Sweet ‘N Low Layoffs Will Be Less Bitter With New Severance And Pay Raise Agreement

A $7 million agreement between Sweet ‘N Low’s parent company and worker’s union United Food and Commercial Workers Local 2013 will give the 320 employees from Brooklyn and Queens who are slated for termination/layoffs this year a tiny bit of a sweeter goodbye.

According to the union, who spoke with Politico, the agreement grants employees:

• a 70-cent per hour pay increase that goes into effect retroactively, back to October of 2015,
• severance pay of between two months and a year, based on seniority, plus between three months and a year of contributions to the retirement plan, and between three months and a year of continued medical benefits
• skills training classes and certification in forklift operation, English, and possible other manufacturing job assistance courses.

Workers, “some of whom earn less than $15 an hour despite working at Cumberland for more than a decade,” will be laid off in waves, beginning in May and all the way through December, until the Cumberland Packing Corporation sugar plant closes on New Year’s Eve.

UFCW Local 2013 President Mark Carotenuto gave credit to politicians like Public Advocate Letitia James and Councilmember Daneek Miller of Queens for helping give them “leverage” in their negotiations with company owners by “exerting pressure” on them.

“The company needed to continue to manufacture here for a period of time, and we had some good language in the contract that protected some of the workers,” Carotenuto said.

After what he described as “heated” discussions, “the company finally did step up, in our opinion,” Carotenuto said.

“We said from the very start that we want to give our workers retraining and job search help to land jobs at other companies and then excel there, as well as financial support and recognition for valued years of service,” said Steven Eisenstadt, the president and CEO of Cumberland Packing, which will retain its corporate headquarters in Brooklyn.

In January, Cumberland Packing Corp announced their plan to phase out manufacturing and packing operations at its Flushing Avenue factory in order to save money. These jobs will be shifted to other locations around the United States, while the current building near the Brooklyn Navy Yard remains the company’s headquarters.

Cumberland CEO Steven Eisenstadt also issued a statement, noting that the $7 million agreement will be followed by “even more job placement help to our workers.”

Sweet ‘N Low has a long history in Brooklyn and the loss of local jobs will hit people hard, especially those who are past middle age and might find getting a new job even more difficult than it would be otherwise.