from one of the other suppliers. If they (Garelick) don’t want our workers, they don’t get our milk money :)
My thoughts exactly.
Buy Oakhurst. They are local.
If it is not Oakhurst I do not purchase it.
Kevin, when you buy milk, often you can see the bottling plant number on the label, or sometimes near the neck of the bottle. If you see Plant No. 23-01, it came from Oakhurst, regardless of the brand.
Until recently, Oakhurst had the WalMart contract in Maine, and every gallon sold in Maine came from Oakhurst.
I know Smiley’s is Oakhurst milk.
Thanks for the information.
The plants must do something different with their processing or something, though. My kids prefer Oakhurst and used to say they could tell the difference (I personally don’t drink the stuff). I said BS, so when I had to buy Hood because there was no Oakhurst, I poured it into an Oakhurst jug. They kids asked me what was wrong with the milk. This has happened at least twice. So all the milk is supposed to come from the same suppliers, but there is a difference in taste.
so 23-03 is what??and 20-12 is what ?
23-03 is Hood and 20-12 looks like something from Kansas.
http://www.moomilkco.com/got-maine-milk
23-03 is Hood, Portland, ME.
I could not find 20-12. Scott is probably right, see his post below. The first two digits indicate the state, and they are in alphabetical order.
You can decode plant codes here:
http://whereismymilkfrom.com/
My shelf-stable emergency milk comes from Utah!
Oakhurst *still* has the Walmart contract.
You sure? I had heard that they lost it. It’s good if they do still have it. Easy enough to check – if Walmart is getting it from 23-01, it’s Oakhurst.
Up here in “The County” Houlton Farms Dairy is king
Oakhurst Dairies spread municiple sludge from sewage treatment plants onto their hay and corn fields used to feed their cows…
I’ll stick to organic.
I personally know an Oakhurst farmer who does this.
I don’t know why anyone with any foresight would destroy their land like that — heavy metals are almost impossible to remove.
And Oakhurst tastes better.
I have also heard that Oakhurst supplies the “store brand ” at Hannafords
You don’t have to go by what you hear – just read the plant code on the label. BTW, Walmart gets its milk from Oakhurst, too.
http://whereismymilkfrom.com/
Hannaford currently gets it’s milk from the Hood plant in Portland. Plant 23-03
I understand your frustration but, don’t forget that there remains 38 people that work in the distribution end of the business in Bangor and more beyond Bangor that still need your support to stay employed and support their famiies. Nobody likes the loss of any jobs, but pulling your patronage of their products will only make the situation worse.
Not absolutely true, the 38 may very well fit into the business plan of the other producers as their demand rises they will need additional help to fill that demand. Basically moving resources to a different location.
Ask the 38 that would be impacted by your scenerio and see what they think. They will lose pay, benefits, seniority and be starting over with a new company. Hardly the best case for those that would actually be affected. I do not disagree with the thoughts of trying to show Garelik that the consumer does not like their decision, I was just trying to shed light on the additional consequences of taking that route.
OK, I’ll buy that point of view.
Expecting 38 employees to relocate two or three hours away is unrealistic. Besides, many retailers including Cumberland Farms and Shaw’s already get their milk from out-of-state Garelick plants.
keep in mind that if you don’t purchase their milk then the other 38 employees who are in distribution will lose their jobs as well.
Try MOO Milk – 100% local from the bottom to the top, a maine-based dairy cooperative. Hannaford and I believe Shaws carry their milk. They need your support!
I’d suggest Horizon….Lee Straw in Newcastle is a shinning example of someone who wasn’t forced into Organic, like all the former Hood folks over at MOO…..and I seriously question the integrity of many of the former Hood folks, as to whether they are truly organic
Those Hood farmers were already organic. They formed MOO because Hood dropped the organic processing. I know at least one that shipped with Cropp (the milk went to Stonyfield Farms yogurt over in NH) before switching to conventional.
