Community Responds to Waterloo Plant Closing

Waterloo- State leaders hope Beef Products, Inc. (BPI) may one day reverse plans to close a Waterloo plant and others that produced lean, finely textured beef.  But Monday's announcement of plant closings in Iowa and two other states leaves several communities picking up the pieces of lost jobs.

In  addition to the BPI plant in Waterloo, the company also announced plans to close similar plants in Amarillo, Texas and Garden City, Kansas.  Only a plant next to the company headquarters in South Sioux City, Nebraska will keep producing the product critics labelled "pink slime."

The announcement meant the lost of 650 jobs total with 220of those positions lost in Waterloo.  But those who provide economic and job-assistance aid in such events said the response actually started weeks ago.  One Waterloo businessman, former state senator Jim Lind, said one BPI worker he knows actually believed right up to the last minute that a PR effort by governors would save his job.

"He was hoping like the devil he would be able to keep his job .  He felt like he was doing a good job--he knew he was," Lind said.

While the company called the March 26th shutdown a temporary production suspension, BPI also gave the 60-day federally required notice of a plant closing then.  In Waterloo, staffers from Iowa Works and other agencies have a "rapid response" plan to act when a plant closing threatens large numbers of workers.

So no one in economic circles in Waterloo was caught off guard by Monday's announcement.  In fact, agencies that assist with unemployment and those needing help in finding new jobs conducted meetings for all 220 impacted Waterloo workers in early April.

Jeanie Wright with IowaWorks of Cedar Valley said workers are busy going after more assistance funding.

"What we are doing right now is applying for an early intervention grant, which is a grant at the state level, to offer resume classes, interviewing classes and ESL (English as Second Language) classes because there are a percentage of workers who don't speak English," Wright said.

Wright also said while Waterloo's unemployment rate is just above the state average at 5.5%, some of the displaced BPI workers should have a decent shot at employment with other manufacturers.

"I think they're very hard workers--they've proven they can do hard work and employers out there are anxious for dedicated workers," Wright added.