Hundreds of newly unemployed Tyson Foods workers gathered Friday afternoon in the rain outside the beef processing plant in Joslin, Ill., organized and inspired by a national organization to fight for their jobs and protest the plant closure.
Organizers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a national group with an office in Chicago, spoke at the rally, as angry, frustrated workers held signs, chanted loudly and marched in solidarity with each other.
Signs (in English, Spanish and French) included exhortations like – “We Gave Our Lives to Tyson. Keep Jobs In Our Community”; “Keep the Plant Open! Stop the Closure!”; “We Feed the Nation. Tyson Feeds Wall Street.”
“We're all community organizers, we're workers, we're parents, teachers, students. A lot of us work in different factories, just like the Tyson plant,” PSL organizer Deja Gaston said before the rally Friday, a week after the last day the Tyson beef processing plant in Joslin was open. “A lot of us are union members. And really our mission is to build organized working-class power.”
The group (whose website says, for the planet to live, “capitalism must end”) urges workers to fight back to keep their jobs and get better severance pay.
“Yes, you've been fired, but actually what they're doing is illegal. They're not allowing 60 days of severance pay,” Gaston said. “We want to empower people to actually understand not only what they're able to do legally, but really to start meeting with their other coworkers, start fighting back. I mean, the fact that they're all gathering here today is because they wanted to do something.
“And what they want to do is let Tyson know that we want our full 60 days severance pay. We want Rock Island County and Governor Pritzker to actually make this eminent domain and seize the plant because they can,” she said. “It's within their legal means and actually keep the jobs for these workers because the economy's hard. We're all experiencing a cost-of-living crisis. A lot of these workers who've been working 5, 10+ years have just bought homes.”
“It's important that we're standing in solidarity with each other and making sure that instead of falling into pessimism, people understand how to fight back,” Gaston noted before the rally.
Organizers passed out slips of paper with phone numbers to the governor’s office and Rock Island County, with a sample script of what to say, calling for the government to seize the plant and keep it open.
Gov. Pritzker said recently that he’s talking with Tyson about repurposing the Joslin facility, or selling it to a buyer that could keep the workers.
Gaston cited a similar case with a Chicago plant closure in late 2008, and she wants Tyson workers to take a similar tack. There, Republic Windows and Doors closed in December 2008, and the union lodged a complaint that the company was acting in violation of the WARN Act, a federal law that requires companies to give workers 60 days' notice before mass layoffs.
That union claimed that the workers were owed $1.5 million in vacation and severance pay, as well as an extension in their medical benefits. Republic filed for bankruptcy, but workers won a $2-million settlement, and two months later, a California-based company that produced environmentally friendly building materials, announced that it bought the buildings and assets of Republic Windows, and would hire back all the former factory workers.
“They have to be given a 60-day notice if they lose their job, which didn't happen for the Tyson workers,” since they were notified just a day before the plant closed on Friday, Aug. 14.
The PSL group had a community meeting Thursday night, with 600 Tyson workers at the Sudanese Community Center in East Moline, with a similar one planned Friday night, to discuss next steps.
“Yesterday we sat down with more than 600 of your coworkers and we built our demands and we are not backing down from them,” organizer Kanai Johnson said, leading one of many chants Friday. “What do we demand? Repeat after me. We demand this plant stay open.”
“You built this plant. You built this company and you have every right to keep running it,” she said. “Tyson will not hand us any of this by asking nicely. They already tried to steal back severances they owe you. They already cut your hours to strip your health insurance. They already turned away food a neighbor tried to bring you. So we are done asking nicely. Workers built Tyson. Yes, that's right. Workers feed this country.”
Losing job after 21 years
Essobou Ouro Gmao, a 56-year-old immigrant from Togo, spoke about losing his job after working for Tyson 21 years.
“I started working since 2005, and I feel very sorry for all of you, and me too, because the way Tyson left us today is not fair,” he said. “Everybody come with lunch bags to work and they tell everybody to go home, no more job. That's not right. That's not fair. That's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair. So today we are here to ask our rights. We blame union and Tyson.”
Though employees were told they’d be paid through mid-October, Gmao said that was not enough.
“Even they're going to pay us 2 months, it's nothing,” he said. “Two months is nothing to people who got families, houses, mortgages, rent. How we going to afford? So we are here to tell Tyson to make better for all team members who works for him. We are here today to tell Tyson, if you— even he close this company, he still got some company working for him. He need to take care of these team members.”