The farmers who were dropped by Hood were already organic. They weren’t forced to switch to organic. Their milk was purchased by Hood and sold under the Stoneyfield Organic brand, which Hood had the rights to for fluid milk at that time. Hood is no longer affiliated with Stoneyfield or organic.
That is correct. The milk went right straight to the yogurt plant at Londonderry, NH.
I am sorry for the people, however, Garelick milk is nasty tasting stuff.
” nasty tasting stuff???.”… your taste buds must have died form over processed food.It’s like the REAL stuff used to be.
Milk is a very low-margin business for both farmers and processors, so this move is not surprising. Just the same, the Garelick milk from the Franklin plant sold at Cumberland Farms is demonstrably less fresh than the Garelick brand milk from the Bangor plant. Back to Hood and Oakhurst for me.
I like Great Value 1%…
When you buy store brand milk from away, that’s where your dollars go – AWAY. Buy Oakhurst, Houlton Farms or MOOMilk!
Houlton Farms chocolate milk is the best you can buy
There butter is not too shabby either.
First time I’ve agreed with you.Yummy stuff.
Garelicks is/was a 100% Maine milk plant. All milk processed there was all from Maine farms. The only other plant that can say that is Houlton Farms Dairy. Hood’s and Oakhurst buys up to 20% from out of state. FWIW- there was nothing that lasted longer on the shelf then milk from bangor garelicks.
I haul milk part-time. I don’t get to Hood often, but I do get to Oakhurst. Out-of-state milk comes into Oakhurst on occasion, but not terribly often. The percentage of out-of-state milk is very low – nowhere near 20%. More like 1%.
Putting it another way – in six years of going to Oakhurst, I’ve seen a Vermont truck bringing milk in, less than ten times.
However, Oakhurst cream is shipped to St. Albans Coop quite regularly.
One more thing: Garelick in Bangor bottles a lot of Horizon’s organic milk, and a considerable percentage is shipped in from New York.
MOOMilk is 100% Maine milk. It is processed at Smiling Hill Farms in Westbrook. MOOMilk is a small company started by farmers who were dropped by Hood. I think they have about ten farms, all in Maine. It’s organic milk, so it’s more expensive than conventional milk, but it’s wonderful – tastes like milk used to taste. It’s SO much better than that ultra-pasteurized “fake” milk that “stays fresh” for 3 months. (Yeah, right!) And I like knowing that MOOMilk comes from Maine farms, every last drop of it. Meet their farmers on their web site, http://www.moomilkco.com or at a theater near you. “Betting the Farm” is a documentary that tells the story of how they started their new milk company to save the farms. You movie is excellent and you can view the movie trailer at http://www.bettingthefarmfilm.com
Yes, I know one of the MOO farmers. He used to ship with Cropp, then went conventional for awhile, and now he has shifted to MOO.
Some of the other brands of milk are bottled at Hood or Oakhurst. If the Plant number on the bottle is 23-01, it doesn’t matter what brand it is sold under – it came from Oakhurst. If the number is 23-03, it came from Hood in Portland.
Until recently, Oakhurst had the WalMart contract, and every last drop of WalMart milk, that was sold in Maine, came from Oakhurst.
It’s good stuff.
I noticed it had a longer shelf life too. Sadly, that probably what helped put them out of business. GOOD forbid we should reward a BETTER quality product .
MOO is 100% maine milk and is a producer-owned cooperative, meaning the farmers get a much higher share of the revenues.
So Portland is “away”?
The Walmart store brand in Maine comes from Oakhurst, as does Smiley’s at Circle K stores.
But if you want to pay for a fancy label, knock yourself out.
Used to be that WalMart came from Oakhurst. Oakhurst lost that contract a few months ago, and I am not sure where the WalMart milk is from these days.
Tell that to the jug in my fridge.
oakhurst makes the store brand . They just slap a different label on it .
That milk is lousy and not fresh not to mention it’s milk from away.
