Roberts Dairy to end production in I.C. after 77 years

(MODIFIED 7/15/11 to correct title of Gary Mika to "president" of Local 238; modified at 7 p.m. to add comments of Joe Raso)

The Roberts Dairy milk processing plant in Iowa City will end production this weekend after 77 years.

The dairy at 1109 North Dodge St. will become a distribution facility for dairy products from Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. after the closing, according to a statement released by Carlinville, Ill.-based Prairie Farms on Friday, July 15. Prairie Farms operates the dairy in a joint venture with Dairy Farms of America, which is owned by dairy farmers.

After the closing, Prairie Farms said the Iowa City and Eastern Iowa area will be supplied with Prairie Farms brand products from another Prairie Farms plant in Dubuque.

Kathy Broniecki, a Roberts Dairy spokeswoman, said that around 47 employees work at the plant, but she did not know how many will lose their jobs.

Teamsters Local 238, based in Cedar Raids, represents production workers at Roberts Dairy.

Teamsters Local 238 President Gary Mika said 31 production employees will be out of jobs., but 17 truck drivers will be retained and two will be added when the plant closes and becomes a distribution facility. Mika said he expects production to end after the second shift is completed on Saturday, July 16.

Roberts Dairy was a good employer, Mika said, and the production work force ranged in longevity from two years to about 25 years with the company.

"It's always a sad feeling whenever a plant closes down," Mika said from the dairy. "People were expecting to work here until they're retired, and now they're not going to have a job anymore."

Mika said he considers Walmart indirectly responsible for the closing, because the discount chain ended its supply relationship with Roberts Dairy last year because it could not meet its price demands. He said Roberts Dairy was unable to backfill the excess capacity that the lost contract with Walmart left at the Iowa City plant with other supply contracts.

Broniecki said she does not consider the Walmart situation the cause of the closing. She said the situations are different, and Walmart remains a valued customer for other Prairie Farms dairies.

Mika said he expects Roberts Dairy will have to pay 30 days extra pay and benefits because it violated the WARN Act (Workforce Adjustment and Training Act), a law that requires companies to provide 60 days advance notice of forseeable plant closings under certain circumstances.

"After that, we will try to negotiate severance for our members," Mika said.

Prairie Farms Dairy had left four positions vacant in its Dubuque plant and other positions open in its Grimes plant in anticipation that some of the Iowa City workers will want to transfer to those plants for employment when the Iowa City Roberts Dairy closes, Mika said.

The number of dairies in Iowa has consolidated from dozens to a handful over the past few decades, Broniecki said. She said Prairie Farms will continue to have the freshest products in the market because they will be shipped fresh daily from Dubuque.

Even though the Prairie Farms products sold in the area won't have the Roberts Dairy label, "It will still be an Iowa product," Broniecki said.

Iowa City Area Development President Joe Raso said the group's staff had met with Roberts Dairy management only last month to see if there was any assistance the economic development organization could provide. He said the company was on ICAD's list of businesses considered at-risk because of last year's work force reduction, but there was no mention of Friday's plant closing announcement at the meeting.

Raso said ICAD will now contact Iowa Workforce Development to obtain assistance for affected workers and will contact Prairie Farms early next week to learn more about its future plans for the Dodge Street facility.

Roberts Dairy traces its roots to the opening of a dairy farm in the Iowa City area by the Swaner family in 1922. The dairy consolidated with other area dairies in the early 1950s to become HomeTown Dairies.

The current plant began operating in 1934 under the Swaner family, although it hads been modernized and improved repeatedly. Prairie Farms purchased HomeTown Dairies in 1980, and put it into the Roberts Dairy joint venture, Bronieki said.

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