Tyson Plans Dividend, Cutbacks for Pork

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale on May 7 announced that it will pay a quarterly dividend of 4 cents per share on Class A common stock and 3.6 cents per share on Class B common stock. The dividend is payable on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 1.

Tyson, the second largest food company in the Fortune 500, also recently announced that it will trim production at its pork plants because of seasonally tight supplies of hogs. Plants that had been operating at more than 40 hours a week will cut back to 40 hours or less per week.

On a similar front, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in May that the company does not have to rehire workers who were on strike for 11 months at its Jefferson meatpacking plant in Wisconsin. United Foods and Commercial Workers Local 538 said the company had wrongly given the strikers’ jobs to permanent replacement workers, a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

Tyson rehired about 200 workers when the strike ended, but 100 remained without jobs. The union may appeal the decision.

The firm has also selected mySAP Business Suite as its technology platform to complete the integration of its operating units in an effort to make those assets more efficient. SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software.