Winpak employees get $1,000 to play with

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This article was published 16/10/2015 (3731 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Plastic-packaging manufacturer Winpak Ltd. wasn’t the only one celebrating when the Winnipeg firm recently marked its 40th year.

To mark the occasion, each of Winpak’s North American employees, including 768 in Winnipeg, received a C$1,000 bonus. And each of its shareholders received a special dividend of $1.50 per share.

With a total of 2,200 employees at its 10 North American plants and more than 60 million in outstanding shares, the payouts cost the company $99.7 million.

“So it was a pretty expensive day for us,” Winpak CEO Bruce Berry said Thursday.

The payouts were announced at the company’s 40th anniversary dinner, which was held Sept. 16 in Winnipeg. At the same dinner, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman presented Winpak chairman Antti Aarnio-Wihuri with a community service award.

Berry said it was Aarnio-Wihuri who came up with the idea of paying out an employee bonus and special dividend.

“In Finland, I guess, it’s a tradition that you celebrate a company’s 40th birthday,” Berry explained.

“So the decision was made and approved by the (Winpak) board.”

The president of the union that represents workers at Winpak’s two Winnipeg manufacturing facilities — Unifor Local 830 — said the bonuses came as a shock to the local employees.

“Nobody knew anything about it. It was an absolute surprise to everyone,” Charlene Matheson said.

“By the following Friday, everyone had it (the bonus money) in their bank account.”

Berry said even he didn’t know for sure until that night that the employees would be getting a bonus.

“I had an inkling of it, but it was never confirmed.”

Berry said the bonus was the company’s way of thanking its employees for their loyalty and hard work in helping to make Winpak one of North America’s most successful plastic-packaging manufacturers.

He said 2015 is looking like another banner year for the company, with the best first and second quarters in its history. It’s going so well that the company has embarked on a $25-million expansion at its main Winnipeg production plant on Saulteaux Crescent in St. James.

The expansion involves installing another major extrusion line within the existing plant.

The new line will enable the plant to produce plastic packaging more efficiently and is expected to boost revenues by an estimated $50 million to $60 million per year.

“It should be up and running by the second quarter of next year,” he added.

Winpak makes and distributes plastic materials and packaging machines that are used primarily for the packaging of perishable foods and beverages and in health-care applications.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca