(RightWing.org) – One of America’s biggest food processors has announced plans to shut down four of its plants. Tyson Foods says it needs to consolidate its operations because of rising costs. The company has been losing money and cutting staff for months. It seems that wasn’t enough to get it back on track.
Tyson Foods Inc. is the largest meat processor in the US and the second largest in the world, after Brazil-based JBS. It produces around a fifth of the beef, pork, and chicken sold in the US and employs over 120,000 Americans. However, like many other businesses, it’s been hit hard by inflation. In the second quarter of 2022, the company made a $750 million profit; over the same period of 2023, it lost $417 million.
In April, Tyson laid off 1,700 workers and closed two chicken processing plants, one in Arkansas and another in Virginia, citing rising wages and higher costs for grain and other materials. It also let 15% of its senior management go. That obviously wasn’t enough to fix the company’s cash flow problems.
On September 25 Tyson announced that four more chicken plants would close in early 2024. The locations are in Corydon, Indiana; North Little Rock, Arkansas; Dexter, Missouri; and Noel, Missouri, and almost 3,000 jobs are likely to go.
Tyson says it will move the work from the four closed plants to other facilities, but that isn’t much help to the employees who are losing their jobs. Noel mayor Terry Lance said his city’s total population is around 2,100 people — and 1,500 of them work for Tyson. He added, with massive understatement, “It’s going to impact the city pretty hard.”
Of course, the closure has trickle-down effects too; the plant supports local chicken farmers and feed suppliers, who could struggle to find other markets for their products. This is real damage being done by President Biden’s inflationary spending policies.
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