Union effort hopes to save Everett plant

Globe Staff

Workers at a U.S. Foodservice Inc. facility in Everett that is slated for closing held a rally this morning as part of an ongoing effort to save the plant, a union representing the workers said.

The union, Teamsters Local 25, said it sent members to a Quincy hotel where U.S Foodservice was holding a food show for its customers, many of them local restaurants. Union members asked the restaurant customers to sign a petition that asks U.S. Foodservice to reconsider its decision to close the Everett facility. The petition has been circulating for a few weeks, and to date, about 75 customers have signed on, a union spokeswoman said. In circulating the petition, the union is working with the group Massachusetts Jobs With Justice.

Last month, Illinois-based U.S. Foodservice gave notice that it intends to cut 153 jobs in Massachusetts by May 1, largely because its Everett facility is "not economically viable."

Today, in an e-mail, a company spokeswoman reiterated that position.

Citing a highly competitive local market, the spokeswoman wrote that U.S. Foodservice will close the facility in Everett in the first half of 2011. She noted that the company also has a facility in Peabody and that operating facilities in Everett and Peabody, which are less than 15 miles apart, creates "an unfavorable cost structure for the company resulting from the duplication of functions."

According to the union, jobs will not only be transferred out of Massachusetts as work is shifted from Everett to U.S. Foodservice facilities in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, but work will also be transferred from a unionized facility in Everett to nonunion facilities in other states.

The union describes the Everett facility as "state-of-the-art" and said that transferring its operations to facilities up to 300 miles away will add to transportation costs that will ultimately lead to higher food prices.

"This is a large, state-of-the-art facility that has been supported by public tax breaks," Sean M. O'Brien, president of Local 25, said in a statement. "U.S. Foodservice customers and the greater Boston community need to understand that the closing of this warehouse won't just affect the 150 workers and their families, but will deprive the greater public of a major source of locally-based food distribution."

In commenting on the U.S. Foodservice plan to close the Everett facility, the company spokeswoman said, "This operational realignment will result in a more effective and efficient delivery system that will be in the best long-term interests of our customers and the company."