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Tyson Foods to Lay Off 228 in Illinois

2 min read

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale said it will lay off 228 workers from two offices in Illinois beginning July 31.

In a May 26 letter to the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, the company said it would cut 177 employees from its Chicago office and 51 from its office in Downers Grove. The letter was required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) giving 60-days notice of an office closing.

Tyson Foods will also lay off 262 employees from its South Dakota office.

The layoffs are related to the company’s OneTyson initiative, a plan announced in October to relocate 1,000 corporate employees from Illinois and South Dakota to Tyson’s headquarters in northwest Arkansas.

Unlike the South Dakota WARN letter, the Illinois WARN notice did not give specifics as to what positions were being vacated by workers who decided not to relocate.

“When we announced the move to our corporate office in Arkansas, our goal was to make the proposition of relocating as attractive and easy as possible while understanding that some may not be able to make the move,” Tyson Foods said in a statement. “For those who cannot move, we appreciate each of their many contributions. For those who have made the decision to move, we are extremely grateful and look forward to building the future of Tyson Foods together.

“We believe that bringing our team members together will facilitate more growth opportunities, foster closer collaboration, enhance team member agility and enhance faster decision making.”

In a separate move, Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King announced in April that the company would lay off 15% of its leadership positions and 10% of its corporate roles.

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