As the third week of a planned three-to-five week suspension of operations at the Tyson beef-packing plant in Denison comes to a close, there is still no official word as to when the facility will reopen. According to Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson, as of this morning, no decision has been made yet as to when slaughter will resume at the Denison plant. Tyson is currently compensating the approximately 275 laid-off workers for the equivalent of a 32-hour work week in hopes retaining them for the plant’s eventual reopening. That compensation is planned to last through next week if necessary. Tyson Foods made the decision to idle the Denison plant along with some other beef facilities in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest due to a combination of tight cattle supplies, lackluster domestic beef demand and the continued absence of key export markets.