Supporting local farmers isn’t fashionable or cheap enough for conservatives apparently.
I would have to disagree on the comment concerning it being a low margin business for the processors. The margins at the farm and retail level are the lowest of the three entities involved with bringing milk to your home.
gee I wonder if this has anything to do with R’s in CONGRESS refusing to pass the Farm bill?? OOPPS yup —
Hardly.
For freshness I prefer the raw milk from the local farmers’ market.
When I buy it on Saturday morning it has been out of the cow for less than 24 hours.
This is a fairly new facility, it hasn’t been around since 1902. 1992, maybe.
Garelick bought it from Grant’s Dairy. I think Grant’s is what was around in 1902. Not the facility.
Grant’s used to be on the corner of 14th and Union where the often robbed Rite Aid is now. 1992 sounds about right for the Milk St. Plant.
Yeah, I remember when they were over there. 1992 does sound about right for Milk Street. Grants intended to build a drive-through receiving bay, and ran out of money. Have to back in. Doors are narrow, and the yard is a little tight. You get used to it, but it really was an adventure the first couple times I did it.
If only Bangor had applied for and received one of those coveted “Open for Business” signs!
The LePage disaster continues.
Maine has the WORST record for job creation and income improvement of any state in the entire country over the past 2 years. This has never happened before in Maine’s history.
Poor Tyke..He/she hasn’t had his/her’s heaping helping of “quality of place” and a side order of “those aren’t the right jobs for Maine”…And being spoon fed by the Bald One…
I do not think a comment could be more incoherent than this one.
sadly I ‘got ” it . In a nut shell he was slamming you . BUT he seemed to miss the fact that conservative and liberal alike are saying they LIKE home gown MILK and get the connection between that and LOCAL jobs and building the MAINE economy (quality of place) .
He was more interested in slamming you personally then in taking the time to actually read the comments. and consider what is best for Maine– typical flame thrower.
Have you read the comments? The only thing we likely can agree on is : Maine milk is best( and the closer to home the better ) Haven’t seen anyone say they think this is a great move for Maine OR for Maine milk. There seems to be universal agreement LOCALLY GROWN= local jobs = winner for Maine and Mainers.
If it is that bad here…move. I feel you would be a good fit for say…..Nancy Pelosi’s district in good ole’ sunny California. You could cozy up to one of the most prominent ( I would say, infamous) liberals there is and you would be so much more comfortable as things in that liberal environment must be so much better.
after NOVEMBER it may be you who might want to consider moving . I here Idaho and Indiana have views you might prefer.
I am fine right here in Maine. After the election and Romney/Ryan are the clear and decisive winners anywhere in the U.S. will see things improve.
If Romney is elected and IF there are improvements in the next 4 years you can blame Obama for setting the stage for it. Frankly I don’t think Romney will win. People are starting to realize what a lying sleazeball he really is, I think.
Just like the Dems gave “blame” for Bush setting the stage for getting Bin Laden, right. The interrogations at Gitmo, that the liberals were so horrified by, led to locating Bin Laden. Now those from the left want to praise the fact Osama is dead, but choose to ignore the means to that end.
Except it’s been proved that the torture, not interrogations, had no part in finally getting Bin Laden. If they had Bin Laden would have been dead long ago. It seems those of the right simply cannot accept certain facts but I’m not surprised at that after all they still approve of torture.
After over 80 years as a Mainer I will not let anti American zealots like you tell me where to live.
Have a very dear friend who will lose his job due to this shut down, and has been a very devoted employee for many years. So sorry to hear this….
Unions = no flexability…Unions destroy every business they touch..Even government…
And yet they didn’t cite union problems for their decision to halt production in Maine. Quit making garbage up and then pretending like it’s fact.
Unions created middle America. Corporate lobbyists took it away.
So they have distroyed BIW ? Funny we build ships under cost an a head of time. funny when they ( navy ) wanted to test by blowing them up (bulk heads )who did the get for workers BIW workers.
