Cincinnati's St. Bernard Soap Company, America's Leading Soap Bar Manufacturer, is set to close its doors, leading to the loss of over 150 jobs, as reported by WLWT 5 News.
Company officials at St. Bernard Soap Company announced that starting March 5, 2024, or within two weeks from that date, they will begin terminating employees. This move, which is expected to be permanent, will affect 100 union members and 18 non-union workers.
This decision follows the company's layoff of over 100 workers in October.
Keith Randall, an employee at St. Bernard Soap Company for over three decades, shared his reactions to the recent news. "Yesterday, we were in shock," Randall expressed. "Today, there's a sense of being upset and angry, especially since this is happening right after the holidays."
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America's Leading Soap Bar Manufacturer Announces Shutdown
Sean Witt, the union vice president representing St. Bernard Soap Company's employees, reported that workers were informed in a Wednesday morning meeting about the plant's permanent closure, which is expected in at least 60 days.
Witt noted that this closure would affect approximately 120 union members.
In a recent development, as reported by wcpo.com, St. Bernard Soap Company issued a WARN letter to its employees in October, announcing the layoffs of at least 153 workers. Before these layoffs, the company, known for being a leading soap bar manufacturer in America, had employed over 250 people.
The WARN letter detailed that the layoffs impacted 120 employees from the union and eight who were not represented by the union. These layoffs were scheduled for December 10 or within two weeks following that date.
While the company confirmed these layoffs as permanent in the letter, there was no initial mention of plans to shut down the plant completely. Witt recalled that in October, employees were reassured that the factory was not planning to close entirely as it sought new clients.
125 Years of Soap History Comes to an End
The St. Bernard Soap Company, known for producing bar soap for over 125 years, has a significant history on its website. Established in 1886 by Procter & Gamble as a bar soap manufacturing site, the company witnessed a decline in bar soap's popularity due to the rise of liquid body wash.
Reacting to this shift, P&G sold the plant in 2003, leading to its rebranding as St. Bernard Soap Company. Under this new name, the company expanded its production to include various brands, not just those owned by P&G.
Despite these changes, P&G products continued to be a significant part of St. Bernard's portfolio, as stated by Sean Witt, the union's vice president. However, the company recently lost P&G as a client, constituting about 90% of its business from four major P&G brands: Oil of Olay, Safeguard, Ivory, and Old Spice.
A P&G spokesperson explained that the decision was part of consolidating their contract manufacturing partners. Production will continue at a P&G-owned plant in Boston on a grander scale and with greater efficiency, ending a long-standing relationship with the St. Bernard Soap Company.
St. Bernard, known as North America's top bar soap manufacturer, boasts on its LinkedIn page that it can produce over 4 million standard-sized soap bars daily. The company includes premium tallow bars with glycerin recovery and all-in alternatives.
They also have synthetic and semi-synthetic soaps using either tallow or vegetable soap bases. St. Bernard is known for its unique freezer bar technology, which allows them to create pure, affordable soap for budget-conscious customers.
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