WFCN –
Hundreds of Iowans are losing their jobs, according to a WARN warning sent to the state’s workforce development department by a large food corporation.
With the announcement of the ham boning facility’s shutdown in Altoona, Smithfield Foods has laid off 319 people.
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The alert was submitted by the business to the Iowa Workforce Development Department in the form of a WARN notice, informing that the layoffs will be implemented on August 31.
For the sake of company continuity and possible future job prospects, Smithfield intends to meet with each employee individually to explain the transition plan, which includes severance and financial incentives.
The chief manufacturing officer of Smithfield Foods, Doug Sutton, expressed gratitude for the hard work of the Altoona staff and promised to be there for them during the transition.
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“During past mergers and acquisitions, we were able to keep a large number of our employees employed by Smithfield, and we will supply details regarding openings at other Smithfield facilities.”
Existing Smithfield plants in Monmouth, Ill.; Sioux Falls, SD; and Crete, Nebraska will absorb the production from the Altoona site.
Carroll, Denison, Des Moines, Mason City, Orange City, Sioux Center, and Sioux City are just a few of the locations where the approximately four thousand Iowans employed by the corporation run farms and process meat.
Additionally, the world’s largest tractor and harvester manufacturer, John Deere, announced last week that it will be laying off approximately 610 production workers by summer’s end.
The decision was made due to increasing operational expenses and falling market demand, and it will have an impact on several plants in Iowa and Illinois.
About 100 production workers will also lose their jobs at the Dubuque, Iowa plant, while 230 will be laid off at the Davenport, Iowa factory.
There have been other announcements of layoffs this year, including 200 in May and 308 in late April, both at the Waterloo Works factory.
At the Ankeny facility, 150 workers were let go in March.