UNIONS= middle class = American dream. NOTE both the middle class and the American Dream are dying and will be unobtainable by you or your children.
You bought a rotten bill of goods and have no one but yourself to blame .It’s what has you angry and over worked and envious, and scrambling to keep a roof over your head. They fooled you into believing they care about you. They don’t. As you were admiring them from afar, they were stealing your job and future right out form under you and away from you and shipping it over seas IT took ONE decade for them to destroy Maine and American manufacturing — a mere 10 years—- and you helped them. Pretty foolish.
Since Garelick took over Grants the quality has gone way down hill
I Never buy Garelick never liked it.. always Oakhurst
Bet if I did a blindfold test with you, you couldn’t tell the difference betwen Garelick, Hood, Oakhurst or any of the other pasturized/homogenized brands. They all taste burned.
Garelick is hard on the trailers at the facility. I am surprised that they have stayed open as long as they did. I have gone there and frequently saw trailers out back that were no longer DOT compliant because forklift operators were constantly putting holes through the sides of some ones trailer.
Not saying the whole company is that way, yet when you have more than 2 trailers, something is wrong in the instruction of how to use the fork truck to load a trailer.
Buy Oakhurst!!!
Buy Houlton Farms Dairy!!
Buy MOOMilk. It’s 100% Maine milk, and organic, too.
if only it were available in the Bangor area!
Since it’s not, buy MOO – Maine’s Own Organic http://www.moomilkco.com/index.php/our-story
Houlton Farms Chocolate the best in ME
BUY MAINE
Monsonto
And anyone who doesn’t believe Monsanto is playing a huge role hasn’t kept up on the GMO corn question.
No.
Unions destroy every company they enter and ultimately affect the
welfare of the employees and their families. Show ONE example of a union
that made a company a financial success.
Show me one part of this article that talks about unions being the reason for the layoffs.
Try BIW !!
Agree, another union success story.
all the auto plants , all the textile mills , all the shoe plants, all the paper mills , all the canning plants, that put food on YOUR table , a roof over YOUR head, and clothes on YOUR body… and a whole generation of other bodies. UNIONS helped built the middle class And Having fewer of then is one thing that is destroying it .UNIONS build the AMERICAN dream for a whole generation including yours.– you little ingrate.
……..UNININS!!!!!!!!!
BUY LOCAL……..or else you will eventually be buying all of your food/milk etc. from some place in California, Washington state, Mexico…..etc.
BUY LOCAL (and I do mean LOCAL).
This is the time of the year when we start to think about holidays and trying to see our way to splurging on gifts for loved ones. Yet it’s also the time of year when so many companies cut their employees loose in a time when jobs are scarce. That’s a cruel way to treat human beings with families to support.
saw a tanker truck proudly displaying a canadian milk advertisement yesterday. keep voting like zombies,soon you will be one
Yup LePage is Canadian.
BOO to that! Mainers should drink Maine milk. Please tell me how it makes sense to ship ME milk to NY or MA, then bring it back to ME to sell.
“From a production standpoint, we saw some opportunities to optimize our
network and move that production to some of our other plants,” Schuler
said.
IOW Maine is just to far away from our other plants and the cost of shipping these products is taking value away from our CEO’s golden parachute. He does need a new mansion every few years ya’ know.
The Dairy Industry’s Well-Paid Deal Maker |
The chief executive of Dean Foods, Gregg L. Engles, was once hailed as a
deal maker in the dairy industry, but he has recently become better
known for his paychecks that “continued to be hugely generous even as
his company’s fortunes tumbled,” The New York Times writes. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/wall-street-braces-for-the-storm/
you mean he is a vulture capitalist??
More Maine jobs, Bye Bye. LePage, you are doing such a great job leading Maine into a permanent Depression.
Closed for business..
