Large job fair held for Iowa Tyson Foods workers facing plant closure

PERRY, Iowa — Tyson Foods announced in March it will be closing its Perry plant at the end of June. A job fair was held in the National Guard Armory with 65 employers from the area seeking to fill jobs with plant workers.

190 employers wanted to be in the job fair. Iowa Workforce Development, which hosted the event, shortened the list to employers who were local or nearby, who offered a decent wage and benefits, and ones who offered some training and don’t mind having workers who don’t speak English.

“When I was out at Tysons, they were helping with that work meeting and they’re on site, the majority people are not English-speaking, surprised a lot aren’t even Spanish-speaking,” said Joseph Nobile, of Iowa Workforce. “There are a lot of individuals who speak French, Swahili, and about 13 different languages.”

The Job Fair had translators available for all the languages at the fair. Some workers carried cellphones with a translation app on their phone.

“We need welders and fabricators, we need machinists, we need people who want to work with heavy steel construction,” said Scott Moorman, of Besser Company in Boone. “That’s really what we’re doing is basic construction.”

“I’d still like to stay in town, I’m still looking,” said Peggy Cannon of Perry. “I want to finish out Tysons and say goodbye to all my friends out there, wishing them well.”

Cannon is confident she will find a job close to home, so she can care for her mother. She also said she wants to work at Tysons every day it is open, so she can enjoy her co-workers there before they part ways.

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