Heinz Workers Who Lost Jobs Form New Venture

Former workers of the Heinz factory in Girgarre have entered into a new venture. Their first products are about to hit stores on July 18th in Goulbourn Valley and Kyabram, as well as in Brunswick and Sydney.

Chris Lloyd, who has been working in a pasta factory since the tomato company closed last year and leaving 146 works without a job, was one of those who formed the new company, calling it the Goulburn Valley Food Co-op. Enlisting the help of other workers like Les Cameron and Liz Waters, the three started working in a home kitchen, creating their own brand of pasta sauce and organic pasta.

A limitation in logistics, as the group didn’t have their own factory, did not deter production. But they decided to tap other Australian-owned operations to push through with this venture. They called this the “virtual factory”.

Despite naysayers and doubters telling Lloyd they couldn’t do this, he was determined to “never die, never give up.”

Heinz’s closing had created a domino effect in the community when it closed down in 2012. Aside from the 146 workers and their families who were directly affected, local farmers, truckers, and companies that make the bottles and labels for the multinational firm, also lost business — an estimated 700 jobs.

Immediately after it closed, its workers, along with farmers and concerned members of the community, had a radical idea to keep the factory operational. The group even went as far as offering $750,000 out of their own pockets and with the help of financial backers, to buy the factory from Heinz. But the company rejected this.

Undeterred, the group decided to use the money to build their own factory. But as the cost of this ballooned, and financial backers had to resolve their own money problems, the plan was officially dead.

On their third try, Lloyd and his co-workers have been more careful, developing the project slowly.

The idea of the “virtual factory” was the perfect set-up for Goulburn Valley Food Co-op, and although pasta and sauce aren’t revolutionary products, the group believes that they are doing something far greater than they have imagined.

Says Les Cameron, ”The honour is buy in your own country, to buy food where raw materials haven’t had to come from overseas to get to you, try and keep the skills in your own country, because food is crucial to you. If you can, make sure it’s healthy. Maybe you have to pay a little bit more and sacrifice your widescreen TV for a better meal for your children, but perhaps that’s better for you and the planet.”