Tyson Foods to cut hundreds of jobs in North Carolina chicken complex

Last week Tyson Foods began handing out pink slips to plant workers in the Wilkesboro, N.C., fresh chicken facility, according to local news reports. Around 500 jobs are expected to be eliminated. Tyson employs around 2,500 people in the large Wilkesboro complex.

Tyson Foods did not immediately answer questions asked by Talk Business & Politics on Monday,  but a spokesman did release the following statement.

“Due to increasing demand, we are shifting production in our Wilkesboro, NC facility to support our Tyson fully cooked products. As a result of these process changes, fewer positions will be required in the facility. Our priority is to help team members impacted by this change, and we are working with them to offer other opportunities at Tyson Foods.”

Tyson Foods lists around 400 open jobs in the local complex for possible transfer.

The jobs lost in the fresh plant involve processing raw chicken and packaging it for grocery and fast-food restaurants. The fresh production is likely being transferred to newer plants Tyson operates in Danville, Va., or Humboldt, Tenn. The more automated chicken plants opened in 2023 and 2021, respectively.

As Tyson ramped up production in the two newer facilities over the past year, it shuttered six plants and eliminated 4,460 jobs from the communities of Van Buren and Little Rock, Ark., Noel and Dexter, Mo., Corydon, Ind., and Glen Falls, Va.

Tyson execs have said the newer plants run more efficiently and require less labor because of more automation. The shift and downsizing of Tyson’s chicken footprint is part of the company’s efforts to improve that business. Tyson CEO Donnie King told analysts last year that Tyson was not sacrificing any business with the plant closures because added capacity in the newer plants allow it to meet demand and grow chicken sales.