Hunt to Lay Off Hundreds in Fullerton : Recession: Cannery officials say decision to lay off about 225 year-round workers and cut 300 seasonal positions is due to high cost of production.

FULLERTON — In a new blow to the fragile Orange County economy, Hunt Foods Co. announced Friday that it will lay off hundreds of workers next month when it reconfigures its tomato-processing plant here.

The company, a division of Hunt-Wesson Inc., said it will reduce its work force by roughly half, resulting in the layoff of about 225 year-round workers plus the elimination of 300 seasonal positions. The cutback will trigger an unspecified number of layoffs at Hunt-Wesson’s adjacent United Can plant, which employs 120.

Hunt Foods officials cited the high cost of production in an urban environment and the Southern California business climate as reasons for the reductions at the plant, which has operated in Fullerton since 1943. The plant makes a variety of Hunt products, including ketchup, spaghetti sauce, sandwich spreads and whole peeled and stewed tomatoes.

The company joins dozens of others across Orange County that have trimmed their payrolls since the start of the recession in 1990. In the past two years alone, more than 50,000 jobs have been lost.

Fullerton city officials expressed disappointment at the prospect of reductions at the plant, which had been one of the city’s largest employers.

“Our heart goes out to the employees and the impact on them. This couldn’t happen at a worse time,” City Manager Jim Armstrong said.

Hunt-Wesson officials briefed his staff Friday morning, Armstrong said. He is encouraged, he said, that Hunt thinks the reduction will make the plant more competitive and therefore likely to keep operating in Fullerton.

There was nothing the city could have done, he said, to forestall the layoffs at the facility, which is one of the largest property-taxpayers in Fullerton.

Mayor Molly McClanahan said, “Even though we have a smaller company, we would rather it remain here and stable.”

The layoffs are to begin Oct. 6 at the tomato cannery, on Commonwealth Avenue near Brookhurst Street. Most of the reduction will be under terms of a contract with Teamsters locals 952 and 30, which represent workers at the plant. Some workers will be offered retirement, and others will be given job counseling. There may be a few transfers to other plants, but not many, a company spokeswoman said.

Billie Brooks, office manager for Teamsters Local 952 in Orange, would not comment on the layoffs.

Hunt officials said the goal of the cutbacks is to put the plant on a stable, year-round schedule rather than the current seasonal setup in which the work force of 450 swells to about 1,100 during the peak tomato-harvesting months.

“This reconfiguration is being implemented solely to enhance productivity and effect better utilization of our resources,” Ed Snell, president of Hunt Foods, said in a statement. “It is in no way a reflection of the quality of work. . . . It also does not reflect sales of our products or the health of our business, which are both doing well.”

The cannery will be reconfigured so that more of the fresh tomatoes trucked in will be converted into tomato paste and stored in a new process that allows them to be used over a longer period of time. Thus, officials say, the plant eliminates the seasonal employment peak that increases its costs and makes it less competitive.

Some of the seasonal tomato processing jobs will be shifted to other Hunt plants in the small California towns of Oakdale, Helm and Davis, and another in Rossford, Ohio. Company spokeswoman Kay M. Carpenter said the change makes sense because of the higher shipping costs of bringing produce to Orange County.

Hunt-Wesson is a unit of conglomerate Con-Agra, based in Omaha. The corporate headquarters of Hunt-Wesson will remain in Fullerton and will not be affected, the company said.

Times staff writer Michael Flagg contributed to this report.