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Coke cuts ties with P.A. Bottlers, job losses loom

Mar 24, 2015 | 4:37 PM

Coca-Cola’s decision not to renew its distribution agreement with local soft-drink distributor Prince Albert Bottlers Ltd will involve job cuts, some of which could be in Prince Albert.

On Tuesday, P.A. Bottlers announced that its contract with Coca-Cola Refreshments (CCR) Canada will end on July 2.  

P.A. Bottlers and PAB Vending on March 17 gave notice to some employees that they will lose their jobs. P.A. Bottlers plans to offer “assistance” to the affected employees.

How the job losses will be distributed is not yet clear, but about 60 jobs across its operations will be cut.

P.A. Bottlers has operations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba: Prince Albert, Yorkton, Flin Flon and The Pas. In 2010, it signed a five-year agreement with CCR to distribute Coca-Cola products.

The business has a long history in Prince Albert: it was founded by the late Art Hauser in 1965, and he won awards including the Samuel McLeod Legacy Award for lifetime business achievement in 1998. He was named Prince Albert’s Citizen of the Year in 2008. He passed away in 2009.

It has been owned and operated by the Hausers since its founding.

For Mayor Greg Dionne, this announcement affects not just the city in which the company is based, but one of its most respected families.

“I’m kind of surprised that Coca-Cola Refreshment[s] Canada didn’t realize we don’t do business with Coke, we don’t do business with P.A. Bottlers, we do business with the Hauser family,” he said.

Dionne said there have been three generations of Hausers involved in Prince Albert and the news has been “shocking” because the family has acted as role models within the city.

Founder Art Hauser moved to Canada with his family from Poland in 1948, and they moved to North Battleford.

Perhaps the most significant example of the family giving back to the community was its contribution to the Communiplex, which was renamed the Art Hauser Centre following the successful “Bring Back the Magic” campaign. 

The campaign raised $6.24 million to upgrade the arena. Hauser personally donated $1 million to the campaign.

Over the years, P.A. Bottlers has also donated to the E.A. Rawlinson Centre for the Arts, the Alfred Jenkins Field House, the Victoria Hospital Foundation, and the Saskatchewan Games.

“That’s what concerns me too,” Dionne continued. “We lost, you know, another great business [and] we’ve lost another great community supporter.”

And the news similarly stunned the president of P.A. Bottlers, Marc Hauser.

He said he was “shocked” and “disappointed,” but it was too soon for him to issue a comment.

In a statement, the company said it and PAB Vending will “work with and provide assistance to those employees affected by the decision of CCR not to renew the distribution agreement with P.A. Bottlers Ltd.”

Both plan to continue to distribute refreshments and confections, and as Hauser pointed out via telephone to paNOW, they have other vending products, such as water and health drinks.

The expiry of the agreement with the only Coke distributor in the Prince Albert area also means more potential job losses in a city already poised to lose jobs.

Job cuts will affect more than 75 employees at North Sask Laundry and 23 Northern Grocers employees will lose their jobs.

Dionne said he hopes to make positive announcements soon about job growth, but that will be balanced out by the jobs lost.

“So, it’s going to be a challenge, I’m going to stay positive, we’re a great community. We’re just going to continue to move forward.”

When contacted for comment on Tuesday, Coca Cola’s director of brand and business communications Shannon Denny responded “thank you for reaching out, however we do not comment on specific details of our agreements.”

-With files from Nigel Maxwell and Sarah Stone.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames