Tyson Foods has proposed to close its plant in Wrexham, Wales, citing September 30 as a possible date of closure.
The company has owned the plant since June 2019, when it closed on the acquisition of BRF facilities in Europe and Thailand.
“Tyson Foods is exploring options including discontinuing the operations or selling the Wrexham facility. Putting this proposal forward was a very difficult decision. It was based on a combination of factors including our ability to generate profitable growth and our need to adapt to shifting customer needs. We are currently consulting with our team members in Wrexham about the proposal to discontinue operations on September 30, 2020,” Tyson Foods spokesperson Hli Yang said in an emailed statement.
While Tyson indicated no decisions have been finalized, Unite the Union, which has members that work at the plant, said it could confirm that the plant, which employs 71 people, will close at the end of September.
The union said it had been consulting with Tyson Foods during the past month, and it was hoped that a buyer could be found, but those efforts were apparently unsuccessful.
“This is devastating news for a loyal and dedicated workforce. The economy of northeast Wales has seen a succession of large-scale redundancies in recent months and today’s news is more bad news for the local area,” stated Jo Goodchild, Unite Wales regional officer.
“This site was first opened in 1962 under Frimbo Foods and is one of the main employers in the locality of Llay in Wrexham. Some employees have worked at the site in excess of 40 years – it is the only job they have ever had. Unite will do everything it can to support our members affected through these challenging times. We will assist them to access all available help with retraining through our Wales Union Learning Fund project.”
Tyson Foods, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, is the second largest broiler company in the world, trailing only JBS.
