{"id":63648,"date":"2025-11-24T13:46:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/?post_type=press_releases&#038;p=63648"},"modified":"2025-11-24T13:46:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:46:22","slug":"ufcw-statement-on-closure-of-lexington-ne-tyson-foods-beef-plant","status":"publish","type":"press_releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-statement-on-closure-of-lexington-ne-tyson-foods-beef-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"UFCW Statement on Closure of Lexington, NE Tyson Foods Beef Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>LEXINGTON, NEB. \u2013 <\/strong>Today, the <strong><u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/about\">United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)<\/a><\/u><\/strong>, which represents 1.2 million essential workers across North America, including thousands of meatpacking workers, released a statement in response to the closure of a non-union Tyson Foods beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mark Lauritsen, Director of the Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division and International Vice President at UFCW International<\/strong>, said:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe closure of the Tyson Foods beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska is a devastating blow to the hundreds of meatpacking workers who every day put in the hard, often unseen work of keeping America fed. While these workers were not members of UFCW, we stand with them. These men and women are the backbone of an industry that strengthens local economies and sustains our nation\u2019s food supply<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLayoffs in towns like Lexington don\u2019t just impact workers inside the plant. Families now face uncertainty and anxiety heading into the holiday season and small businesses will feel the strain as spending drops. When a company as large and as profitable as Tyson shuts down a facility like this, it is the community &#8211; not the corporation &#8211; that pays the biggest price.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis decision also raises serious questions about our national priorities. The Administration and Congress should be working to strengthen these workers and their communities by boosting production here at home. Instead, our leaders are flirting with importing beef from Argentina and unleashing tariffs that cut off foreign markets to American beef, pork, and chicken. Meatpacking workers across this country deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">###<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The UFCW International is the largest private sector union in the United States, representing 1.2 million workers and their families in grocery, meatpacking, food processing, healthcare, cannabis, retail, and other essential industries. UFCW members serve our communities in all 50 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Learn more about the UFCW at\u202f<\/em><em><u><a href=\"http:\/\/ufcw.org\/\">ufcw.org<\/a><\/u><\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LEXINGTON, NEB. \u2013 Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents 1.2 million essential workers across North America, including thousands of meatpacking workers, released a statement in response to the closure of a non-union Tyson Foods beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska. Mark Lauritsen, Director of the Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":416,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[45,449,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63648","press_releases","type-press_releases","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meat","category-official-statements","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UFCW Statement on Closure of Lexington, NE Tyson Foods Beef Plant - The United Food &amp; Commercial Workers International Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-statement-on-closure-of-lexington-ne-tyson-foods-beef-plant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UFCW Statement on Closure of Lexington, NE Tyson Foods Beef Plant - The United Food &amp; Commercial Workers International Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LEXINGTON, NEB. \u2013 Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents 1.2 million essential workers across North America, including thousands of meatpacking workers, released a statement in response to the closure of a non-union Tyson Foods beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska. 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