“Tyson is a millionaire today because of us,” he added. “We work very hard here. 21 years work is not easy. So we need to tell Tyson, it's our right. One month for 21 years work for thanks is not enough.”
Gmao called for the company to pay six months severance for all workers.
“The way Tyson treats people, it’s not good, it’s not fair,” he said. “We have the same blood. Tyson blood and my blood are the same blood.”
PSL organizer Eli Navarro translated for the crowd the thoughts of a French-speaking laid-off worker, who’d been at the plant nine years.
“The reason we’re here is the plant closed by Tyson is unjust,” he said. “You have to reclaim your rights. We’re here even if Tyson doesn’t want it. We are here. For a better world, we are here.”
PSL organizer Johnson said they would fight with workers “against the corporate bosses that are trying to take what's yours. Many of you gave your whole working lives to this plant,” she said.
“This plant has run since 1983, 43 years. Three generations of families in Joslin and across the Quad Cities built their lives around it, and Tyson closed it down in an afternoon – without warning the union, without warning the state, without warning any of you,” Johnson said.
“Tyson says that there was no other option, that cattle shortages forced their hand,” she said, calling that a lie. “Cattle supply dropped less than 1%. Meanwhile, Tyson made $1.6 billion so far this year already and they are on pace to make $2.3 billion by December.”
“This is not a company fighting for survival,” Johnson said. “You feed the nation, not the bosses. Tyson’s bosses feed Wall Street.” She noted three-quarters of the Joslin employees are immigrants, and several speakers spoke in other languages Friday, including Spanish and French.
“Tyson does not want the paperwork, the audits, the threat of ICE raids on its floor,” Johnson said. “So instead of standing behind the workers who kept this plant running for 43 years, they decided it was easier and more profitable to make you disappear.
“But we refuse to disappear. We refuse to go quietly,” she said. “We refuse to be robbed by the same bosses who have taken so much from us. History is our teacher, and history teaches us when workers unite, they can fight back and they can win.”
Other chants Johnson led included: “Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power!” and “The people united will never be defeated.”
The decision to close the Tyson Foods plant in Joslin has resulted in over 2,500 workers losing their jobs, creating a significant impact on the regional workforce and surrounding communities.
On Aug. 13, the company announced it planned to close its beef plant in Joslin, and its case-ready facility in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Tyson is also pursuing the sale of its beef facility in Pasco, Washington.
“Tyson Foods will anchor its beef business around three strategically located beef facilities in the central United States: Dakota City, Nebraska; Holcomb, Kansas and Amarillo, Texas, to create a more competitive footprint amidst one of the most historic cattle shortages the country has ever experienced,” the meatpacking giant said.
An Aug. 20 story at FarmWeekNow.com said the closure caught the industry off guard and left local producers frantically searching for other processing options. It quoted Henry County Farm Bureau member B.J. Weber, the sixth generation of Weber Beef, a custom feed yard managing around 3,500 head of cattle just 7 miles from the Joslin plant.
“Like everyone, we were blindsided by it,” he told FarmWeek. “I don’t think a single person at that plant knew. The buyers didn’t have any clue. It was a shock.”
USDA projects domestic production of beef will decrease approximately 3% in fiscal 2026 as compared to fiscal 2025. Tyson anticipates that segment operating loss of between $500 million to $650 million in fiscal 2026.
Historic cattle shortages were cited in the plant closure decision. The U.S. cattle herd, including both beef and dairy cattle, is the smallest it has been in three-quarters of a century. Domestic producers had 86.2 million head of cattle at the start of 2026, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, the lowest number since 1951.
However, Tyson’s third quarter report in early August 2026 showed in the first nine months of the fiscal year, total sales (including pork and chicken) were $41 billion, up 3.1% from prior year; with adjusted operating income of $1.6 billion.
Area lawmakers address the issue
Area legislators shared an update this week about their continued efforts to assist impacted employees, mitigate industry interruptions, and spur plant repurposing following the Tyson processing plant closure in Joslin.
Illinois State Representatives Ryan Spain, Gregg Johnson, Dan Swanson and Brad Fritts organized a bipartisan planning call on Tuesday with state agencies, including the Governor’s Office, Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL), Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA), Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), and other stakeholders.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss workforce impact to over 2,500 workers, as well as industry impact following the beef processing plant’s closure. The legislators’ work with the state agencies was aimed at identifying immediate resources for impacted workers and to discuss long-term strategies to try to mitigate the impact of the Tyson closure on the industry and the Quad-Cities-area economy.
