Hunt-Wesson Pension Offer Expires Soon

Some 140 managerial, administrative and professional employees of Hunt-Wesson Inc. have until Monday to decide whether to accept an offer of early retirement, company officials said Wednesday.

Most of the employees eligible for the early-retirement program work at the company’s headquarters and plants in Fullerton. Those who choose early retirement will be eligible for cash severance payments and higher monthly pensions than they would have received had they retired later, said Frank Quevado, a company spokesman.

Hunt-Wesson, which employs 1,400 full-time workers at its headquarters and tomato-processing plants in Fullerton, announced the early-retirement program to workers in late February as part of a companywide cost-savings effort. Workers were given 45 days to consider the offer--a deadline that expires Monday.

Quevado said the amount of the severance payments will vary based on position, age and years of service. Eligibility will be based on a point system that takes into account the various factors. The offer does not include clerical or hourly production employees.

The company expects that more than half of the eligible workers will accept the offer. If not enough employees accept, Hunt-Wesson has indicated it may eliminate or transfer some jobs, Quevado said.

“It’s just a review we made of our business environment and how we operate,” he said. “We always look at how we can operate more efficiently.”

Hunt-Wesson, a division that includes such famous brand names as Hunt’s tomato sauces and ketchup, Wesson Oil, Peter Pan peanut butter and Orville Redenbacher popcorn, was part of the giant Beatrice Co. that was bought last year by ConAgra.