JBS USA, one of the “Big Four” meatpacking monopolies, announced it will close plants in Memphis, TN and Philadelphia, PA, laying off more than 1,700 workers as it consolidates production into newer facilities.
The Memphis warehouse, formerly Empire Packaging, has operated since 1987 and was purchased by JBS in 2020. It is scheduled to close on August 14, laying off more than 200 workers. JBS is also closing its Philadelphia beef processing plant, where roughly 1,500 workers will lose their jobs.
JBS claims the closures are part of its broader strategy to ensure operations are “efficient, modern, and positioned to compete.” As part of this strategy, the monopoly is closing plants and pushing more work onto existing facilities, while opening new “modern” facilities. Such modernization has typically meant more automation and faster production lines, which intensifies workloads.
Workers at the Memphis plant told The Worker management provided little explanation for the closure beyond announcing the decision.
“They brought us all together in the cafeteria, all the departments, and told us they were closing,” said one worker hired three months ago. “They didn’t really give a reason.”
At that meeting, management told workers they would receive severance pay if they stayed on until the plant’s final day of operation. However, many of the workers expressed skepticism due to not receiving any assurance in writing.
“They just say we gotta stay here until the last day. I’m check to check,” one worker said.
Another worker said employees repeatedly asked for clarification from management. “We keep asking them again if it’s for sure. We got lives. They gonna get their pay, they’re managers, you know.”
JBS said it is offering a “transition plan” for workers, including opportunities to apply for openings at other company facilities. Workers said the offer was unrealistic because many available jobs are located in other states.
“We have our lives here, its illogical. I have a mortgage. I’m married. I have a family.”
One worker shared a termination letter JBS had given to workers at the plant. The notice, signed by Juriana Speranio, JBS’s head of human resources, states, “I am writing on behalf of [employer] (the ‘Company’) to notify you the Company will be closing its production facility….”
Workers at the Memphis plant are not unionized, unlike the Philadelphia facility, where workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776. However, the local’s president, Wendell Young IV, could only offer a toothless response to the closure. He proposed working with elected officials and government agencies to try to keep the plant open. The national contract the UFCW bureaucracy accepted in 2025 includes no protections against plant closures of layoffs.
The closures are part of a broader trend in layoffs across the meatpacking industry. JBS-owned multinational monopoly Pilgrim’s Pride recently announced the partial closure of its Chattanooga, TN poultry plant. The closure will lay off 348 workers. Earlier this year, Tyson Foods, another member of the “Big Four” meatpacking monopolies, announced the closure of its Lexington, NE beef processing plant, laying off about 3,200 workers.
In an effort to maintain and increase profits amid tightened cattle supplies and tariffs, meatpacking monopolies like JBS and Tyson are consolidating production into fewer facilities while laying off thousands of workers. For those who remain, this consolidation drives down wages, speeds up production lines, and worsens conditions.
On June 25, foreign-born worker Jesse Leal was crushed to death by heavy machinery while working the night shift at a non-union Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant in Minnesota. Workers at the site had previously raised concerns about workplace safety.
Image: Workers at a meat processing facility in North Carolina. Credit: Mark Stebnicki.
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