CHICAGO (AP) — Morton Salt has cut 40% of the staff at the 173-year-old company’s downtown Chicago headquarters following its recent purchase by a California investment firm.
The company laid off about 120 of the roughly 300 employees at its Chicago offices this past week, the Chicago Tribune reported. The laid off workers worked primarily in administrative roles.
Morton Salt said Friday in a statement that the cuts were made after a review of the company’s long-term financial outlook showed they were needed “to help meet our business goals.”
The company, which makes salt for culinary, water softening, road de-icing and other uses, has had several owners in the new millennium.
The downsizing follows Morton Salt’s $3.2 billion sale in April to Stone Canyon Industries, a global industrial holding company that has quickly established itself through acquisitions as the largest salt producer in the world.
The laid off employees were notified over the past few days, the company said. Their last day with Morton Salt will be 60 days after notification. They will receive severance or separation benefits, continued medical coverage and outplacement services to help them find new jobs, the company said.
Founded in 1848, Morton Salt has long been an iconic Chicago brand, whose slogan, “When it rains, it pours,” has been part of the advertising lexicon for more than a century.
