Connect with us

Jobs

Perry workers losing jobs in Tyson shutdown draw strong employer interest at job fair

Published

4 months ago

on

Perry workers losing jobs in Tyson shutdown draw strong employer interest at job fair

Arms didn’t have to be twisted to get prospective employers to show up for a job fair in Perry on Thursday for workers at the city’s soon-to-close Tyson pork plant. In fact, many had to be turned away.

The city’s biggest employer, Tyson Fresh Foods is set to close at the end of June. The job fair was an opportunity for workforce-strapped employers to reach out to the nearly 1,300 people who will soon need new jobs.

As unfortunate as the job losses are, there may be no more opportune time for finding new employment than now. Released Thursday, Iowa’s latest monthly jobs report shows that unemployment in the state fell to 2.8% in April from 2.9% in March.

More: As Tyson Foods closes Perry plant, are other Iowa facilities headed to the chopping block?

“With IowaWORKS continuing to list more than 56,000 open jobs, we see plenty of opportunities available for those Iowans who want to work,” Beth Townsend, executive director of Iowa Workforce Development, said in a news release.The agency helped stage the job fair. It said about 190 potential employers expressed interest in attending before it whittled the number down to 65, filling the National Guard Amory in Perry.

“We did have to limit (the number of employers) to ones that were close, paid livable wages and provided benefits. We wanted to make sure we were providing the best for those affected,” said Joseph Nobile, a career planner for the agency who coordinated the event.

“Some of these employees have been with Tyson for 20-plus years and they are not wanting to move. They want to keep living here and keep shopping here and not wanting to move if they don’t have to,” Nobile said.

More: Tyson plant closing announcement takes Perry by surprise, but city leaders vow to rebound

Jesse Dougherty, marketing and communications director for workforce development, said an estimated half of the Tyson plant’s workforce lives in Perry, with the rest commuting from the surrounding area.

Nobile, who has met with affected employees, said he was a little surprised by the overall optimism of the workers.

“There are some of the workers who are looking at this as a career opportunity to better themselves through education,” he said.

He said Iowa Workforce Development provided the workers with packets listing other employers currently hiring that were unable to attend the job fair.

Some Tyson workers in Perry will stay with the company at other sites

About 200 of the workers plan to transfer to other Tyson operations, such as in Storm Lake and Waterloo, while others already have found new employers, said Dougherty.

Many of the employers attending Thursday said the Tyson workers’ skills are readily transferrable to their operations.

“Oh absolutely,” said Alex Bursay, talent acquisition manager for Michael Foods.

Michael Foods makes egg patties and liquified eggs for food service and is in the process of doubling its size. It currently employs just under 200 people at its Norwalk operation.

Bursay said his company focuses on its employees and culture, providing competitive wages and benefits.

“We say that ‘We are first in food because we are first in people,’” Bursay said.

Smithfield Foods is offering relocation assistance to workers who take jobs at its Altoona, Denison and Carroll meatpacking plants, said company representative Sam McCabe, adding that many have expressed interest.

A number of Tyson workers are interested in education and training that could lead to careers in other fields such as truck driving, electrical work and child care, and some of the many immigrants among them want to improve their English, said Terrianne Marsh, a career coach with Proteus, a nonprofit farmworkers jobs program.

“We also work with career planning,” Marsh said.

Tyson workers already have employable skills that translate into other careers in the trades, she said, adding that workers she has talked to have expressed a strong desire to stay in the Perry area.

The job fair was hosted in coordination with workforce development’s IowaWORKS rapid response services and PerryNext, a group of local officials formed to help mitigate the impact of the Tyson layoffs. The planned job fair was preceded by visits from the IowaWORKS Mobile Workforce Center in March. An IowaWORKS transition center also is open at Tyson and has staff on hand three days a week to help workers with unemployment questions and career resources.

Impacted workers with questions may contact Iowa Workforce Development at 515-281-9619 or by email at DesMoinesIowaWORKS@iwd.iowa.gov.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading