Employees at Tyson Foods’ U.S. chicken processing plants who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be entered into a weekly drawing for $10,000.
“Our Poultry business is leading this specific initiative and all poultry locations are eligible. Team members at nearly 50 of our chicken facilities have an opportunity to win $10,000, once a week for the next five weeks, if they've received at least one dose of the vaccine.”
This in addition to incentives being offered in other areas of our business, as well as an enterprise wide $200 thank you for team members who are vaccinated,” a spokesperson for Tyson Foods e-mailed to WATTPoultry.
The incentive is currently only offered to employees at the company’s chicken plants and is not tied to any specific pockets of resistance to the vaccine. Other incentives are being offered at Tyson’s prepared foods, beef and pork plants, Axios reported.
Incentivizing COVID-19 vaccination
Earlier this month, Tyson announced that COVID-19 vaccinations would be required of all U.S. employees by November 1, 2021.
At the time, half of Tyson Food’s 120,000 U.S. employees are currently vaccinated. All front-line employees who receive the vaccine are eligible for a $200 bonus, as well as up to four hours of pay if they get inoculated outside of work.
Shortly afterward, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) raised objections to the vaccine mandate, citing concerns that the requirement did not wait until the vaccine was fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine later received FDA approval on August 23.)
UCFW planned to meet with Tyson “to ensure that the rights of these workers are protected, and this policy is fairly implemented,” UFCW International president Marc Perrone said in a statement.
Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, is the largest chicken producer in the United States and the fifth largest turkey producer. It is also one of the nation’s four largest beef producer and a major producer of pork. The company is also expanding its presence in the plant-based protein sector.
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