OK Foods follows competitors to raise wages for poultry plant workers

With industry wage pressures growing, Fort Smith-based OK Foods is raising its base pay rate to $10 per hour impacting more than 2,500 workers in its poultry processing plants.

The raise became effective Feb. 28 and will appear on March 11 paychecks.

“OK Foods is committed to investing in its employees,” Christy Terry, vice president of people services at OK Foods, said in a statement. “Our company cares about the dedicated men and women who work in our production facilities. They represent the very best of our brand.”

Terry said the $10 per hour base pay pertains to entry-level plant workers. After one year of employment, every plant worker’s pay will increase above $10 as the company’s pay structure is aligned with years of service.

“We offer a great health plan. Employees can make selections to best fit their family’s healthcare needs; it’s not one-size-fits-all,” said Terry. “OK Foods also provides access to free health clinics for all processing employees and their families. The quality of care they receive through our health plan is a true value.”

OK Foods joins competitors Tyson Foods and Simmons Foods who each recently raised wages for hourly plant workers in a similar fashion. Tyson and Simmons also operate plants in the Fort Smith metro. Simmons said effective Jan. 1 the starting pay for all plant workers – full and part-time – was at least $10 per hour. Tyson said in November that plant workers at 40 processing facilities saw their pay raised from $8 or $9 per hour to $10.

OK Foods, a Fort Smith-based subsidiary of Industrias Bachoco, employs more than 3,000 workers in Arkansas, Georgia and Oklahoma. The company recently closed a deal on a fully cooked chicken product plant in Oklahoma City. Beginning in August, OK Foods plans to hire an additional 100-full time employees for the new fully cooked production line.

OK Foods began more than 70 years ago from a producer of livestock and poultry feed to a regional fully-integrated chicken producer. In November 2011, OK Foods was acquired in late 2011 by Industrias Bachoco out of Celaya, Mexico. The parent company employs more than 25,000 people and operates nine production complexes, 64 distribution centers in Mexico, and the U.S. poultry production assets of OK Foods.

Industrias Bachoco posted net sales of $2.686 billion in 2015, down from $2.832 billion in 2014. Net income was $355.9 million in 2015, better than the $266.6 million in 2014.