WHEREAS on August 13th, over 2,500 Workers were laid off at the Joslin Tyson plant. Tyson delivered letters to the workforce which stated employees were to receive regular pay through October 12, 2026;
WHEREAS workers were told in Tyson’s letter that the effective date of termination was August 13th or 14th, but in effect expected workers to staff the plant for another week in order to receive pay through October 12, 2026 - a likely violation of the WARN Act;
WHEREAS millions of Americans across the country have been fed by the labor of the Joslin Tyson plant workers;
WHEREAS the plant’s closure is expected to cost the Quad Cities $116 million in lost wages and $41.7 million in its local economy according to reporting by KWQC TV 6 News;
WHEREAS the plant’s closure significantly jeopardizes the revenue and economy to the entire state of Illinois;
WHEREAS Tyson has received - according to the Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker - hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in Illinois state tax rebates annually for at least a decade of reported tax history; Tyson has received over $3 million in the past 10 years for infrastructure assistance from the state of Illinois; Tyson received over $3 million dollars alone in 2022 tax credits;
WHEREAS Tyson has been the beneficiary of more than half of all national tax subsidies given to major meatpackers from 2006 to 2026;
WHEREAS Tyson cites decline in cattle stock as a justification for the plant’s closure, yet total cattle and calves on July 1, 2026 were estimated at 94.2 million head, slightly above the 2025 level. Cattle on feed in all feedlots increased 2% to 13.2 million head, and at most the future cattle herd is expected to drop a mere 1-2%;
WHEREAS the majority of Joslin Tyson’s workforce is immigrants, left in a more precarious legal and citizenship condition;