Wheat Board to Cut Staff by 20%
(January 27, 2004 - Globe & Mail) The Canadian Wheat Board is slashing its work force by about 20 per
cent as part of a restructuring effort to meet what it says are the
“new realities” of an intensely competitive international grain
trade.
The Winnipeg-based CWB made the announcement Tuesday following an
eight-month corporate review, which will result in all services to
farmers and related activities grouped into a single area.
The cuts will amount to about 135 positions, with the job reductions
scheduled to be completed by July.
“As a commercial marketing organization, the CWB must operate in a
way that reflects the new realities of the international grain trade,”
CWB president and chief executive officer Adrian Measner said.
“We've moved into an era of intense competition, as opposed to
reliance on a few large, loyal customers. Our farmer stakeholders are
under severe financial pressure and need to extract maximum value from
the marketplace.”
The review was launched last April, just months after Mr. Measner was
appointed to his current position.
The Canadian Wheat Board is a farmer-controlled organization that
markets wheat and barley grown by western Canadian producers under a
government-granted monopoly.
Last year, Ottawa was called in to cover $85.4-million to cover
losses by the Canadian Wheat Board in the face of a number of
extraordinary factors including drought-reduced crops, market-share
gains by countries like Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan and the surge in
the Canadian dollar.
In Tuesday's announcement, the CWB said the staffing reductions would
come from a combination of a hiring freeze, outsourcing and
terminations.
At full staff, the CWB employs 584 people at its headquarters in
Winnipeg, farm business offices in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Airdrie,
Alta. -- including 15 farm business reps who live and work in
communities across the Prairies -- a logistics office in Vancouver, and
international sales offices in Beijing and Tokyo.
By TERRY WEBER
Globe and Mail Update |
