Friday was supposed to be Tyson Foods’ last day of local operations. That is no longer the case.
City Manager Trey Cocking says Tyson has sent a letter detailing plans for a phased approach to closing the Emporia production plant at 2101 West Sixth. The letter was dated Feb. 10 but didn’t arrive at the city until Friday afternoon. Cocking has sent the letter and other supporting information to KVOE News.
The letter says it plans to retain over 430 workers for work related to the plant’s upcoming closure, with the final day of operations now set for June 27. Tyson says it plans to retain 220 employees until March 28, with much smaller numbers of other retention staff being let go starting this upcoming Saturday and continuing on a weekly or semi-weekly basis through the new closure date.
Tyson says workers will be permanently terminated after the last day of work listed. Those that have asked for extensions have been notified. Affected team members do not have the right to take another employee’s job because there is no union at the Emporia plant.
The local operation had over 800 workers at the time the closure was first announced in early December. Tyson chose to bolster its operations at its Holcomb plant, offering 200 positions there. The decision to completely close down the Emporia plant comes after Tyson’s decision to end its cold storage facility operations in 2020 and to transition from cattle slaughter operations to food processing work in 2008, a move that cut the Emporia plant’s workforce by more than 1,000 staffers.
Tyson executives have not responded to KVOE News questions about a range of matters including potential buyers, plant maintenance and upkeep, number of Emporia workers transferring to Holcomb and other items.
We will have more about the Tyson closure update, snow removal efforts and more on city matters during KVOE’s monthly Q&A with Trey Talk of Emporia at 11:06 am Monday morning.
