West Sacramento workers ‘devastated’ after abrupt plant closure
Area officials are searching for answers in the wake of a sweep of plant closures by a Louisville-based beverage manufacturer, which left hundreds of West Sacramento workers unemployed.
Manna Beverages notified the state on Oct. 3 that over the next four days it planned to close its West Sacramento plant and its warehouses, where 378 workers made and packed juices, energy drinks, teas and sparkling waters for some of the country’s largest beverage brands. At the same time it said it also planned to shutter facilities in Anaheim and Chino, where an additional 260 people worked.
Manna Beverages said it was underperforming financially and struggling to make debt payments, in a letter to employees that was included in the state notice. It began looking for buyers in June and received two offers, but couldn’t finalize a sale.
The company, the letter said, was “out of time and money.”
Late on Oct. 2, the workers’ union president was notified that the company was shuttering its California sites. Other workers received robo-calls instructing them not to come to work, said Greg Ball, president of the Nor Cal Beverage Employees’ Union and 17-year employee of the plant. Employees in Anaheim, similarly, received text messages notifying them of the closure, according to a local news report.
West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the city did not receive notice ahead of the closure, as is customary before large layoffs, leaving all parties blindsided by the move. She said she is looking into the situation “to ensure accountability.”
“We feel terrible about what’s happened,” Guerrero said in a phone interview. “We were all caught off guard.”
Remy Spearman, a vice president with Manna, said Thursday that the company had no comment.
The closure came just two years after Manna announced plans to acquire the plant from Nor-Cal Beverage Company, its longtime owner.
The plant prospered under its previous owners, who hosted picnics and parties for employees, and in winter — the slow season for cold beverages — always found them work, said Michael Nava, who worked at the plant for nearly 40 years.
“They always let us come in and clean up, or paint,” Nava said. “They always kept us busy, as much as they could.”
After the acquisition, Nava said, staffing was shorter. Resources were cut back. Still, workers were caught unawares by the shutdown, Ball and Nava said. Nava said he filed for unemployment benefits Thursday morning.
“I’m at the age where I can retire. But I wasn’t planning on it all of a sudden,” said Nava, 62.
He said he plans to look for part-time work, and considering how he’ll cover medical expenses and insurance.
“This is pretty devastating to every one of us,” Ball said.
