Sleeman lays off 14 from Dartmouth brewing plant

Beer maker Sleeman Breweries Ltd. is cutting 14 full and part-time employees from its Dartmouth plant as it tries to secure the sale of the facility to a prospective buyer.

The company, which is the third largest brewer in Canada, made the announcement Wednesday.

Sleeman's parent company, Sapporo International, announced in March that it wants to sell the Dartmouth facility.

On Wednesday, Sleeman said there are ongoing discussions with potential buyers. A release from the company says it is “confident an agreement can be achieved to keep the facility open as a brewery.”

"We've committed to maintain as many jobs as possible throughout the sale of the facility," Pierre Ferland, Sleeman’s vice president of operations, said in the release.

"It's become clear a new owner would not be able to maintain the entire staff with a new operation. So, this reduction is the best way to solidify the remaining jobs while we finalize an agreement with a prospective owner."

It is another batch of bad jobs news from large companies operating in the metro Halifax area.

This month, Blackberry, Convergys and Xerox have all announced layoffs.