After The News Courier broke the story that Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. plans to close its Athens chicken processing facility in October, a corporate spokesman released a statement Friday morning saying “many” of the 640 employees here will be offered positions at other company locations. Spokesman Ray Atkinson said these workers will be offered a choice of locations.
The company has four other plants in Alabama — in Russellville, Guntersville, Boaz and Enterprise — and others across the country.
An employee who asked not to be named said a new manager was brought to the site Wednesday to handle the plant’s closure.
The corporate press release also states a plant in Athens, Ga., will close and operations will consolidate to other facilities.
The press release does not state how many jobs from the local plant will transfer to other locations, but adds: “The company will provide transition programs to employees who are not retained in order to assist them in securing new employment, filing for unemployment and obtaining other applicable benefits.”
In addition, it states: “The hatchery in Moulton, Ala., the feed mill in Falkville, Ala., and other live production operations associated with the Athens (Ala.) plant will continue to operate.”
While an employee stated that workers were told Wednesday the plant would close Oct. 6, the press release states operations will cease “within 60-75 days.”
Closure of the plants in Athens, Ala., and Athens, Ga., is part of the company’s “continuing effort to improve capacity utilization and reduce costs,” the press release states. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December.
Pilgrim’s Pride president Don Jackson said it is possible the Athens plant could reopen “should market conditions justify it.”
“As we work to restructure Pilgrim’s Pride as a market-driven company, we must continue to look for ways to reduce our costs and operate more efficiently,” Jackson said in the press release. “A key component of that effort is improving our capacity utilization through plant consolidation and other operational changes. While the decision to idle a plant and eliminate jobs is always painful — and we regret that it is necessary — it is absolutely critical to the future of Pilgrim's Pride that we make better use of our assets.”
Production from the Athens, Ala., plant will be consolidated into two other Pilgrim's Pride complexes, bringing those facilities to full capacity.
Production from the company’s Athens, Ga., plant on Oneta Street with 330 workers will be consolidated at the neighboring Barber Street plant and at several other company complexes in north Georgia, bringing those facilities to full capacity. The live production operations, including hatcheries and feed mills, will continue to operate.
The company does not expect any significant reduction in the number of Pilgrim’s Pride contract growers in Athens, Ala., or Athens, Ga., as a direct result of the closures and the press release states supply should not be affected.
Local News
Poultry workers to transfer?
- Local News
-
- Holiday closings
-
Memorial Day ceremony slated for Monday
The event, presented by American Legion Post 49 with assistance from the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Limestone County Event Center on Pryor Street.
-
Tornado artifacts sought for exhibit
Scientists at the National Weather Service in Huntsville are asking Limestone County residents to contribute to a historical and educational display about the tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011.
-
Schools chief is 'ecstatic' over job
Board members cited Sisk’s experience in handling personnel issues, his working for a large school system, his outgoing personality and his willingness to help obtain money to buy laptop computers for students as evidence of his promise.
-
'Significant' local arrests net drugs, cash
Limestone County deputies made what Sheriff Mike Blakely termed “significant arrests” with a Friday evening drug bust of a house at 817 Westmoreland Street.
-
BREAKING: Reward offered in Limestone burglary
-
MORE STORIES: Click LOCAL NEWS bar at top left
Click "Local News" bar at top left for more stories
-
Bills in meth trash lead to arrest
Trash included the portions of phone and cable bills that led investigators to the address of 43-year-old Larry M. Mason of Tuscumbia.
-
Space Camp celebrating 30th anniversary
The center is hosting a weekend of family-friendly activities and a reunion of Space Camp alumni on June 15.
-
Community colleges seeing declining enrollment
American Association of Community Colleges spokeswoman Norma Kent says changes in the economy are to blame.
- More Local News Headlines
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
