Tyson Foods Opens D.C. Office

The Washington Post reported on Nov. 28 that Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale has opened a new Washington, D.C., office that is headed by veteran meat industry lobbyist Sara Lilygren. She was hired away from the American Meat Institute, where she was senior vice president for legislative and public affairs.

Archie Schaffer III, senior vice president of external relations for the giant Arkansas protein company, said Tyson Foods acquired the nation’s largest beef and pork company, IBP Inc., last year and both the meat and poultry industries face substantial federal government oversight. The firm is now the country’s largest meat and poultry company with $23 billion in annual sales and 120,000 employees.

“The federal government touches our operations and business in many ways. We feel it’s imperative to running our business to have a presence in Washington, to get our story told on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Schaffer said.

Joining Lilygren will be Nora Venegas, who worked for SBC Telecommunications Inc.’s Washington office and earlier served as executive assistant to the executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

• Lawyers for Tyson Foods argued Nov. 18 before an administrative court in Frankfurt, Ky., that the two workers who died on the job three years ago were not following company rules.

Tyson Foods is appealing charges that it willfully violated worker safety regulations at the Robards, Ky. plant, where two workers died in July of 1999. The Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Occupational Safety and Health Program is reviewing the case, which could lead to a possible fine of $139,500. The state maintains that Tyson failed to properly enforce its own safety program.

Testimony in the sase could last three weeks. The two sides will then have several months to present written briefs and responses.

James Dame Jr., 40, died when he was overcome by fumes and fell into a 10-foot bin while trying to retrieve a tote of chicken waste. Night supervisor Michael Hallum, 24, attempted to rescue Dame, but he was also overcome by the fumes and fell into the vat according to witnesses. Both men died of suffocation before they could be rescued.