GREAT BEND, Kansas – A central Kansas meat packing plant is the latest victim of the economic crisis.
The John Morrell and Co. plant in Great Bend will close in July. The company has been a staple of the local community for decades; first opening its doors back in 1938. Today, it employs 275 people who will all be losing their jobs. The plant will begin layoffs in May and will shut down all operations in July.
"The impact for Great Bend is huge," said Jan Peters with the Great bend Chamber and Economic Development. "In a community of 15,500 people - it’s a huge impact across the board from restaurants to gas stations to our schools."
Local company managers declined to comment on camera with KSN, but its corporate office issued a news release about the closure. The company’s president said, "We’ve been in this community a long time and this move is very difficult for us. Great Bend has been a good work environment for John Morrell."
In addition to the facility in Great Bend, John Morrell’s parent company, Smithfield Foods, is shutting down five other plants. A total of 1,800 jobs will be lost.
"We certainly want to make sure we can help John Morrell as well," Peters said. "Obviously we have a facility out there that we need to look at and see if there are other uses for it or how do we utilize that facility."
But the primary focus during the next few months will be the workers affected by the shut down. Right now, the Great Bend area still has more than 160 available jobs, so the chamber hopes most of the laid off workers can quickly be put back to work.
The company plans to transfer production at the Great Bend plant to other facilities.
