More than 100 Charlotte plant workers given a choice: Relocate or lose your job
A nearly 50-year-old pork-processing plant in Charlotte is closing, and leaving more than 100 people without jobs if they want to stay in the region.
Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based pork producer and food processing company, is transferring production 150 miles away to its Tar Heel facility south of Fayetteville to increase efficiency and use existing capacity.
Some of the jobs are for processing, cutting, packaging meat, and maintenance. The 107 workers at the plant are being given an option to transfer to another facility or be laid off. The Tar Heel location appears to be the closest North Carolina plant on the company’s operations map.
That Bladen County plant is the largest pork-processing facility in the world and opened in 1992. Smithfield’s Charlotte plant has been around since 1975. It will shut down in December.
The changes involves consolidating work being done in two places, said Jim Monroe, vice president of corporate affairs.
“We regret the disruption and certainly understand that Charlotte is home to a lot of these folks and they may not want to move,” Monroe said. “We’re going to provide support in other ways.”
More details about closing the Smithfield Foods plant
The North Carolina Department of Commerce received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter from Smithfield Foods on Oct. 9 about permanently closing the facility at 4825 Hovis Road and laying off all salaried and hourly employees starting Dec. 8. That’s when the plant is expected to close.
Company officials said financial and job transition help will be provided to the employees impacted by the move. This includes options to transfer to another Smithfield Foods location.
In the WARN letter, Smithfield said a union does not represent its Charlotte workers. If they want to relocate, “they will not be eligible to bump or displace any other employees at the new location.”
“We hope many of them will continue in roles at other Smithfield locations,” said Doug Sutton, chief manufacturing officer, in a news release.
Hourly employees staying until the last day of production in December are getting a financial incentive package.
Monroe said Smithfield has a significant presence in North Carolina for production facilities, where employees may have different opportunities. Some of the other locations are in Burgaw, Clinton and Wilson.
Earlier this year, Smithfield closed farms in Missouri, which impacted nearly 100 people. Monroe said they were able to transition all but 13 employees to other company jobs.
“We have a good track record for doing this,” he said, “and we certainly hope to accomplish the same in North Carolina.”
About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield is the largest pork processor and hog producer in the U.S.
It was established in 1936 and employees about 60,000 in seven countries. More than 10,000 are in North Carolina. Some of its brands include Eckrich, Gwaltney and Nathan’s.
