Yuh Know;
I once had a job with the largest food (cereal) manufacturing company in the world and at it's Canadian plant in Rexdale, Ontario.
When the first Free Trade agreement was signed, it allowed the company to import flour from the U.S.. Prior the Free Trade Agreement, cereals contained Canadian grown wheat and grains.
The Free Trade agreement allowed companies to export cereal from the US without having Canadian "content".
Within 3 months of the Free Trade agreement, the company opened negotiations with the union.
After lengthy and fruitless negotiations, the employees walked off the job.
The company went back to the negotiating table and settled with the union after about 60 days.
Shortly afterwards, while speaking with the President, I noticed hand-written notes on his desktop. I read these notes on the sneak and unknown to him.
The hand-written notes detailed a date when the company would be closing it's plant.
I was a salaried employee and not a union member. So, I just kept the information under my hat and sat back and watched.
The first thing that happened was that the company "promoted" the Canadian born President of Canadian operations to the US plant and replaced him with an American.
Within 60 days, the company began making huge renovations to the plant. They painted the complete plant. They bought all new maintenance equipment. Millions of dollars were being spent. They even paved and painted the parking lot. Oh! I remember how proud the unionized workers were as they parked in their numbered spots.
The company even renovated the employee cafeteria.
They spent millions and without a care to costs. They hired landscapers and everything.
Inside the plant, they began to bring in a new type of manufacturing process. A new packaging plant. It was said to be "experimental".
As they tore out the old equipment and installed the new, the new equipment was just bolted to the floor of the plant.
In less than 18 months they were out of Canada.
They said that the cost of making cereal in Canada was just too much and they brought out the financial figures to show it. Of course it included all the capital expenditures for renovations and equipment. Of course, making a box of cereal cost more!
They un-bolted the equipment and moved it all to the states.
All the renovations they had done were quite well appreciated by the new owner of the building, although not a food manufacturer.
Calm