Meat processor Tyson Foods announced this week that it will shut down a beef facility just east of the Quad Cities as part of a larger national restructuring of its beef operations, a sweeping change that local elected officials say would lay off some 2,500 workers in Illinois alone.
In an announcement on Thursday, Tyson said it was making “strategic changes … to position the company for long-term success,” namely anchoring its beef business around three facilities across the central U.S. In turn, the company said that it would cease operations at two other plants: a beef facility in Joslin, near the Iowa-Illinois border, and a case-ready facility in Utah.
The restructure, Tyson said, was spurred by historic cattle shortages.
The total head of cattle, calves and beef cows across the country has been declining for seven consecutive years.
“Recent USDA cattle inventory data, which included continued evidence of limited heifer retention, indicate these supply constraints are likely to persist, requiring strategic action,” Tyson stated in its announcement Thursday.
But consolidation, officials and labor leaders say, will impact hundreds here in Illinois.
According to a joint statement from Illinois U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, who represents the Quad Cities and the Rockford areas, closure of the Joslin plant will result in the loss of about 2,500 union jobs in the region.
“Today’s news is devastating … especially at a time when American families are struggling with the rising cost of living,” the statement read. The Democratic officials said they planned to work with Tyson to ensure that affected workers “have access to resources that support their return to work.”
State Sen. Li Arellano Jr., R-Dixon, in a statement on the plant closure, called it a “devastating blow for northwest Illinois, and especially the Quad Cities Metro that is already being hammered by economic losses across the border to Iowa.”
The Joslin plant has been operational since 1983, according to Arellano. The senator’s statement said the facility would cease production starting Thursday.
Tyson’s announcement did not lay out a timeline for closures. The company did not immediately return a request for comment Friday afternoon.
“Tyson Foods recognizes the impact these decisions have on team members and communities,” the company stated Thursday, adding that it was committed to supporting those affected “through this transition, including helping them apply for open positions at other facilities.”
Nearly four years ago, Tyson moved about 500 corporate employees based in its Chicago office and Downers Grove innovation center to its headquarters in Arkansas. Two years before that, the company cut 500 jobs across Chicago and Arkansas as part of a different restructuring program.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and UFCW Local 1546, which represents more than 2,000 workers at the Tyson plant in Joslin, lambasted the abrupt closure in statements Friday.
“UFCW Local 1546 has a long-standing and proud union partnership with Tyson Foods, and we were extremely disappointed in not receiving advance notice of this news,” UFCW Local 1546 President and UFCW International Vice President Robert O’Toole stated. “If given the opportunity, we could have sat down and found an economic solution to keep this plant operating, but sadly our voice was silenced.”
UFCW International President Milton Jones called for change industry-wide in the wake of Tyson’s announcement.
“Meatpacking workers urgently need to see long-term solutions in the beef industry to combat the record-low cattle herd, or else cuts to workers’ hours and plant closures will continue,” Jones stated, pointing to both government and industry stakeholders.
“The USDA and the Trump administration must offer realistic solutions to these headwinds,” Jones continued, “and industry giants must be creative with their operations to keep workers working.”