“I appreciate our area legislators and state agencies all working together to identify support for workers, as well as strategies for the site and community impacts,” said Representative Ryan Spain, a Republican who represents the portion of Rock Island County which includes the facility in Joslin.
Representative Gregg Johnson, a Democrat who represents many of the workers at the Joslin plant, said:
“Tyson Foods decision to close their Joslin plant is devastating news, especially for all of the families affected. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle and I are working together to create supportive measures for the workers and their families. As we come together, we are focused on bringing the workers clear information that helps them access resources and coordinate future goals.”
Tuesday’s meeting was a planning call and included nearby State Representatives Dan Swanson and Brad Fritts, who have workforce impacts to their districts as well as concerns for agricultural industry impacts for Illinois’ beef industry.
The Tyson Beef- Joslin plant was estimated to be responsible for approximately three percent of the U.S. beef processing market. About 216 head of cattle were processed per hour at the plant, until its sudden closure by Tyson last week.
Tyson Beef cited reorganization of their processing operations, keeping open plants like their Dakota City, Nebraska facility which processes 390 head of cattle per hour, by comparison.
State officials are reviewing WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act notices to plant employees, are mobilizing safety net services and employment transition supports, and planning several rapid-response events for displaced workers.
“The impacts of this closure not only hurt the workers at Joslin, but also the beef and agriculture industry, as a whole,” said Representative Dan Swanson (R-Alpha), who, himself, raises cattle at his family farm near Andover.
“Workers, farmers, truck drivers, small businesses, and more,” said Representative Brad Fritts (R-Dixon). “You just cannot overstate the impacts this closure will have on Illinois’ economy. It is critically important to get these stakeholders all working in the same direction to mobilize resources and strategies to try to rebound the industry as quickly as possible.”
The legislators announced that there will be additional response updates provided in the coming weeks, and that efforts to work together toward solutions is the best plan for the Quad-Cities region.
The Joslin plant was under Federal food inspection supervision. Tyson Beef employees had 401(k) plans, not pension plans. Approximately 2,000 of the workers are union members with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1546. State agriculture and commerce officials are working on quickly opening new markets for Illinois beef, as well as encouraging processing capacity surges, if needed in the short-term for impacted Illinois cattle producers.
State officials and legislators expect coordinated rapid-response events for displaced workers to begin in early September, with announcements to follow in the coming weeks.
Other efforts
Grow Clinton is working closely with the Eastern Iowa Workforce Board and regional partners to support Tyson workers and families affected by the closure. Director of Workforce Development & Talent Attraction for Grow Clinton, Stacy Borgeson serves as member of the EIWB. Efforts are underway to assist those who have been displaced.
These efforts include informational meetings, hiring events, and connections to workforce development and support services throughout the region.
“Events of this magnitude have a tremendous impact on workers, families, employers, and communities across our region,” said Borgeson. “Our regional partners are committed to making sure impacted workers have access to the resources, information, and employment opportunities they need as they navigate this transition.”
Grow Clinton is also encouraging employers with significant hiring needs to participate in the regional response.
Organizations interested in hiring impacted workers or becoming involved in upcoming workforce efforts are encouraged to contact Borgeson at sborgeson@growclinton.com.
After the closing announcement, Daisy Ramirez – director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence at the Quad Cities Community Foundation – posted on LinkedIn that while Tyson workers will be paid through Oct. 12, over 2,700 people in our community will soon be looking for work, resources, and assistance.
“This is devastating for the individuals and families experiencing this personal grief, but it is also devastating for our entire community,” she wrote. “Since the beginning of this year, the nonprofit sector has already been feeling the effects of decreased funding, changes in policies, limited staff capacity, and burnout.
"Adding 3,000+ individuals and their families seeking resources will initially overwhelm a nonprofit sector that is already stretched thin and will not be able to sustain this level of demand," Ramirez said.
“When we see an influx of people needing assistance, there is not one nonprofit that can take everyone,” her post said. “There also isn’t currently a system in place that can connect a mass number of individuals with the resources they need quickly and effectively.
“It is imperative that community leaders, elected officials, corporate businesses, nonprofits, and other community partners come together for coordinated, collective action across all sectors and systems,” she said.
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