The sweet smell of cookies baking may be leaving the Northeast area for good, taking roughly 300 jobs with it as the former Nabisco-Kraft factory plans to shut down shop. Mondelez International announced to its employees on November 6 its plan to “consolidate” stores on the East Coast, which means closing the 57-year-old iconic factory sitting at Roosevelt Blvd. and Byberry Rd.
Two days after Mondelez made the announcement, elected representatives and union officials gathered out front of the building to try to build up support for saving the factory. Pennsylvania state representative Brendan Boyle and senator Mike Stack along with John Lazar, union leader of Local 492 Bakers and Confectioners Workers Union, all hope to convince Mondelez to stay by offering some type of relief package. Whether Mondelez wants pay cuts, health or benefits cuts or other type of help to stay open has not been identified.
The main focus for the community is keeping the jobs in the area.
“Most of those people are making good middle-class wages,” said Jessica Buck, a Northeast Resident. “The closing of that factory would leave the area in turmoil.”
Governor Corbett has issued the Governor’s Action Team to examine the situation and discuss options for working with Mondelez, who wants to expand its operation in Richmond, Va. and Fairlawn, N.J. Officials are hoping to meet with the company soon before all of the jobs disappear and the sweet smell of cookies baking slowly fades into a memory for those who drive by the building on a daily basis.
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