Local News
Company notifies state of plan to close Neosho operation
By Andy Ostmeyer
aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — Twin Rivers Foods in Neosho will permanently close its plant on April 9, with all 485 employees losing their jobs.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development received the news Tuesday in a letter from Doug Quillen, human resources director for the company’s corporate offices. Twin Rivers operates a chicken deboning plant in Neosho.
Company letter
“All layoffs will be permanent and the entire poultry processing operation in the plant will be discontinued,” Quillen stated in the letter, which was sent to state officials to comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
According to the letter, 410 of those employees are production workers, 23 are in management, and the rest work in various operations for the plant, such as quality control, maintenance, security and clerical positions.
Contacted on Tuesday, officials at the Neosho plant, 225 N. Washington St., referred all calls to the company’s headquarters in Fayetteville, Ark. Corporate officials there were unavailable for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Gib Garrow, Neosho’s economic development director, said he was asked to refer all calls about the plant closing to corporate officials.
Second closing
This is the second plant closing in Neosho to be announced in about the past six weeks.
Brass Eagle, a paintball manufacturing operation, announced in late December that it will close in mid-February, with about 60 workers to lose their jobs.
As with the Brass Eagle closing, the Missouri Department of Economic Development is planning to organize a Rapid Response team to assist displaced workers at Twin Rivers, according to John Fougere, spokesman for the department.
That team consists of state and local experts who can help the affected employees with everything from unemployment compensation to services available at area career centers to help them find new work.
Andy Ostmeyer is the metro editor for The Joplin Globe.
Unemployment
The unemployment rate in Southwest Missouri was 7.9 percent in December, according to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, with the rates at 7.9 percent in Newton County and 7.7 percent in Jasper County. December figures are the latest available.
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