About 800 Colo. Beef Packers to Lose Jobs

[UpInArms]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/financial_markets/10402035.htm

GREELEY, Colo. - About 800 workers at the Swift & Co. meat packing plant here will lose their jobs just a few days before Christmas.

The layoffs take effect on Dec. 20, 11 days before the expiration of a contract that had Swift processing cattle from three ConAgra Foods Inc. feedlots. ConAgra, one of the nation's largest food companies, sold the lots earlier this year to Smithfield Foods Co. of Smithfield, Va.

"Those lots supplied about 40 percent of the cattle we processed at the plant," Swift spokesman Jim Herlihy said.

Swift, the largest employer in Greeley, anticipated 1,100 layoffs when it first announced changes to its meat production two months ago. Still, the layoffs will be one of the worst hits to Greeley's labor market in two decades.

"I have been preparing myself by saving my last few paychecks because I have to support my mom and my brother until I get a new job if I lost this one," said plant worker Raymond Villalobos, 25. "We're also going to celebrate Christmas in a modest way."

...more...

[candy]

1. God! Where will the jobs be in 20 years?---We will become a nation

of emigrants,thanks to big business.

[CatholicEdHead]

6. Food jobs

may be outsourced. Have most of our food imported because of profit margins. Then the people will loose even more power. He who controls the food supply controls the people.

[TahitiNut]

11. Two words: Soylent Green

:scared:

[bluestateguy]

2. Consequences

A Red County in a Red State.

These people (at least those who voted for Bush) need to learn their lesson and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Oh well, maybe their local Republican Party will come and help.

[KansDem]

27. "...chickens are coming home to roost." No pun intended?

To an out-of-work beef packer, that may be good news! ;)

[AllyCat]

3. Red State getting its due

Sorry, my heart can no longer bleed for these people. I'm sorry for the ones who tried to oust the Chimperor, but I'm a full-fledged supporter of ending red state welfare. Bush voters will now reap what they've sown.

[Endangered Specie]

9. Youre state was only this close to being red...

so perhaps I should hope you get blasted come the next deer hunt?

Just because a state is red don't mean that 100% of the people are. Id bet most of them voted Democrat.

Nice way to alienate every Red State Democrat.

[Brundle_Fly]

10. We know you are out there.

Don't listen to somepeoples ramblings. Unity is needed nationwide.

[QC]

13. Alienating Democrats is one of our most popular activities here!

Sure, it's very counterproductive, but constantly proclaiming one's own superiority to other people is just so doggone fun that we can't resist it!

[AllyCat]

16. Wishing my death?

Boy, now that's a real democratic value! Just about every state went half red. I'm well aware of that. Drastic times call for drastic measures and one might as well let the neo-cons do it to themselves. The ending of red state welfare fully relies on straight and narrow Dems to hold their lines in their communities to protect everyone.

Don't think I asked for anyone's death by my comments. Sorry you felt you needed to wish ill on me.

Thank God for blaze orange,huh?

Nor was I bashing Democrats by my comments. Think someone read into my post something that was not there.

[QC]

29. Who wished for your death?

Are you sure you responded to the right post?

[AllyCat]

31. I was responding to the lot of you

one of whom said something about wishing my death in a hunting accident up north. It was not you, QC, but you did mention that registering dissent with Democrats was not an appropriate action by me. My response was directed at 3 threaded comments, including yours, although you did make the comment about the hunting thing.

It's hard to tell in cyberspace what someone's emotions are and it registers pretty flat most of the time. Sorry if I misunderstood you.

[brentspeak]

21. Agreed. The red-state bashing is just plain stupid

People here who gloat over other people's lost jobs b/c they just happen to live in a red state -- now THAT'S being a "sore loser", and it certainly isn't what the Democratic Party should be about.

[Megahurtz]

18. I don't think welfare should be ended in any State

There are people out there who really need it. That's rude.

[sandnsea]

26. Not what's meant

red state welfare. Red states receive more federal money than they put in. Then want to tell Blue states their economic ideas are better. This is from 2003, but it's close to the same now.

[paulk]

28. and it should also be noted

that Colorado is NOT one of the red states that gets back more than it puts in.

[WindRavenX]

4. Oh snaps

That fucking sucks :(

[VegasWolf]

5. Chimpanzee voters get their rewards. n/t

[TrogL]

7. Pity they don't have any Canadian beef to process

[sonicx]

8. my sympathies to the Kerry voters.

FU to the Bush voters.

[TahitiNut]

12. Swift & Co - 16% (D), 84% (R) / Smithfield Foods - 15% (D), 85% (R)

Fuck 'em if they didn't know they were working for fascist farts.

[brentspeak]

20. Where did you get those figures? (n/t)

[TahitiNut]

30. http://www.opensecrets.org/

[paulk]

25. it's not like there's a heck of a lot of work to find in Greeley

the only other industry is agriculture, and there's not much going on this time of year. The majority of people who work in the packing plants are Latino, and those that vote, vote Democratic. Not that it helps much - since that area of the state is overwhelminfly Republican.

[napi21]

14. How is Smithfield going to keep up production?

Lots of this is happening. Smithfield has expanded into products other than ham, and Tyson has expanded into pork and beef. Other than gaining comtrol of the market, are they going to expand their work force?

My husband is a meat cutter who works for a large chain of supermarkets in the SE. He's been talking about this for a long time. The products from these companies come into the supermarket already cut and packaged. All you need is a part time person to put it out in the case. This is the way most supermarkets are moving so they don't have to employ meat cutters any more.

I'm sure the people at the packing houses aren't going to be making a lot of $$, but I have to believe their number of employees are going to have to expand.

[TX-RAT]

22. Packing houses are doing fine

All of my cattle are sold locally to individual buyers, Then taken to packing houses to be processed. It's cheaper than buying at the Market. You just need a big freezer, to hold all the meat. Some family's go in together and split the meat.

[OutsourceBush]

15. For the Bush voters...eat your bibles

for the Kerry voters, sorry for your loss.

[Sputnik]

17. "Value added" meat?

This paragraph caught my attention:

"Some employees could be rehired within 18 months, based on their union contract. Up to 200 employees may be retained based on seniority to train employees working a new second shift at the plant that will produce new 'value added' meat products. Such products, which require more processing, sell for three or four times that of traditionally boxed beef.


So, America needs more expensive beef?

[yardwork]

23. They mean beef "products" - processed meat with crap added to it

It's the American way. Take food and adulterate it with as much crap as possible to reduce the nutrition to the bare minimum, then sell it for four times as much as the original food in its natural state would have cost. Convince people that they just have to have "Lunchables" through marketing.

I don't mean to criticize anybody's job. We all have to work. I'm just pointing out how our entire culture in the U.S. is based on adding money every step of the way, instead of being satisfied with the basics.

[SOS]

19. Four giant corporations

control 85% of the meatpacking business. Astronomical worker injury rates, lines moving so fast that the animals are skinned alive, $6 an hour for workers, no OSHA oversight, union busting, abused and powerless immigrant work force, no health insurance in one of the country's most dangerous jobs, filthy deplorable conditions as bad as depicted in 1906 by Sinclair... and it gets worse every year.
Until this industry is regulated properly, nothing will change.
People who vote for deregulation, ie vote Republican, have nothing to whine about.
The meatpacking corporations are nearly 100% Republican in their donations.
Let the townspeople and workers register their complaints with the Republican Party.

[yardwork]

24. This deregulation started under Reagan

and people still worship the ground he walked on. Insane.