GALEWOOD — West Side residents are urging the new owners of a Galewood bakery to prioritize local hiring practices instead of using temporary employment agencies to find workers.
Organizers and workers from the Cloverhill Bakery gathered Monday in front of bakery facilities at 2035 N. Narragansett Ave. The bakery, formerly owned by The J.M. Smucker Company, was sold to JTM Foods, LLC as part of a $40 million transaction that was finalized March 3, according to a JTM representative. Workers organized a “speak-out” demonstration, hosted by a local job placement program, aimed at the bakery’s Pennsylvania-based owners after it failed to answer multiple requests to discuss preserving local community hiring practices.
“Not only am I a worker here at [Cloverhill Bakery], now controlled by JTM, but I am also part of the community. I live just down the block,” said Javier Soberanis, who is also a member of the bargaining unit of the bakery’s union, Local 30 of the Chemical and Production Workers Union. “I find it unfair that my neighbors, my friends don’t get first dibs here for an opportunity here.”…