"They Got Zero Notice": 2,500 Workers Laid Off as Tyson Foods Shutters Meatpacking Plant in Illinois

By Democracy Now!

Community Score: 50% | 2.7K views | 1mo

0 community ratings: null thumbs up, null thumbs down

Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meatpacking and processing company, shuttered a beef processing facility in Joslin, Illinois, last month, laying off more than 2,500 primarily immigrant workers "virtually overnight." The company cites the historic cattle shortage as a primary reason for the closure. The U.S. cattle herd is at a 75-year low on account of climate change-induced drought in the American West, rising prices for diesel and fertilizer amid the U.S. war on Iran, and years of corporate consolidation that has driven down profits for cattle ranchers. We speak to Caitlyn Clark, director of the group Essential Workers for Democracy, which is working to institute democratic reforms within the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), a labor union that represents more than a million workers across the United States. These workers include the former Tyson plant meatpackers, who worked in "some of the mos

Tags: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, News, Politics, democracynow, Independent Media, Breaking News, World News