Mosaic moves 10 jobs to U.S.

Customer service positions shifted to Florida from Regina head office

Mosaic Potash has confirmed it is moving 10 jobs from its Regina head office to the United States, effective June 2017.

“We have made the decision to centralize that particular function and embed it our (U.S.) operations,’’ said Sarah Fedorchuk, spokeswoman for Mosaic Potash in Regina.

All 10 positions are in customer service. “They communicate by phone with customers and also go to meet with our customers,’’ Fedorchuk said Wednesday. “These customer service reps work with customers across North America, not just Canada.”

Instead of working out of Mosaic’s Regina office, the work will now be done out of Mosaic’s Florida office. Employees were told on Monday, but the change will take effect on June 27, 2017.

“We’ve given them nine months’ notice,” Fedorchuk said. “We’ll be working with an outplacement agency (to help them find jobs outside the company) or try to find positions in our operations here.’’ The affected Canadian employees were not offered jobs in Florida due to immigration and other issues, she added.

Mosaic currently has 4,400 employees at its phosphate business unit in Florida. Mosaic Potash employs about 2,200 people in Saskatchewan.

Fedorchuk said the Regina head office would continue to have about 120 employees even with the loss of the 10 customer service positions.

The Mosaic Potash head office was moved from Belle Plaine to Regina and later expanded after incentives were introduced by the Sask. Party government to encourage the creation of more corporate office jobs by the potash industry in the province. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, a deduction in the profits tax portion of the Potash Production Tax was applied to each new or existing corporate office job located in the province.

The incentive took the form of a deduction from operating profits equal to $100,000 a year for every new corporate office job and $25,000 a year for every existing corporate job. After five years, the deduction would revert to $25,000 per year per existing corporate employee.