Don’t buy milk that does not start with 23 for a code after the date. My milk in the fridge is ‘My Essentials’ marked 2303 meaning it was produced in Maine at a Hood plant in Portland. It’s 23 for ME. If the code starts with 23 it was produced in Maine.
Well, at least the state’s “rapid response team” will be up to hand out WalMart applications to all the former employees. Problem solved.
You should watch your comments as they are slanderous and it does give everyone the impression that you are certifiably crazy. Someone made the comment to another on here the other day that would fit in this situation as well……”better to be silent and thought a fool, than to comment and remove all doubt.”
I worked for garalick farms in bangor for a year, they did some really strange things, ship raw milk from here to mass and from mass to maine instead of just processing what we had here. very hard place to work.they paid well and had good bennys, but you never had holidays off and real sucky hours and never 2 days in a row off ,but a lot of good folks worked there and i wish them the best
How can these POSSIBLY be ‘difficult economic times?’ Our soon-to-be-bludgeoned President and his clownish VP said everything was full steam ahead. Remember…these are the imbeciles who declared that 5% growth under Bush was ‘horrible’ while 1% growth under them was ‘great.’
and remember who and what busted it— BUSH and R policies NEVER EVER VOTE R AGAIN
Yep and the Bushie boy left office with the economy in the pits. I’m not crazy about all that Obama has or has not done, but he has saved this economy from completely tanking.
You are referring to Bush correct………………
The economy tanked because of his politics.
Where is Lepage??? State law REQUIRES severeance pay for any plant that closes down without proper notice to employees. I LOVE Graelick MILK and always chose it first, exactly BECAUSE it is Maine made.
They said they would “phase out production at the Bangor facility over the next two months and close permanently in January” Looks like a 2 plus month notice should be sufficient.
” A majority of the affected employees are represented by a labor union,”
If you want to understand why this is happening,this is the only line of the story you need to read.
Once again you’re wrong. Seems to be a habit with you. Employees are also represented by union in the plants that are not closing so your argument is a bit…wrong.
Are those plants regulated by the Maine Milk Commission? Is the product sold by those other plants price capped by the State of Maine? Are these other plants regulated by Federal pricing rules that are different than those of the Maine Milk Commission ?If milk produced by Maine cows is shipped to these “other plants” to be processed, does this allow the milk to be sold at a more profitable price?Are the wages at these “other plants” identical to the wages of this Bangor shop? Are you trying to tell us that Union wages play no part in this ?
Once again you are wrong,at best uniformed on the matter.More than just a habit for you.
Obamas economy
Local organic raw milk is available in most communities. If you really want to support the small farmers, buying their milk is a good way. Yes, it will cost a little more but the flavor is so much better than conventional. Some of you may remember that back in the day the flavor of milk changed seasonally. You could tell when the cows were on pasture and when they were on silage and hay. With the local raw milk, you can once again tell the difference. We are very fortunate in Maine to be able to buy raw milk as this is not the case in all states.
35 people lost their jobs. At least have some decency for a change and be sympathetic for them and keep your political opinions personal.
Agree, Matt. I know three or four of those folks that will lose their jobs, and it is too bad. They are good people.
Get educated certain people are making millions http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/business/in-dairy-industry-consolidation-lush-paydays.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
Obama and the democrats strike again!
And if they would have announced they were hiring or opening a new plant, you’d clap your hand for LePage.
Can you explain that comment? I was under the impression that LePage and the Repuglicans ran this state, not Obama and the demorats.
What happened to Lepage bringing in more jobs? Seems to me since he took office more companies have closed or changed their mind about coming to maine. I guess he’s not working on making maine business friendly.
Go MOOMilk !
The LePage economic miracle marches on – Maine loses jobs to states with HIGHER taxes than Maine.
Yessah
I will now purchase Oakhurst milk. No need to transport milk from out of State to Maine.
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I bought Great Value 1% (Walmart) yesterday and it was plant 23-01, the Oakhurst plant in Portland.