Dive Brief:
- Tyson Foods is shutting down two of its U.S. prepared-foods plants, which will cost about 880 jobs.
- "The company said it expects to cease operations at a pepperoni plant in Jefferson, Wisconsin and a prepared foods facility in Chicago, Illinois during the second half of the year ending Oct. 1," Reuters reported.
- About 480 jobs will be lost at the Chicago plant and about 400 at the Jefferson plant, but Tyson is encouraging these employees to seek other positions within the company.
Dive Insight:
"We examined many options before we turned down this road," according to Donnie King, Tyson’s president of North American operations, in a statement. "This affects the lives of our team members and their families, making it a very difficult decision."
The closures come amid others over the past several years since Tyson acquired Hillshire Brands in 2014. Not long after the acquisition, Tyson announced the closure of three prepared-foods plants, which meant cutting about 950 jobs. In August of this year, the company said it would be shutting down an Iowa beef processing plant, which would impact about 400 workers.
Last month, Tyson announced it would be raising wages for chicken plant workers to improve employee recruiting and retention.