Elisabeth Buck
State officials will survey the more than 2000 workers who’ll lose their jobs in a few weeks when two meatpacking plants in western Iowa close.
Smithfield plans to close the John Morrell plant in Sioux City in mid-April, putting 1450 workers out of a job. Another 500 workers will lose their jobs in mid-March when the Tyson plant in Council Bluffs closes. Elisabeth Buck, director of the Iowa Workforce Development agency, will meet with managers of the Tyson plant on Thursday.
“We meet with them and sort of spell out what are all the services we have available for their workers, then we schedule worker meetings with the workers in those plants,” Buck says. “…One of the most important things we do at the worker meetings is we do a survey of the workforce to see what kinds of skill sets these workers have and what their needs are.”
Once those surveys are completed, the state will apply to the U.S. Department of Labor for a national emergency grant. “So if we find that most of these workers want to go into training, we will have the funds to assist them with that training that might be necessary to upgrade them and upskill them for the jobs of the future,” Buck says.
Since Tyson and John Morrell operate around-the-clock, Buck expects the survey of workers to take about a week to complete. On Thursday, Governor Culver plans to visit with local economic development officials in Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Webster City where the Electrolux plant will close soon.