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Checkout Spring 2020: Our Members at Work Feature

Our Members at Golden Boy Foods

UFCW Local 175 members employed at Golden Boy Foods take great pride in the peanut butter products they make.

Throughout the plant in Markham, the 41 Unionized full-time employees work at almost every point of production – from measuring and preparing ingredients to packing and shipping.

Roasted peanuts are channeled down a conveyor inside the Golden Boy Foods factory.

These essential workers continue to produce products that help feed our nation through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The warehouse side of the Golden Boy Foods plant is filled with huge sacks of raw peanuts, both organic and regular. Here, the peanuts wait to be roasted, blanched, and separated from their skins before heading to the production side where employees will turn them into peanut butter.

A Golden Boy Foods employee operates a machine inside the factory.

On the production side, the peanuts are ground into a paste and mixed with any additional ingredients to be included, depending on the recipe of the final product, before being jarred and labelled.

Employees at Golden Boy Foods produce a number of peanut butters for private labels, including organic and conventional lines.

Two employees at Golden Boy Foods in the packaging area of the factory.

Of course, the whole factory smells of warm, roasted peanuts.

Our Members are responsible for working with machinery, moving items with forklifts, shipping and receiving products, roasting and blanching peanuts, cleaning and checking equipment, and much more, all to achieve a consistent and quality product.

An employee in the machine shop at the Golden Boy Foods factory.

The Unionized employees work as:

• Milling Operators,

• WSR Material Handlers and Forklift Operators,

• Production Workers,

• Roaster Operators, and;

• Quality Assurance (QA) Technicians.

An employee at Golden Boy Foods packs jars of peanut butter into boxes.

Depending on the department and classification, job tasks may include:

• Following formulas,

• Measuring ingredients,

• Following food safety regulations and procedures,

• Maintaining sanitation,

• Checking machinery,

• Assuring quality levels;

• Repairing equipment, plus;

• Stacking and storage.

"We've got a great group at Golden Boy Foods, and a diligent team of Stewards and Joint Health & Safety Committee members who help maintain a good working environment for everyone," said Union Rep Christina Mayberry. "I know they're very proud of the work they do and the products they make."

A Golden Boy Foods employee stands in front huge bags of raw peanuts in the warehouse side of the factory.

If you’re out shopping and peanut butter is on your grocery list, know that many of the brands you might find on grocery store shelves are made proudly by Members of UFCW Local 175 at Golden Boy Foods.

A Golden Boy Foods employee checks a computer screen at a piece of equipment in the factory.

Golden Boy Foods Stewards & JHSC as of time of publication.

• Selvamathy Alvappillai

• Gunanayaga Thurainayagam

• Avedis Tomasian

An employee drives a fork lift inside the Golden Boy Foods factory.

An employee uses a palletizer at Golden Boy Foods.

Several employees at Golden Boy Foods.

Inside the machine shop inside Golden Boy Foods.

An employee uses equipment inside the Golden Boy Foods factory.

A smiling Golden Boy Foods employee sits in the driver seat of a forklift.

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