FORT GREENE — As Cumberland Packing prepares to lay off more than 300 local workers, the manufacturing company has agreed to give former employees extra benefits once layoffs begin in May, according to a published report.
Last week, the union representing Cumberland workers ratified a $7 million agreement with the company, which packages Sweet’N Low out of its plant at Flushing Avenue and Cumberland Street, according to Politico.
As part of the deal, workers will get between two months and a year of severance pay, between three months and a year of contributions to the retirement plan and between three months and a year of continued medical benefits based on seniority, Politico reports.
Workers, most of whom make $15 an hour, will also see a 70-cent per hour increase in pay retroactive to October, and will be eligible for forklift training and English classes, according to Politico.
"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,” Cumberland president and CEO Steven Eisenstadt said in a statement.
“Because we're still working with a broad array of other stakeholders to give even more job placement help to our workers, this already-substantial package isn't the end of what we'll be doing to help them."
Cumberland announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its Flushing Avenue plant in January.
The company said it will transition out of the packing and manufacturing business within the next year and outsource work to other “co-packing” facilities that manufacture goods for several companies at once.
Cumberland, which has been in Brooklyn for more than 60 years, will keep its headquarters in Fort Greene and instead focus on product development, marketing, distribution and sales.
The family-owned company has said it would help workers find new jobs following the transition.
