The Abridged version:
- Manna Beverages closed its West Sacramento plant and workers said they were given short notice.
- The union that represents Manna Beverage employees is considering taking legal action against the company for its handling of the closure.
- Dozens of workers met Wednesday morning in the parking lot to discuss their options.
When Albert Tafoya finished his shift as a machine operator at Manna Beverages in West Sacramento last Thursday, he didn’t know it would be his last.
At 11 that night, Tafoya said he received a message from his employer that they were closing operations in California and that he shouldn’t come to his next shift, scheduled to start six hours later. When he showed up on Friday morning hoping for confirmation, he said the plant looked like a ghost town.
“This is a big stab in the face because we all have families, we all have bills,” he said. “I don’t know what’s next, what from here. Of course, I gotta look for another job, but I’ve been here 15 years and two days, then this happened.”
Tafoya and 377 of his colleagues in West Sacramento found themselves out of work after Manna Beverages abruptly shuttered its California facilities that package, store and distribute consumer drinks. According to the company, struggling business performance and debt forced the decision after potential investors backed out. The late notice came because they were seeking money to keep the business open until the last minute.
Short notice on West Sacramento plant closure
Employees said the short notice left them reeling.
“They give you unemployment and you’re thankful to get that, but you can’t make it in California. You can’t make it on that,” said Nykia Gibson, who worked in Manna Beverages’ administrative department. “I might have to move back in with my parents. We’ll just wait and see.”
Tafoya, Gibson and dozens of other employees came together in the parking lot in front of Manna Beverages on Stone Boulevard on Wednesday morning to discuss their options. Greg Ball, president of the Nor-Cal Beverage Co. Employee Union, said they are considering taking legal action against the company for alleged violation of the WARN Act, which requires that employers provide 60-day advance notice to employees in the event of mass layoffs or closures. Manna announced its acquisition of Nor-Cal Beverage in 2023.
Ball, who has worked at the facility for 17 years, said the closure was devastating.
“It’s gonna be winter and the holidays are here and now everyone is out of a job,” he said.
Manna Beverages is claiming an exemption from the WARN Act because it was actively seeking capital to sustain their operations. State law allows companies who can show that a WARN filing would keep them from acquiring that capital to waive the 60-day notice requirement.
“Potential acquirers would not close a going-concern sale with, or be willing to provide additional capital to, the Company if the workforce would be looking for other employment,” Manna Beverages wrote in a WARN notice it sent to the state Employment Development Department on Oct. 3.
The state Department of Industrial Relations will determine whether Manna Beverages has a valid case for exemption, according to EDD.
Manna Beverages and the Industrial Relations Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
A handful of the employees who were in the parking lot on Wednesday morning had worked at the West Sacramento facility for decades. When Nor Cal Beverage Co., which had owned the operation since it opened in 1937, sold to Manna Beverages in 2024, they noticed some changes.
“They came in here and told us they had money, nothing is gonna change,” Ball said. “‘Anything you have we’re gonna make it better,’ and it came down to where they couldn’t even give us toilet paper,” Ball said.
As costs were cut, employees said they could tell something was off.
“I kind of just had a thought in my head – something is going on, something is going on, something is going wrong, and here it is. Here’s the outcome,” Tafoya said.
But the end still came as a surprise.
“I never thought that this would happen, or at least that I would get a notice,” Tafoya said.
Daniel Hennessy is a reporter covering Yolo County at Abridged.