After practically 50 years in B.C., a furnishings firm is packing up and transferring to the U.S., placing 170 individuals out of labor.
Prepac Manufacturing is closing its Delta plant and transferring all operations to its North Carolina location.
The staff’ union believes the Donald Trump tariff battle is not less than partly guilty, however the firm insists that isn’t the case.
“We’ve been in bargaining all of final yr via many months of negotiations,” Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s Western Regional Director, informed World Information.
“We reached a deal in mid-December and we had no notification that they had been planning to depart solely 60 days later. The one factor that modified was the Trump administration was introduced in, we noticed the chaos brought on by these tariff threats, and now we see this non-public hedge fund taking this chance to desert Canadian staff, abandon the folks that constructed up the worth on this firm.”
In an announcement to World Information, Prepac’s CEO, Nick Bozikis, mentioned that the choice to centralize manufacturing into their North Carolina facility was the product of many months of consideration and evaluation, and started lengthy earlier than any tariff dangers to Prepac’s enterprise arose.
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“The final a number of years have been difficult for North American furnishings producers with total demand presently decrease than once we opened the North Carolina facility in 2021. The closure of our Delta, B.C. facility is a essential step that displays the realities of Prepac at the moment, and the prospects for the corporate going ahead.”
Bozikis added that they’re happy with their heritage in Delta however the North Carolina facility is situated a lot nearer to its largest buyer base, which is about 70 per cent, on the East Coast.
“We’re dedicated to supporting a clean transition for all impacted staff,” he mentioned.
“This resolution was under no circumstances a mirrored image on the standard of our B.C. group.”
© 2025 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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