A tweet from U.S. Sen Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, proclaimed that Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King promised him that the company is willing to sell two closing poultry plants in Missouri.
On August 7, Tyson Foods announced that it was closing two poultry plants in Missouri – one in Noel and the other in Dexter. At the same time, Tyson announced the planned closure of poultry plants in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Corydon, Indiana. Earlier in the year, Tyson revealed it was closing poultry plants in Glen Allen, Virginia, and Van Buren, Arkansas.
More than a month after the Missouri closure announcements were made, Hawley took to X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that he recently visited with King about the future of those facilities.
“I spoke with the CEO of Tyson Food (sic) today, Donnie King. He told me, first, Tyson is willing to sell its facilities in Dexter and Noel, Missouri to any interested party - including a competitor. I was glad to hear it, because anything less would violate antitrust laws. I hope Tyson is actively pursuing a sale that will save these jobs in Missouri. Second, he told me Tyson would help any farmer who wanted to keep raising chickens to do so, including helping them get new contracts with Tyson or other companies. We will hold him to these commitments,” Hawley tweeted.
“The bottom line is, these facilities need to stay open, these jobs need to be there for workers, and farmers need to be able to keep farming,” Hawley said in a secondary tweet.
WATT Global Media emailed a Tyson Foods spokesman to verify that King and Hawley had such a discussion, but no response has yet been received.
Hawley issued a press release to promote his posts on X, one day after he issued another press release to announce that he introduced the Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement for Meatpacking Act. The text of the legislation does not specifically mention Tyson Foods, but the company was clearly on Hawley’s mind as the release stated, “The introduction of Senator Hawley's legislation comes after Tyson Foods announced it will be closing the doors of its poultry plants in southern Missouri, costing the state more than 2,000 jobs.”
