Future Sunnymel chicken cutting and slaughtering plant: Job Fairs held in Clair and Edmundston

ST. FRANCOIS DE MADAWASKA, NB, April 18, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Management of Sunnymel, a partnership formed by Westco and Olymel, has announced that a dozen recruiters and human resources consultants specializing in the poultry industry will be in the Upper Madawaska region all week long to hold Job Fairs. This operation is intended mainly to hire day labourers who will be assigned to positions in production and related activities at the future chicken slaughterhouse and cutting plant in Clair. The process of recruiting some 250 employees started in December 2011, and the Job Fairs this week are in addition to the recruitment of managers, supervisors and maintenance personnel held in recent months. Some 300 candidates will be interviewed individually this week in Clair and Edmundston. All applications will then be fully assessed and each candidate should receive a response from Sunnymel in the coming weeks.

Construction of the Sunnymel plant began last August and is going ahead on schedule, with the external structure already completed. The interior layout and equipment installation will continue in the coming months. The plant expected to be commissioned in early November, will have a weekly slaughtering capacity of 450,000 birds, to be supplied mainly by poultry producers in the province.

About Westco

Groupe Westco Inc. is a New Brunswick company with its head office in Saint-François-de-Madawaska. The result of a common vision for expansion by many poultry producers, the company has become a model of success and profitability. Westco owns its own hatcheries, breeding farms, and shipping companies, and is also one of the largest poultry production organizations in Canada. The company has a strong commitment to the community, sponsoring several social programs and contributing to fund-raising initiatives in its region.

About Olymel l.p.

Olymel l.p. is a leader in the slaughtering, processing and distribution of pork and poultry meat products in Canada, with facilities in Québec, Ontario, and Alberta. The company employs near 10,000 persons and exports nearly half its production, mainly to the United States, Japan and Australia, as well as some sixty other countries. Its sales stood at $2 billion this year, with a slaughtering and processing capacity of 160,000 hogs and 1.7 million birds a week. The company markets its products mainly under the Olymel, Lafleur and Flamingo brands.

Olymel l.p.:
Richard Vigneault   
Communications      
[phone] ou [phone]  

Groupe Westco Inc. : 
Martin Daraîche
Senior Consultant
NATIONAL Public Relations
Tel.: [phone], ext. 230
Cell.: [phone]