Tyson Foods is one of the biggest food manufacturers globally. The firm even has a total market share of approximately 20% for US chicken, pork, and beef. In line with this, it’s actually the second-largest worldwide producer!

However, since the company’s plants are so vast, any closures can significantly impact the local economies – and for the workers at the Glen Allen and Van Buren plants, the recent news has been undoubtedly painful to bear.

The Scale of the Closures

The first plant is set to close in May. This step will leave 692 employees without a career – a significant blow for the local community, which only has around 16,000 residents in total.

Meanwhile, the second plant will be closing in roughly the middle of the month. Here, the total losses are expected to be around 1,000. For another small-scale community, this will leave – on average – around one in twenty seven nearby workers out of a job.

Motivations for the Closures

These changes will likely serve a blow to the communities themselves. Indeed, such regions are often dependent on Tyson Foods for stability. And so, it’s likely that many people will be left struggling after these new changes – although the motivations for the cuts seem complex. The company’s main point is its drive to push for greater efficiency.

In replacement, Tyson Value is expected to consolidate its staff. However, this news has come as a great surprise to many of the regions’ residents. Accordingly, perhaps as some form of remediation, the firm is attempting to support local and state officials in supporting workers who have been left without a job due to the change.

Hopefully, Tyson will continue to support workers in this manner until they can find a job role that works for them. In the meantime, though, Tyson Foods remains a major employer. In fact, this staggeringly large company has around 120,000 workers on the books at any one time!

While Tyson Foods closes two chicken plants leading to mass layoffs, they are also investing in the future by spending $70M on a new Arkansas hatchery.