Worker concerns over covid-19 close Tyson plant
Tyson Fresh Meats has confirmed the extent of the impact on its operations of worker absenteeism. A plant at Waterloo, Iowa, is to close and operations there, in this case producing pork, will be indefinitely suspended.
On making the announcement, the president of Tyson’s beef and pork subsidiary, Steve Stouffer, said: “Despite our continued efforts to keep our people safe while fulfilling our critical role of feeding American families, the combination of worker absenteeism, covid-19 cases and community concerns has resulted in our decision to stop production.”
Affected workers will be compensated, the company said, and it has said all 2,800 employees at the plant have been invited to go there to be tested for covid-19.
Tyson Foods’ other meat and poultry plants currently continue to operate, but some are running at reduced levels of production, either because of planned implementation of additional worker safety precautions or worker absenteeism.
